Standardization lies in the grey area between differentiation and plagiarism, which puts songs at risk for being liable for infringement. The case with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ song, “Uptown Funk” was quickly settled by agreeing to split profits and to give credit to authors. Their first infringement involved Gap Band’s “Oops! Upside Your Head” where “the chorus on both singles is nearly identical cadence-wise” (Kreps, 2016, para. 8). The writers likely drew inspiration from a small part of their melody, but since it was claimed to be the hook, it immediately becomes liable. The next case involved Collage’s “Young Girls” to which the writers admitted that they drew inspiration from its funk style. Another funk group, Sequence, insisted that their song “Funk You Up” was also copied, but did not file for infringement (Kreps, 2016, para. 6). Ronson and Mars were likely using generic funk elements and these pieces as inspiration in an attempt to differentiate their song. Keyt’s (1988) article on improving copyright laws mentions that: …show more content…
This may involve borrowing a particular catchy figure or emulating a popular style… Composition does not occur in a vacuum. It occurs…within an artistic culture that includes well-defined techniques and styles. (p. 427)
Thus, the ontology of funk music satisfies the songwriters’ needs to fulfill the novelty to stay within the standardization set by corporations. By producing this commodity, it becomes a target for artists who seek to find recognizable sections, allowing them to file for infringement to gain shares of the profit. This is especially the case if the song is produced from capitalism, which almost guarantees it will provide high profits. Thus, the overall creative value is
The word “original” is often used to describe paintings that have been manufactured by hand, but it is not clear whether hand-made copies of work are still considered so. When an artist copies another’s art, is his own art original now that it has been tainted by the thoughts’ of others? The poem “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns served as inspiration for John Steinbeck when writing the famed tragedy “Of Mice and Men.” Steinbeck, a Nobel prize-winning author, set many of his books during the Great Depression or the California Dustbowl, times when the future seemed bleak. In Of Mice and Men, man-child Lennie and his “father figure” George form an unsuspecting friendship, and set off into the world with their dreams of one day buying land and settling down. The characteristics of these protagonists are directly taken from the Burns’ poem, which describes similar characters. Is such a close emulation detrimental to the value of originality in the work? Steinbeck believed that “only through imitation do we develop toward originality,” a motif seen in Of Mice and Men. Inspiration is necessary for all art, but by exploiting Burns’ poem, Steinbeck bastardizes the innocence of originality.
and vulgar because it was music that grew directly out of the Black culture. In
Ferguson focuses on the importance of creativity and how much we can build off of each others ideas. Remixing is using tools already invented to build new products, it opens a door to an on going process of new inventions and ideas. Ferguson shows the importance and the huge effect remixing has on our music industry and even technology on today’s market. Remixing gives
Funk music touched on a myriad of subject matter, but there are some notable recurring themes that also intertwine themselves in the structure of the hip hop music that came afterwards.
where people decided to reproduce art as a picture of what was going on. Instead, this artistic
According to “The Changing Landscape of the Music Business,” Artists have to develop an image that appeals to the supporters in order to be unique. This can be achieved through the promotion of their music, but if the artist makes the wrong move, this can result in the artist struggling to sustain their career. There are many ways that licensing music can go wrong, with it either going into the wrong hands, or is abused with promotion so that the song isn’t enjoyed anymore, resulting in less sales or profit for the
Krohn, Franklin B., Suazo, Frances L. “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 52 (1995): 193-54. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Polyphonic HMI, a subdivision of Barcelona-based Grupo AIA, is charged with applying the parent company’s artificial intelligence and natural science ideas and products to the music industry. Grupo’s major strengths lie in these areas and have led to the development of several successful and innovative tools used to solve all types of business problems across different industry sectors. Polyphonic, Grupo’s first entertainment-based subsector, is releasing Hit Song Science (hereafter HSS), a software used to predict the potential success of songs by mapping their mathematical properties and matching those to previous hits. However, Polyphonic is facing a series of problems. Two stand out: one, they have no identifiable target market. Two, Polyphonic has no defined marketing approach on which to launch their original product offering. This report will address, analyze and make recommendations for solving these challenges.
Popular music places a premium on accessibility, represents various meanings to boost both instant appeal and memorability - distinctive tunes, novel instrumental flourishes, danceable rhythms, repeated riffs - but its signal feature is melodic emphasis and great vocal gatherings.
This can include doing something that someone has already created, but can be altered by adding one’s own twist to it. I believe this is the same concept for photographers today. There are countless photographers that are stealing others artwork and photographs as well as creating pieces greatly similar to others. In retrospect, it is very difficult to come up with something original nowadays, but to also capture others attention. People have to like ones work as well, by trying to be original, individuals may not find one’s work to be interesting and unique.
The record labels in the industry select what music they think people want to hear, and they try to sell the music. Although a lot of times the artists the labels push are not successful, there are also times where they succeed. Art...
Remix Culture One of the biggest issues that arises with remix art is the issue of ‘Remix vs. Plagiarism.” When does a remixed work become an original work of art? Is the work considered original as soon as it is tweaked or when it is unrecognizable? Neither, a work is unique when its purpose and meaning transcends that of the original. Works like Montgomery Lee’s “Copyright Symphony” take a variety of images and use them to create music out of the embedded data in the photographs.
People all over the world listen to various types of music. The most popular kinds of music in America are hip hop and rock. As they seem to be totally different types of music they have a lot of similarities . Hip Hop and Rock music have more differences than similarities.
Is important for anyone who has created any intellectual property to protect it. In the music industry, in order for someone to protect their work, they must obtain a copyright. Music has been around before anyone could obtain a copyright and when the invention of the computer came along it made it easier for someone to steal another artist's intellectual property with the help of the internet. This paper will cover what events have taken a big role in copyright protection for artist, the consequences if someone was to break the rules of a copyright which is called copyright infringement, and how will a copyright hold in the future. Were copyrights enacted without the thought of life changing technology, and how can some music companies surpass copyright infringement and make a profit from the artist? Can a copyright really make that much of a difference in the world we know today?
One artist in PPP said it best when he said “you just can’t avoid limitations I guess.” This statement summarizes the constant limitations that artists have faced throughout history when trying to get their work noticed in popular culture. One important way that artists have gotten their work noticed is by gathering different “fragments of culture” and recombining them to make quality art. In other words, Plagiarism is the key for artists to overcome constant limitations in the creative industry.