legal questions

[cantthinkofname]

Bob Dylan has stolen melodies, chord structures, lyrics, and sometimes even entire songs. His entire career is based on these little thieveries. Apparently, it is called the 'folk' process.
You can do it too. You just have to have better lawyers than they do.

i'm not stealing i think there are stark & fine lines between stealing and whatever else it may be

and for me personally, i actually quit college with a major in music because i'm the type that has to go my own way and couldn't stand anything being shoved down my throat

however, the instances i've described above do happen, and happen to alot of people, alot of the time, incidentally, not on purpose.

How many people live in this world at any given time, 8+ billion? and in other considerations since the 'beginning of time', how could it not happen?

 

[cantthinkofname]

p.s., sorry for adding on like this but take for instance this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOlYKNIiooQ Jambalaya, i learned this from my dad when i was little

its precious to me, and i thought if i ever shared my own music someday, (if ever), i thought maybe to add some of my few favorites, for fun, and if i did would i really be able to? That's really why i posted this

 

[Rhone]

I'm on your side. I don't think copywrite protection should last for 75 years past the death of the artist. Maybe 7. The laws aren't really designed for protecting intelectual property(if that even exists) they are about money. Once you create a song and release it to the public it isn't really yours anymore. Lawyers will disagree.
Picasso said that bad artists borrow. Good artists steal.
Hemingway said that every good writer is a natural born word thief.
It is nearly impossible to be completely original. Most stuff is based on archetypes that are as old as dirt.
If you record a song that resembles another song and you sell cd's of it and play it on stage at your local fair no one is going to bother you.
If it sells 15 million units, someone somewhere is going to sue you.

 

[cantthinkofname]

so are you saying 'It's alright ma' wasn't bob dylans (was going to say 'bobs' but that's for bob marley)? kind of heartbreaking information

 

[Rhone]

No need to be heartbroken. Dylan was/is a thing unto himself. He used existing song structures, 'borrowed' lyrics and words from novels and newspapers and poets and songs that he found intersting. He combined them to create something all of his own.
Most of Bringing it all back Home has some direct and indirect relationship to Henry Milller's, Tropic of Cancer. It's alright Ma has some relationship to Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon. I can't remember at the moment the source of the original tune for the song. But it doesn't really matter. So what if Sub Homesick Blues was borrowed from Chuck Berry and others? Shakespear stole his fair share of Ideas, structures, and lines from others. It is what you do with them that counts.