Quote:

Pat -- I think I witnessed that down here one night, there is a young Blues Band who were playing what are basically all the old blues standards, but the twist was that they had made up their own lyrica and names for the same old tunes.

Mixed emotions about that one, they were beltin' out what I know as "Messin' with the Kid" without the signature hook throughout, but definitely the main riff and same changes. Then came, "Stormy Monday" - typical 12-bar blues, same basic changes, but again it had other lyrics and hooks to it.

Maybe the reason for that had more to do with evading licensing fees, don't know, but to me it looked to be more like backdoor plagiarism of a sort.

Got a hoot out of it, though I wouldn't revisit for more. The Blues is more than just knowing what notes to play IMO. A lot more.

We live in interesting times.


--Mac



human behavior tends to follow an incentive.

The crowd wants to hear familiar songs...
the band wants to prove they can play well-known challenging songs...
and the owner wants to draw customers and revenue without adding more cost than is necessary.

The scenario you described meets the minimum criteria for all 3 groups. Interesting. I never even thought of getting close to well known songs while steering clear of the copyrightable portions such as lyrics and hooks.

When you consider how similar many songs are anyway, it isn't all that inconceivable. But your point about plagiarism is well made... yet, where *IS* the point where originality begins? ALL songs sound like some other song... MANY songs use the same chords...

hmmmmmm

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0