As I watch royalty battles go on seemingly non-stop, it made me wonder. If I were to get this tattooed on my arm, who would have to pay royalties to Picasso's estate? Me who now owns and displays it or the tattoo artist who "painted" it?
And THIS is how frivolous and stupid these nonsense intellectual property lawsuits has become. Spirit suing Zep for the chord progression in Stairway when Spirit stole them from Pachelbel? (Oops. One of MY songs uses it too! As did Walk Away Renee...) Phil Collins suing for use of "his" snare drum?? Where did HE get it? If it was generated by a synthesizer, should the maker of the synthesizer sue Collins? You can take that argument back to Benjamin Franklin who allegedly created electricity. Or even further, for those who believe in god, to god for allegedly creating the world.
I remember thinking I came up with a really cool chord progression for a retro disco beat kind of thing. Follow the top note as it moves down.
C major with C on top C major 7 C dominant 7 F major with A on top F minor C major with G on top D major with F# on top
So the top note walks down from C to B to Bb to A to Ab to G to F#
Play those chords once.
And while you play them, sing
"I can't stop this feeling deep inside of me. Girl you just don't realize what you do to me..."
Yup. Without even realizing it, I copied BJ Thomas' chord progression from Hooked on a Feeling, written by Mark James. (Who also wrote Always On My Mind and Sunday Sunrise. Did you know Always On My Mind was originally an Elvis b-side?)
Stealing stuff is SO easy to do without realizing it.
Well Eddie, when you live in a world that drinking bleach to cure some viral infection would be a consideration what do you expect.
There is a law firm called Morgan and Morgan. They have made many millions bringing lawsuits against insurance companies. Well OK, who cares about all those low-life insurance companies?
Where do you think the money comes from for the insurance companies to pay Morgan And Morgan?
The public is so stupid they deserve what they get.
The United States is one of the few places in the world where frivolous lawsuits exist in abundance.
I guess because of the fact that the United States is the center of the known universe and the rest of the world is a bunch of stone-age barbarians all this is exactly how things should be.
Lately, I have been working to bring all the music I own into compliance with all copyright laws, processes, and procedures.
I am beginning to think "Wild Man Fischer" had it all right.
Just for those of you who have no idea who Fischer was, here is a quoit from Wikipedia.
Lawrence Wayne "Wild Man" Fischer was an American street performer known for offering erratic, a cappella performances of "new kinds of songs" for a dime on the beaches and the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Most of his life was spent homeless or institutionalized, and he later became regarded as "the godfather of outsider music".
See you in court, or perhaps on the street corner...lol
Billy
Last edited by Planobilly; 11/06/2107:11 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
“The public is so stupid they deserve what they get.”
Hey Billy, what are the criteria for leaving the public? Damn big tent
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
Stan Kenton, frustrated with excessive copyright laws, wrote a piece of 32 bars of rest for every instrument in his entire orchestra followed by one snare drum eighth note, and copyrighted it as a protest.
What people forget, the law is SUPPOSED to protect the income of the copyright owner. Since "Blurred Lines" didn't hurt the by now non-existent sales of an old Marvin Gaye song, IMO, the jury that awarded the money to the Gaye estate are guilty of robbery.
And keeping the copyright active for 75 years after the artist's death IMHO is also very excessive.
If I invented a drug that cured all cancers, I'd get about 20 years of patent protection.
So tell me that a song is so much more important that it gets the rest of the author's life plus 75 years.
Stan Kenton, frustrated with excessive copyright laws, wrote a piece of 32 bars of rest for every instrument in his entire orchestra followed by one snare drum eighth note, and copyrighted it as a protest.
My only thought is that I am going to sue the estate of Stan Kenton because "Your Honor, I have remained silent for 32 bars many times in my life, and it was obvious, clear and apparent that Mr. Kenton heard me do that and then stole my silence to create a song he claimed to be his, attempting to disguise my previous (lack of) work simply by adding a drum hit. If it please the court, please take note that while seated at the table while the defense questioned witnesses I performed that very piece of music, sans snare drum so as not to disturb these proceedings, several times."
How can someone claim copy right law is "excessive" and then ever even consider suing someone for violating them and stealing his music? Do you want the laws to be thorough or not? I mean, he stole my silence!
I am interested in international forum members sharing how song copyrights work in their country. Does the European Union share a common copyright law or does each member country have it's own? Does the United Kingdom have it's own law? What about the African, South American and Asian countries?
Do foreign songwriters get their songs copyrighted in the US so they are protected after their death?
“The public is so stupid they deserve what they get.”
Hey Billy, what are the criteria for leaving the public? Damn big tent
Hi Bud.
I never should have said that in exactly that manner. It was more or less a rant based on the emotional impact of the number of people I have known personally who have died of Covid-19 needlessly.
Eddie was calling to our attention the frivolous nature of the copyright situation and I just took it from there, right wrong or indifferent.
Also the number and amount of money involved in frivolous lawsuits over music copyrights and a thousand other things.
The fact that many people get their medical information from sources like Facebook and believe all the unsupported information they read there is much more than "stupid".
The fact that a large number of people living in the United States can not read the front page of a newspaper is unbelievable.
"Stupid" is a very inaccurate term to describe the condition. It is substantially more complex than that.
The criteria for leaving the generally uneducated public is the acquisition of education and common sense.
We use to have something in the law here call " the reasonable man". He died sometime about 1956 and left no children...lol Actually not funny.
If you believe the earth is flat and the universe revolves around the earth I guess you are intituled to your opinion.
If you are a stone-age barbarian and believe you should go around loping off the heads of the "infidels" then I think we would be justified in exterminating such people.
If you think it is OK to get drunk and drive your car and kill other people or infect and kill other people because you do not believe in vaccines then "stupid" is hardly sufficient to describe you.
If you have no skill set and no education and no intention of learning the common language of the country you live in and think the government should be required to support you generation after generation then " stupid" is a very inadequate word to describe what is going on. Don't misconstrue that to mean I have no empathy for the issues that many people face. I personally do my best to help people I know achieve upward mobility and assist them when I can.
I hear way too many people say "there should be a law". Well...the are, and literally millions of reams of paper describing them and no way to enforce said laws.
This fact is extremely relevant to people here on this forum who produce music who are subject to copyright laws that are out of date and seriously need to be revised.
We have a federal government that is barely capable of function any longer and a high number of citizens in this country who believe deadly violence is the proper action to take to change what they don't like.
I have not written any protest songs for a very long time but I think I will start soon. It is one method of communication no one can really take me to task for.
Sorry if my perception of what is going on offends anyone.
It is just that, my perception. Feel free to take me to tasks for anything that I say. I don't pretend to know everything. I am always ready to listen to other opinions about the state of things that concern us here on the forum.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
“The public is so stupid they deserve what they get.”
Hey Billy, what are the criteria for leaving the public? Damn big tent
Hi Bud.
I never should have said that in exactly that manner. It was more or less a rant based on the emotional impact of the number of people I have known personally who have died of Covid-19 needlessly...
Billy
As we used to say in grad school ... "stupid is forever but ignorance can (potentially) be fixed. It's a thin line at times
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
Billy, I think this old Ray Charles song says it well.
IMO the USA has gone from a semi-civilized country to a barbaric one. Five weeks in Australia showed me just how uncivilized we have become.
This is a super cool song in any event. I was asked to write a song by the Songwriters Guild Of America for a benefit for Ray in Los Angles Ca. Probably the scariest thing I ever did musically. It went over well but I needed Valum after to calm down...lol I did have a wonderful vocalist at the time which made it possible.
What a super nice human being Ray was. I will always miss him.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs Special Extended Until August 31st!
The XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs special offers are now available until August 31st at 11:59pm PDT!
Ready to take your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 experience to the next level? Now’s the perfect time! Expand your style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs—packed with a wide variety of genres to inspire your next musical creation.
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XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-9 includes 900 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). With over 3,500 styles (and 35 MIDI styles) included in Xtra Styles PAKs 1-20, the possibilities are endless!
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Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Get Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 19 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Listen to demos and order now! For Windows or for Mac.
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Don’t miss this chance to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box setup—at a great price!
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana, Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes, MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano, Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7, Playable RealTracks Set 4, RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
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These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
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