This is such a gray area, now made more difficult by AI.

But this practice of adding your own melody to a chord progression is normal, legal, and old. As mentioned, it's also a great teaching aid. For example, there are lots of tunes using the chords to I've Got Rhythm. More than a few of PG Music's own demo programs, that are themselves copyrighted, are based on the chord progression of a popular song. I recall reading somewhere that a list existed, but I don't know if that's true. Besides, while I could spot some of the jazz or Bossa Nova tunes, I wouldn't have a clue in many other genres, so the person who made such a list would have to be a master of all music.

Now you can have Frank Sinatra sing your song (and the estate is not happy about this). With court cases delving into the nuances of just one song, and musically ignorant juries weighing in, the effort to determine what is a violation of copyright becomes quite a challenge.


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