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I thoroughly agree PITB. It's a left brain right brain thing. I've been playing for 45 years. I've played for some pro players. What I play I play well. I couldn't write a bad song never mind a good one if you paid me a million bucks. There have been a lot tunes posted, that to me based on the stuff I hear out there by pros,that should have stayed in the bedroom. So Michee there are a lot of people that are very good players and thus they think they're good writers. sorry but no.


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"If you work on both you can become good at both, but writing doesnt happen automatically u have to learn how."

Absolutely. And playing hit song covers is an excellent way for a song writer to learn chord progressions, song form, timing, arranging, using musical hooks, etc.

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True, if you see it that way. But if you;re learning just to be able to play the cover at gigs, you wont take in any of it. If your analyzing the covers as you learn them to perform them, then yes you can learn alot.

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Heres a perspective,

I have been playing guitar for 17 years and never once had any interest in writing my own material. Not to say some day I won't want to write something original, but to this point I have had no interest in this. I love covering covers. In a jazz situation there is immense flexiblity on how the guitar player covers the cover. Jazz allows flexibilty in terms of voicings and rhythms that will still do complete justice to the cover while at the same time satisfying that creative itch.

So while I fully understand the forums policy on cover tunes, I believe it is a loss to us all to miss the offerings of those who are not so interested in original material.

And one last point, when you attend that concert by your favorite band/performer, how excited are you to hear that they will only be performing NEW material. Lets face it, we all like to hear what we know.

One mans opinion.


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As I said I don't write either but I do take liberties with the tunes I cover. I have an old friend that does Old R&R covers. They sound just like the record. I'm not interested in that either. I'd just like to post what I do with the programs.


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I think being able to interpret a song in your own way requires as much skill as writing it.

There's cover bands who do everything note for note, and then there are artists who do cover songs a new way.

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It's too bad they can't find a way for "educational" purposes maybe with a time limit for how long the link could be active or something. I've enjoyed listening to some covers. And my rendevouz with Russ was fun.

Wonder if everybody made videos - even with a still pic - and linked from youtube if that would work?

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Actually, no copyright holder is going to come after anyone if they are not making money with it. I have seen covers posted all over the net as well as hosting sites like soundclick and such. And parodies of songs that normally need extra permission posted as well.

The worst they will do is tell you to take it down, in the unlikely event they hear it.

Youtube is a bit tricky because while the person doin the cover is not making money on it(or real money on it),he often provides links to his website with the music that IS for sale.

So the copyright owner can claim that this person is using their material to draw traffic to their own site, which is a legitimate claim.

But again, if the website is getting mimimal hits and the music is selling at a snails pace if at all, then nobody is going to care.

Realistically speaking, you never have to worry about infringing a copyright unless you are making a good amount of money from doing it.

Maybe we can provide links to ALL of our music, and then just refer to it like.

"Yeah I have done a cover of that song, go to my page and check it out" as opposed to giving a direct link.

Cant hold PG responsible for that.

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PITB,
I agree with you. The problem is that Peter stated :
- The songs must be originals, no copyrighted or "cover" songs. You must have all of the rights to the songs.
So no matter what risk WE would take he is not willing to subject his Company to that risk regardless.
Shoot Russ' cover is still up on the site. Page 2 of off topic.
Cover Tune


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I can see the owner not wanting any trouble. He would have more risk than us, lol.

well maybe some enterprising person could start a youtube channel for band in a box cover songs.

Then instead of mentioning here that they did it, they just say "you know there's a youtube channel with Band in the Box covers on it. You should go over there and check it out. etc

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I have sent, last week, an email to the Harry Fox Agency to see if there is a way to do this properly. I'm not convinced I'll get a reply.


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If the RIAA comes after you and you go to court, the fines can be brutal. Under the Copyright Act, juries can award damages of up to $150,000 per pilfered track.

Why take the chance.


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Covers have always been posted here on the various forums. Maybe it's just a case of not appearing to use cover songs to sell the software. I don't play live anymore so I don't work up backing tracks for covers but I definitely would like to hear them. Has anyone ever had PG tell you to remove your posted cover? I've not heard of it.
I post originals because that's where my focus is now - if I was using this software for live gigs, I'd still be asking for opinions on the arrangement i.e. good enough for prime time.


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I'm sure PGMusic has been approached by music industry lawyers more than once, and I doubt they want to encourage a repeat performance. Although it may be true that an individual who posts illegal music is probably not worth prosecuting, If they felt there was sufficient evidence to implicate PGMusic in a web-based illegal file sharing scheme, they'd be more likely to push it.

If you can find a site where you are allowed to upload covers, there are probably several ways to let people hear them without implicating PGMusic or their forums in any way. For example you could email a few friends privately to let them know the URL... or you could link to an original song that exists on the same page as one cover song.. and after the vistor listens to your song, he/she may go ahead and play the cover too.

In most of the cases where individuals were prosecuted for file trading (as in Napster) the large number of songs the person was making available is what pushed it to a higher level. If you only have one cover at a time on your personal page, and you replace it occasionally, I seriously doubt if you would get nailed. But, for PGMusic's sake, I wouldn't link to that song from here. Robots can archive html links.

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Good point PitB, i have a friend that can do just that play licks and riffs from many old classics, but i ask him to play a nice lead on a song we were playing at a party once and he could not pull it off, and i had to pull something outta my back side at the last minute.

Along with what you said about spending time doing covers, most people come to a club or a bar to hear things that are familiar to them, they do not want to hear your originals for the most part. Maybe a open mike night coffee shop, but unless you are somewhat famous forget original tunes, folks are just not that entertained by them. You might slip one or two in, but not a steady diet of them.

If you want to cut an original album, people will listen and buy if 1. you are freakin good, or 2. somewhat famous

If you are not well known your albums sales are going to be few and far between. The internet is flooded with fairly good albums that people have recorded and no one wants to buy.

That's the charm of hanging around a place like this you can share your original tunes with a group of folks that want to hear them. I spend about 4 years over at Acidplanet, and shared my stuff and reviewed a ton of other folks stuff as well it was fun but got old. The real deal was that they only listen to yours to get you to listen to them.

Heck my own wife would rather hear me do old covers of songs she loved growing up than do original tunes. Maybe my originals suck like a hoover deluxe!


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I would like to share and listen to cover tune tracks without melody and words. My understanding is that copyrights don't apply to chord changes. If that is true and the parts are generated by BIAB which allows the use of generated midi or real tracks I don't see how there would be a problem so long as the copyrighted melody and words are omiited. It would be nice to hear the finished arrangement but this would be better than nothing. I have generted hundreds of backing tracks without melodies and words. This is my primary use of the product. I don't see how this violates anyone's copyright. In many cases even the chords are not the same.

What do you think?

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DP, that is the whole point of Notes Norton's site he has a plethora of covers without melodies and such, sort of in the style of ish. But i would not suggest posting covers here in any form as Peter ask us not to, i think we should respect that. Maybe someone can setup a small site to allow links and control who is allowed to join. Something like the invision board i have for storage of stuff and general chat. Check it out and at the bottom there is links to where one can download the software. Set it up so that membership is permitted by a mod, and no one can get in without permission. That way the links to covers are private. http://s8.invisionfree.com/GAPers/

Last edited by Robh; 08/07/10 06:40 AM.

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Quote:

Heck my own wife would rather hear me do old covers of songs she loved growing up than do original tunes.




There's a line in an old James Taylor song where he marvels that people will pay good money to hear Fire and Rain again and again... but I don't think people care if they're hearing that song or any of the hundred other songs they listened to as kids... what they pay good money for is to be transported back to the days of their youth.

There is always a market for a time machine, no matter what form it takes.

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