When does it become plagarism?

Led Zeppelin The Clash

Exactly how much can I 'Borrow' from a song and don't credit the os.
Like say a sentance.And Is it ok if the song is in public domain?

krd

When does it become plagarism?

When you get caught.

Think of it this way.

Imagine you're in a gang stealing cars.

First you hot wire them, then drive them through the streets at high speed. Get to the shop, and strip them, and respray them.

Led Zeppelin The Clash

krd wrote: »

When you get caught.

Think of it this way.

Imagine you're in a gang stealing cars.

First you hot wire them, then drive them through the streets at high speed. Get to the shop, and strip them, and respray them.

P'eh.
I mean LEGALLY how much can you take before it becomes infringement.?

Fi H

I dont mean to be rude but this sounds like you are planning on copying as much of someone elses song as you legally can get away with!
If you need to do that then give up! No one should do this intentially!

Led Zeppelin The Clash

Fi H wrote: »

I dont mean to be rude but this sounds like you are planning on copying as much of someone elses song as you legally can get away with!
If you need to do that then give up! No one should do this intentially!

Lol no.
I write(Original songs)But every once in a while I throw in an old blues lyric

bush Baby

Which part, melody or lyric?

Melody is far more loose but I'll point you towards the news clippings relating to "Men at work's" saga about their song "Men down under" for the eviscerating they received in court over copying a riff from a ballad song

When it comes to lyrics you can't copyright an idea but you can copyright a lyric. So borrowing a line would be acceptable but not a few lines or a verse, that's just wrong, its not nice, you won't make any friends and no one will like you. There is a code of ethics in songwriting and it comes down to don't piss off another songwriter, its amazing how fast word gets round.

My 2c worth

Led Zeppelin The Clash

Also I wrote a song with a verse taken from Spoonfull by The Wolf.
I credited him but I also credited myself as I put in most of the lyrics

Is this ok or Do I give full credit

krd

Led Zeppelin The Clash wrote: »

P'eh.
I mean LEGALLY how much can you take before it becomes infringement.?

It's down to a court to decide. Anyone who tells you can get away with four bars or something like that isn't telling the truth.

If you copied The Rolling Stones satisfaction riff - which is just three notes - you could get done for infringement.

You can get away with blues guitar riffs - because so many other people have done them, it would be impossible to prove who originally came up with the riff.

If it's something lots of other people have done in their songs, then you can get away with it.

If you use part of someone else lyric you can also get done.

If you do a sound alike. Say if there's some popular band, and you copy their sound down to a T. Then they can slam an injunction on you.

Tow Waits sues everyone who tries a sound alike.

bush Baby

Led Zeppelin The Clash wrote: »

Also I wrote a song with a verse taken from Spoonfull by The Wolf.
I credited him but I also credited myself as I put in most of the lyrics

Is this ok or Do I give full credit

Not good enough, you have to get permission from the writer and the publisher first, then and only then can you include it in your song.

You better pray it doesn't get to No 1!!

Led Zeppelin The Clash

bush Baby wrote: »

Not good enough, you have to get permission from the writer and the publisher first, then and only then can you include it in your song.

You better pray it doesn't get to No 1!!

The writer is dead and the company is inactive.

bush Baby

Led Zeppelin The Clash wrote: »

The writer is dead and the company is inactive.

Copyright lasts for 70 years so the next of kin can inherit it....

Fi H

It depends on what you want to achieve too.... if I copied a bit of something knowing it was infringement but it got me to number one......would i be worried...only if i wanted all the cash for myself

bush Baby

A cautionary tale

Biz Markie*
"Alone Again"
Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 1991 lawsuit against Biz Markie for the uncleared use of 20 seconds from O’Sullivan’s "Alone Again (Naturally)" was a major turning point in the evolution of hip-hop. Markie lost the case; the judge told him, verbatim, "Thou shalt not steal." With that, the era of carefree sampling was over. Sample-heavy albums in the vein of Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back or the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique became impossibly expensive and difficult to release. Many artists continued to sample but retreated into using more and more obscure source material.

krd

Sampling though is a much different story.

But it's funny. R.E.M had to pay out on The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, to the writers of The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Even though the only similarity between the songs is the title.

ciaranmac

Fi H wrote: »

It depends on what you want to achieve too.... if I copied a bit of something knowing it was infringement but it got me to number one......would i be worried...only if i wanted all the cash for myself

You could end up with no cash, no glory only embarrassment. Like Richard Ashcroft having to watch Mick Jagger and Keef Richards collect a Grammy for Bittersweet Symphony.