Ah . . . you guys are discussing my favourite topic. As a matter of fact, I wrote my Masters thesis on the very same question asked, namely, how much of a song can you copy, before you get in trouble.
Coolcat wrote:
My question; is using the same theme / setting / idea with different lyrics – except as mentioned above – an infringement of copyright?
Absolutely not. If I write a book about 3 wizards who go to wizard school and beat up bad guys, can Rowling sue me? No, she does not own the right to use all themes of wizards - but if I write a book with 3 wizards called Henry, Ronny and Hermonica and they attend Hogwards then yes, that is infringement. In copyright, there is no protection for an 'idea'. When judges determine if there is copyright infringement or not, they look for two things.
1. Whether there is a causal connection
2. Was a substantial part taken
So if I wrote exactly the same book as Rowling, but I live in the Amazon jungle, and had no way of knowing of her success/books, then that is not copyright infringement. If however I did know, but still wrote anyway, I'd only be in trouble if the courts can prove I copied a substantial part. Now what is substantial part? Well its an extremely subjective test. In music at least, it is most commonly associated with the melody, rhythm and harmony, especially the melody. Lyrics get their own copyright. So the court will decide if the part you copied is important to the song, and really makes the original song unique, and now you put it in your song, then yes, its likely to be a substantial part. Its not about how much you copied, but always about what you copied. So you could take 40s from a song and not be in trouble, but you could take 4 seconds from another song and get in deep trouble. A good test to ask yourself is, if you as an average listener had to listen to the song, would you be reminded of the original version? There is a lot more to this - I am only giving the icing.
DaFiz wrote:
I bought the entire Led Zeppelin collection on vinyl over the years,
Only to end up buying the same again on CD format...
Now I download the same again from piratebay...
Will I go to jail ? ???
If you make an album - its your right as an artist to determine in what format you wish to make it available, so whenever you (as a consumer) convert from one format to another, you are infringing their rights.
Hasie wrote:
As far as I know, you are allowed to have a digital "backup" copy of any music you own on disc/vinyl. The same goes for DVDs.
Nope. That exception only applies to computer programmes, not music!
As for YouTube, a lot of the content on their infringes copyrights. YouTube has take-down process, so if a video is infringing, you submit the notice, and they will take it down - not everyone does that, hence the reason there is a mass of video's still online. But the sad reality is that if you post a video of your band doing a cover of another band, that is copyright infringement, unless you had permission to do so. Your video will likely stay on YouTube as it is not causing any harm, but I'm willing to bet, the moment you start making serious money from the cover, then the original artists will come down on you hard!
