Copyright In Music

What is copyright?

Copyright law gives the copyright holder, in the music industry this will be the song writer, the right to publish, display, perform, copy, profit from and also control certain uses of their music that is protected by copyright. This can be anything from song lyrics to a riff, but sometimes copyright is hard to prove if the copyrighted material is only very small, for example a few lines of lyrics that aren't very original or is very short, or a riff using common chords that more than one artist can think of. Works published after 1922, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. If the work was created, but not published, before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.

George Harrison vs. The Chiffons (1976) ("My Sweet Lord," by George Harrison - 1970 vs. "He's So Fine," by the Chiffons written by Ronnie Mack - 1962)

George Harrison, previously a member of the Beatles, was the first one out of the band t have a solo single, however many noticed that the verses had a strong resemblance to the Chiffons' 1962 hit "He's So Fine" which was written by Ronnie Mack. Mack's publisher, Bright Tunes Music Corporation, filed a plagiarism suit in February 1971, but the case didn't go to trial until 1976. In the intervening years, the Chiffons recorded a version of "My Sweet Lord" to draw attention to the upcoming trial. This is a good example of the behavior that may be seen as unprofessional, but is what many musicians do for their own benefit. Harrison claimed that he actually based the melody of the song on the public-domain hymn "Oh Happy Day," but admitted he was aware of the similarity to "He's So Fine". The judge ruled that Harrison was guilty of 'subconscious plagiarism'. but the penalty phase was delayed until February 1981. He was initially ordered to pay $1,599,987, but this was lowered to $587,000 when his former manager Allen Klein purchased Bright Tunes Music and negotiated the sale of the song to Harrison.

I am always undecided when it comes to having an opinion on either an artist copyrighted another artists' song, as I find it hard to understand why anyone would want to do that to a fellow musician, and as a song writer could be very upset if someone took one of my original ideas, however I'm aware that the music industry is very competitive. I think that usually it's common for well known artists to copy less well known artists as they have a larger following of people to back them up and think that other artists will be more afraid to sue, however copyright is copyright, weather it's a tiny riff of a whole chorus, therefore the reputation and popularity of a musician doesn't matter when the law is involvved.