Flattery or Infringement in Songwriting

The Complicated History Of Copyright Law in Music

Every songwriter has been there. After battling writer’s block for days, the frustrated tunesmith finally strikes gold with the perfect chord progression. They spend hours more, excitedly composing the masterpiece, before eventually realizing that the’ve just rewritten “Hey Jude.” If on the other hand, they’re unaware of the similarity and decide to publish the work, they would be guilty of song infringement!

In a universe of infinite music makers and a finite set of musical notes, unintentional plagiarism is common. All songs, styles and genres are composed of the same twelve tones. Modes shift and octaves climb, but each change is merely a variation on a 12 note vocabulary.

Within any given musical genre exists definitive compositional and stylistic themes. In some cases, some degree of mimicry is required in order to write in that style. For example, the huge majority of blues music is built on the same 3-chord, 12-bar structure, whilst folk music is often written in the single ‘Dorian mode scale’. Literally millions of pop songs use the same I, V, VI,  IV chord progression (expertly demonstrated by the brilliant Axis of Awesome 4 chord song , so even within such tight style guidelines, plagiarism can and does still occur.

English classic rock band Led Zeppelin are historically one of the worst offenders in a sea of alleged blatant plagiarism committed against blues icons. The band has fought and lost numerous copyright infringement cases against giants of the genre like Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson.

Since most blues music is structurally similar, the crux of these cases were based on the uniqueness of the lyrics. For example, the band’s classic “Bring it On Home” is built on a very common blues musical framework and a single repeated lyrical theme lifted directly from the Dixon-penned Williamson song of the same name. A jury found in favor of Dixon.   

Other famous infringement cases have focused more on musical composition than lyricism. In 1985 John Fogerty famously won an infringement case brought against him by taking his guitar to the stand to prove that his song “The Old Man Down The Road” was indeed a different composition than his former band’s classic “Run Through the Jungle.” 

The case is notable for a number of reasons. In addition to Fogerty’s surreal circumstance of defending himself against accusations of stealing his own song, the singer set legal precedent with a countersuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. That verdict now defines how attorney fees are paid out to artists in copyright cases.

In our world of mash-ups, loops, samples and widely available backing tracks or ‘beats’,  it is at times a thin line between inspiration and infringement. How these cases from the 70’s and 80’s played out has helped determine the fate of other famous disputes. From the 1997 “Bittersweet Symphony” case of the The Rolling Stones vs The Verve, to the Marvin Gaye estate’s successful 2014 battle with Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke over the hit “Blurred Lines,” the gavel has landed on the side of shared songwriting credits and financial restitution for those that came before. 

Many budding songwriters may look at this history of legal wrangling and worry that copyright infringement is an unavoidable reality, most of these cases come down to intent. If creators are honest with themselves about the source and degree of their inspiration, then they can easily avoid the courtroom.

As a general rule, at Songbay we advise that it is much more difficult to claim ownership of a chord progression (since pretty much every chord progression will have been used by other artists/composers dating back hundreds of years), than it is a melody or group of lyrics. The golden rule therefore, never knowingly copy lyrics or melodies!

Song Infringement or just flattery?

Here’s a brilliant link to the following examples of well known pop songs that use classical music chord progressions >>
It might come as quite a shock that these songs are not as original as we might think!

Billy Joel – This Night / Beethoven – Pathétique

Lady Gaga – Alejandro / Vittorio Monti – Csárdá

Eric Carmen – All by Myself / Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor

Maroon 5 – Memories / Pachelbel – Canon in D

Clean Bandit – Mozart’s House / Mozart – String Quartet No. 21

The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army / Bruckner – Symphony No. 5

Elvis Presley – It’s Now or Never / Eduardo di Capua – O Sole Mio

Little Mix – Little Me / Gabriel Fauré – Pavane

Take That – Never Forget / Giuseppe Verdi – ‘Tuba mirum’ (Requiem)

Muse – Plug in Baby / Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Barry Manilow – Could It Be Magic / Chopin – Prelude in C Minor No. 20

Mika – Grace Kelly / Rossini – Largo al factotum

Robbie Williams – Party like a Russian / Prokofiev – Dance of the Knights

John Denver – Annie’s Song / Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

The Beatles – Because / Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata

Phil Collins – A Groovy Kind of Love / Clementi – Sonatina in G minor

Nas – I Can / Beethoven – Für Elise

We would like to acknowledge the brilliant contributions to this article from Bob Smith , Gary Cubberley and Classic FM

Thank you all! 🙂