Li
that make them sound alike?
♪ uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up ♪
♪ I said ♪
♪ funk you I don't know we're gonna funk you right on up ♪
♪ I said oops upside the head ♪
♪ I said oops upside your head ♪
What about these two?
♪ you want me I want you baby ♪
♪ my sugar boo I'm gonna take it ♪
♪ all day all night from the party to the sunrise ♪
Who wrote the melody? Who copied it?
Who owns it?
Well, let me tell you, every time your favourite
artist winds up in court for copyright violation,
these are the questions being asked.
This is
♪ [light]
I'm sure you've heard the term music copyright thrown around
in the news. in 2019,
there are at least 20 music copyright lawsuits
brought against well known pop musicians, including
The Weekend, Kanye West and Lil Nas X.
[swoosh]
But what is music copyright anyways?
It can be a really complicated topic,
but here's a simple definition.
[pages flip]
Music copyright legally...
Any part of a song could get an artist
in trouble if it is...
..um, substantially similar to somebody else's song.
That's what we're seeing a lot in the news lately.
[bang]
When somebody finds themselves in court
for copyright infringement in music,
it's typically because there's a really strong
similarity in the lyrics.
There's a really strong similarity in the melody
of the lyrics, and there might be a few other
similarities and maybe the rhythm, the groove,
and things like that.
Musicologists like Shelvock and rights
negotiators like McGovern are the kind of experts
used in the high profile copyright cases we hear
about in the news, and experts are needed
because song ownership isn't that simple.
It takes a lot of people to get a song from
someone's head, onto a piece of paper,
into a recording studio, and then in front
of potential music buyers like you and me.
Even if a song is recorded in the bedroom and uploaded
on TikTok, ownership can become complicated.
So I guess one of the obvious questions to ask is...
..why does it seem like artists
are copying each other so often?
Well, think about this.
Did you know there are only 12 notes in the
western music scale that is most used in pop music?
That's not a lot of notes for the millions of songs
that are being written every year.
So how does the musician avoid creating a melody
that hasn't already been done?
It's the arrangement that you do.
It's the, it's everything around it.
It's the words on top of it.
It's the instrumentation, it's the rhythms, you know,
all the other little things that make it original.
You can't use somebody else's melody in your song,
even if it's just a small piece of that melody.
♪ [jazzy, upbeat]
My name is Gary McAuley.
I'm a songwriter, producer, arranger,
and 1/4 of the group, The McAuley Boys.
♪ ♪
It is a possibility that you could copy something that
was previously done, with not necessarily
knowing it, but you could have heard it,
maybe, you know, sitting on the bus,
hearing it through someone else's headphone,
and then be influenced enough that you'd make something
that you thought was your own, but it was a copy of something
you heard previously.
Can you share your opinion on similarities and differences
between "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran versus
"Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye?
Oh, yes. I can.
I can do that for you. Two beautiful songs.
♪ and darling I will be loving you till we're 70 ♪
And here's Marvin Gaye.
♪ ah, baby ♪
♪ let's get it on ♪
♪ oh ♪
♪ let's get it on ♪
You see the, you see the feeling,
how it still feels the same?
Same progression...
..slightly different lyric, but still feels very much
the same, yeah?
♪ [light]
In 2016, the family of a songwriter named
Ed Townsend sued pop singer Ed Sheeran.
Townsend was Marvin Gaye's co-writer on “Let's Get It On”"
and his family says “Thinking Out Loud” infringed
on their musical idea.
Earlier this year,
a judge said they might be right.
So now the case has to go to court for judgment.
Yikes.
[bang, dramatic music]
So what are the consequences of violating a music copyright?
The consequences of losing typically involve paying some
sum of money that is equal to what the person gained
by sort of, say, stealing that music.
♪ [upbeat]
OK, now I get it.
The next time I hear about music copyright in the news,
it's all going to make a little more sense.
For
♪ ♪