Building on tradition, stealing, or.... When is a song original enough?
Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 9:11 pm
Anyone who's a forum regular will know that David and I are on a song-writing adventure at the moment; basically a journey of self-discovery, creativity and just pure fun.
Lately, more and more we've found ourselves asking each other "does this sound too much like...?"; sometimes it's a specific song, sometimes it's just a feeling that you've heard it before, that it sounds too familiar.
I know I've been inspired by a couple of specific songs for a couple of songs I'm developing the bones for at the moment. For one, it's a melody, for the other a bassline that I've borrowed and then morphed into something a little different.
We all had to learn enough about the guitar and music generally to start playing. We're not doing this music thing in a vacuum. All of our music experiences have built and influenced the sorts of musicians we are. I imagine it's close to impossible to write a song that doesn't sound related to something.
The question I'm struggling with is "When is something an influence, or building on an idea and when is it stealing?" Well as David says, we won't be sued for the millions were making in our sound-writing endeavours. But without an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything that you might have "borrowed" from how do you know?
These and other deep question...
Anyone want to share your experiences in this area? It could be from your own song-writing experiences, something you've read or heard or maybe the experiences of someone you know?
I await your musings.
Shel
Lately, more and more we've found ourselves asking each other "does this sound too much like...?"; sometimes it's a specific song, sometimes it's just a feeling that you've heard it before, that it sounds too familiar.
I know I've been inspired by a couple of specific songs for a couple of songs I'm developing the bones for at the moment. For one, it's a melody, for the other a bassline that I've borrowed and then morphed into something a little different.
We all had to learn enough about the guitar and music generally to start playing. We're not doing this music thing in a vacuum. All of our music experiences have built and influenced the sorts of musicians we are. I imagine it's close to impossible to write a song that doesn't sound related to something.
The question I'm struggling with is "When is something an influence, or building on an idea and when is it stealing?" Well as David says, we won't be sued for the millions were making in our sound-writing endeavours. But without an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything that you might have "borrowed" from how do you know?
These and other deep question...
Anyone want to share your experiences in this area? It could be from your own song-writing experiences, something you've read or heard or maybe the experiences of someone you know?
I await your musings.
Shel