Current Events > Why is it illegal to use another song's beat without permission...

(+) Yeah! (+)

yet it's totally legal to do a "cover" of the song without any permissions?
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Because recordings are copyrighted
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eston posted...

Because recordings are copyrighted

Covers can be exact copies of those recordings
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It's only illegal if you try to sell it.
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Fair Use laws.

Also juries generally aren't composed of musicians and don't know what they're listening to. How can a "beat" be copyrighted in the first place?

Hans Zimmer is a total hack, BTW. His Lion King soundtrack is ripped off from Mozart and others.
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EastKingStar posted...

eston posted...

Because recordings are copyrighted

Covers can be exact copies of those recordings

You're describing piracy, not recording a cover version.
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This seems unlikely tbh.
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Just create the song's beat then. If you have the skills to do it, then it's not illegal.
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Veggeta X posted...

It's only illegal if you try to sell it.

Not necessarily. The laws are more complicated than that. (And I'm not a copyright law expert, so I don't know the details. But I know this isn't completely true.)
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How did MC Hammer get away with using the exact beat from Superfreak when he made Can't Touch This? Yet like REM sues people decades later claiming a song sounds similar to a song they made.
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Sariana21 posted...

Hans Zimmer is a total hack, BTW. His Lion King soundtrack is ripped off from Mozart and others.

I think you
Sariana21 posted...

don't know what they're listening to.

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Beats aren't difficult to do. Also remixes are a thing. Honestly lost at what TC is trying to get at.
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EastKingStar posted...

eston posted...

Because recordings are copyrighted

Covers can be exact copies of those recordings

By definition they can not, and that's not at all relevant to the fact that the recording itself is copyrighted
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EastKingStar posted...

Yet like REM sues people decades later claiming a song sounds similar to a song they made.

I doubt there is any case there. Enter every generic formula pop song that has sounded the same for 50 years.
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EastKingStar posted...

yet it's totally legal to do a "cover" of the song without any permissions?

It's not.
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90sEastKingStar posted...

How did MC Hammer get away with using the exact beat from Superfreak when he made Can't Touch This? Yet like REM sues people decades later claiming a song sounds similar to a song they made.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Can%27t_Touch_This

The sample of "Super Freak" that forms the basis of the song led Rick James and other performers on the original record to file a lawsuit for infringement of copyright. The suit was settled out of court when Hammer agreed to credit James as a songwriter, effectively granting James millions of dollars.
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Anteaterking posted...

Sariana21 posted...

Hans Zimmer is a total hack, BTW. His Lion King soundtrack is ripped off from Mozart and others.

I think you
Sariana21 posted...

don't know what they're listening to.

Lol, what? Zimmer has admitted that he takes motifs from other composers. I love Hans Zimmer's music; my post was just a joke.
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The intro to "Ice, Ice, Baby" is nearly identical to the intro to "Pressure" (by The Police). I don't know the legal agreements among them, but I thought of these two songs when the "Blurred Lines" case was being covered in the news.
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I'm still missing context here, is the argument that a direct mp3 rip of a song as a republication is somehow legal? Or is it that remaking a song is legal? Or just that you can somehow trademark musical progressions?

The last isn't legal and the first isn't true. Song remakes are more of a gray area generally.
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Yet these EDM guys can just take any song and put their remix shit on it and it's totally fine. I don't get it.
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I'm pretty sure you are just very confused about how copyrights on songs work.
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Remember this song from Lil Flip?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gogJNL_yvPU" data-time="

He took sound bites and shit from Pacman and Mortal Kombat. I wonder if he paid for the rights to use them or not.
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Sariana21 posted...

The intro to "Ice, Ice, Baby" is nearly identical to the intro to "Pressure" (by The Police). I don't know the legal agreements among them, but I thought of these two songs when the "Blurred Lines" case was being covered in the news.

Under Pressure is by Queen not The Police
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Sariana21 posted...

The intro to "Ice, Ice, Baby" is nearly identical to the intro to "Pressure" (by The Police). I don't know the legal agreements among them, but I thought of these two songs when the "Blurred Lines" case was being covered in the news.

Vanilla Ice did a pretty good explanayion regarding this actually /s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5V0Fx50ViI" data-time="
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Also Wiz Khalifa literally took music from Chrono Trigger to make his music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fh5BenvsfA" data-time="

Comments says he didn't make money off them so it's not against the law. Won't you copyright experts come explain this?
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Go ninja go ninja go!
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The general rule is: as long as you arent making money from using it then its probably okay.
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KronoCloud posted...

The general rule is: as long as you arent making money from using it then its probably okay.

@Sariana21
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Dat artistic integrity/s

Such laziness.
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Because when Vanilla Ice wrote Ice Ice Baby he didn't add a "this beat stolen from Under Pressure" credit. Bands who cover songs credit the original bands.
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inloveanddeath0 posted...

Sariana21 posted...

The intro to "Ice, Ice, Baby" is nearly identical to the intro to "Pressure" (by The Police). I don't know the legal agreements among them, but I thought of these two songs when the "Blurred Lines" case was being covered in the news.

Under Pressure is by Queen not The Police

Sorry! I wasn't really familiar with either (Police or Queen) until well past their height. I didn't even know the "Under Pressure" song until years after the Vanilla Ice song came out. At first I thought "UP" had taken the riff from "Ice" because I didn't know it was a Queen song (and still don't, apparently).
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ArcticLich posted...

Sariana21 posted...

The intro to "Ice, Ice, Baby" is nearly identical to the intro to "Pressure" (by The Police). I don't know the legal agreements among them, but I thought of these two songs when the "Blurred Lines" case was being covered in the news.

Vanilla Ice did a pretty good explanayion regarding this actually /s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5V0Fx50ViI" data-time="

Cool! Thanks.
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While we're on the subject of Ice Ice Baby how come parodies are allowed? Aren't they also using the beat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx7kzarSwGE" data-time="
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Veggeta X posted...

KronoCloud posted...

The general rule is: as long as you arent making money from using it then its probably okay.

@Sariana21

Not sure why you tagged me?? The above isn't necessarily true. In education, for example, you can cite approximately 10% of a text under Fair Use. More than that percentage requires permission. It doesn't matter whether it's a song, a book, a short story, a movie, or whatever. Teachers certainly aren't making money off content they share in an educational context, but the law still applies.

The exception that is is interesting is parody. What objective measure is used to determine when something is parody and not just a rip-off?

ETA: Cross-posted with the above
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Veggeta X posted...

Remember this song from Lil Flip?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gogJNL_yvPU" data-time="

He took sound bites and shit from Pacman and Mortal Kombat. I wonder if he paid for the rights to use them or not.

lol come on bruv youre on CE, not many remember that cut
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Weezy_Tha_Don posted...

lol come on bruv youre on CE, not many remember that cut

But CE KNOWS everything ain't I right guyz?
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Parodies are exempted through Fair Use. I would imagine remixes and the like would be too.
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P4wn4g3 posted...

Parodies are exempted through Fair Use. I would imagine remixes and the like would be too.

See that's crazy. When you make a completely different song but it uses the same beat, that's not fair use. When you take that beat and make jokes over it and add some remix sounds, that's fair use??
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You realize there aren't all that many beats that sound appealing that one can make right?
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