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To anyone else who might come across this discussion and you make or want to make art, please don’t take this person’s advice. I am a songwriter and a recordin

To anyone else who might come across this discussion and you make or want to make art, please don’t take this person’s advice. I am a songwriter and a recording artist. I and every other musician I’ve ever worked with have conversed in the language of our predecessors. We constantly listen to other records while making our own and borrow drum patterns, guitar sounds, chord progressions… just as all of our favorite musicians did before us. If you don’t do this and you go off on some quest for pure originality, you are engaged in pure narcissism and you will make terrible art. Show me your favorite record and I can break down where every single element of every single song came from. I'm going to guess that you have basically no experience making music. Here's just a couple of the records I've made: https://williamcotton.bandcamp.com/album/melencolia-i https://williamcotton.bandcamp.com/album/melencolia-i https://willieandallie.bandcamp.com/album/between-a-rock-and-a-country-place https://willieandallie.bandcamp.com/album/between-a-rock-and...

Retric 3y ago
Again absolute originality isn’t the metric any more than we expect people to write using the English alphabet but not reusing any existing words. However, your actual defense is a lack of serious earnings. If you habitually copy significant portions of your work don’t assume it’s actually legal rather than simply not worth suing over. If you’re concerned about actual credentials my connection to this stuff is through major motion pictures which means serious paranoia around IP. They are actually concerned about being sued and take actual precautions.
- williamcotton 3y ago
  I don’t think you understand anything about writing or recording music. Everyone copies and imitates. This Robin Thicke lawsuit spooked so many working musicians because they all work like that. Pharrell Williams isn’t some hack. He’s a genius hit machine. His “reverse engineering” of the drum track Gaye’s drum track is part and parcel of the creative process. It is absolutely absurd that they were found liable. It certainly gave the Gaye family the gall to sue Ed Sheeran for using the same chord progression… Have a listen to my albums and you can judge for yourself how much copyright infringement I’m guilt of…

Retric 3y ago

Again absolute originality isn’t the metric any more than we expect people to write using the English alphabet but not reusing any existing words. However, your actual defense is a lack of serious earnings. If you habitually copy significant portions of your work don’t assume it’s actually legal rather than simply not worth suing over. If you’re concerned about actual credentials my connection to this stuff is through major motion pictures which means serious paranoia around IP. They are actually concerned about being sued and take actual precautions.

williamcotton 3y ago
I don’t think you understand anything about writing or recording music. Everyone copies and imitates. This Robin Thicke lawsuit spooked so many working musicians because they all work like that. Pharrell Williams isn’t some hack. He’s a genius hit machine. His “reverse engineering” of the drum track Gaye’s drum track is part and parcel of the creative process. It is absolutely absurd that they were found liable. It certainly gave the Gaye family the gall to sue Ed Sheeran for using the same chord progression… Have a listen to my albums and you can judge for yourself how much copyright infringement I’m guilt of…