That's not called stealing. It's interpolation. What?

[DanielT]

Interpolation probably sounds better than saying that it is a question of theft. Legal lingo in my ears. What do you think?

In popular music, interpolation (also called a replayed sample) refers to using a melody—  or portions of a melody (often with modified lyrics)—  from a previously recorded song but re-recording the melody instead of directly sampling it.[1][2] Interpolation is often used when the artist or label who owns the recording of the music declines to license the sample, or if licensing the piece of music is considered too costly.

Interpolation (popular music) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Here's a video about it:

But, if I understood correctly what the lawyer said, the examples Rick Beato brings up are not automatically illegal just because the original creators are not mentioned, not given credit in the new songs that use parts of them. There may have been a deal, license agreement, etc. but that this is just not mentioned.

 

[ThatM1key]

So sampling is literally taking a recorded sample from recorded media and using it in your work. I guess interpolation is similar to buying sheet music and playing it on the instrument.

Personally I think (With today's songs), its more creative to do a Cover rather then cutting up songs for there "melodies" and putting worse lyrics with them.

 

[somebodyelse]

It seems to be a new term for a practice as old as music, long before lawyers got involved. I guess 'interpolation' got used in a court ruling at some point, making it a term of art used in subsequent legal filings. Nobody called it that when Led Zep used bits from older Blues artists without credit, or when James Brown 'borrowed' from Rosetta Tharpe. When you get back to the early days of recording it becomes harder to know where the shared bits came from - as in folk it can end up attributed to 'tradidional' because nobody knows who originally wrote it, or when. It probably didn't seem so important when the money came from performing.

 

[DVDdoug]

As far as I know, it's a "grey area". Probably every possible 4-note sequence has been used in a song but that doesn't mean they can't be re-used by someone else. Same with almost any few words in a row.

And if somebody feels like you've stolen their music the lawyers get involved (if there's potential money to be made/transferred) and it often comes down to a jury deciding if the music "sounds alike".

I guess interpolation is similar to buying sheet music and playing it on the instrument.

Here in the U.S., the composer/copyright holder gets paid when you buy the sheet music (when it's legal/legitimate). If you record & distribute the recording you have to pay a few cents per song for a "mechanical license". If your recording is streamed, they get paid by the streaming service. If you perform the song live the composer gets paid from the performance license fees paid by the venue.



...There was a funny story about the record company (or whoever owned the rights) suing John Fogerty (from Creedence Clearwater Revival) when he recorded his solo albums and they claimed he "sounded like Creedence". He won the stupid case.

 

[DanielT]

Nobody called it that when Led Zep used bits from older Blues artists without credit, or when James Brown 'borrowed' from Rosetta Tharpe. When you get back to the early days of recording it becomes harder to know where the shared bits came from - as in folk it can end up attributed to 'tradidional' because nobody knows who originally wrote it, or when. It probably didn't seem so important when the money came from performing.

Well, in the case of Led Zeppelin, there have been notable controversies regarding, for example:

Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven copyright battle is finally over
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54423922

In line with the theme of the thread:

BUT they also made the best Rock album of all time, Led Zeppelin IV.I read this just now. So it was with this:

Led Zeppelin IV' Cover Photo Mystery Man Finally Identified 52 Years After Album's Release

‘Led Zeppelin IV’ Cover Photo Mystery Man Finally Identified 52 Years After Album’s Release

His image is familiar to millions and iconic to a generation of rock fans: The mystery man on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV has been identified.

deadline.com

Speaking of covers. Led Zeppelin's cover of When The Levee Breaks. I consider that to be the best cover song ever made. It's even so brilliant that the cover on the cover is really good: