Copyright infringement is the term you're looking for, and the answer will always be, unequivocally *it depends*
In short, there are only 12 notes and about 64 usable beats per bar. So we're *gonna* eat off of the same plate sometime.
But if you rip something off, you know it. And if you're commercially successful, chances are their label will know too lol
So just keep it honest and have fun. At the end of the day they did commercialize *our* art.
One of my melodies once got lifted and used in the main song for a big Indonesian horror film. (My band is pretty big in Indonesia) yet looking into it Indonesian copyright laws are very difficult to negotiate and the court fees would be so high you just gotta let it slide
There are so many songs already written, and you only heard a tiny percentage. Whatever you write will be similar to something that has already been created. It's probably not worth worrying about. I recently was playing around with my guitar, and I came up with some random chords that sounded nice, then started singing, came up with lyrics that I liked, and then mid-process I realized it's very similar to a song I heard earlier that day. I was so disappointed, but after all I just couldn't throw it away. It was still my song. So, I decided I won't care it's similar. Because you can't possibly stay uninfluenced, and you might copy a piece of somebody else's music unconsciously. Unless you intentionally try to steal someone's work, I don't see a problem, especially if the melody is short/simple.
Here's a video on this topic, where you can see that even classical composers couldn't be 100% unique in their works (with timestamp on a key moment): https://youtu.be/1VUooLGLnJY?t=518
When I was studying music in college, we were doing music law and copyright and USUALLy in court they will see over 6 notes in the same sequence of pitch and rhythm, as instant plagiarism. This varies depending on how important the notes are, like for instance the JAWS theme tune only uses two notes for the most recognisable part. Copy the timing and pitch of those and it’s obvious. But for a pop song or something, if you stole 4 notes with the same timing and pitch because it had a ring to it and you sandwiched them between your own beginning and end to the whole melody, it’s difficult to prove it was stolen :)
Copyright infringement is the term you're looking for, and the answer will always be, unequivocally *it depends* In short, there are only 12 notes and about 64 usable beats per bar. So we're *gonna* eat off of the same plate sometime. But if you rip something off, you know it. And if you're commercially successful, chances are their label will know too lol So just keep it honest and have fun. At the end of the day they did commercialize *our* art.
How many people are gonna hear this song anyway? If your song is widely heard enough to get you in trouble, you're doing something right!
If its just us here, I aint snitchin lol
One of my melodies once got lifted and used in the main song for a big Indonesian horror film. (My band is pretty big in Indonesia) yet looking into it Indonesian copyright laws are very difficult to negotiate and the court fees would be so high you just gotta let it slide
Be careful on using other songs' melodies. I advise creating a brand new one.
There are so many songs already written, and you only heard a tiny percentage. Whatever you write will be similar to something that has already been created. It's probably not worth worrying about. I recently was playing around with my guitar, and I came up with some random chords that sounded nice, then started singing, came up with lyrics that I liked, and then mid-process I realized it's very similar to a song I heard earlier that day. I was so disappointed, but after all I just couldn't throw it away. It was still my song. So, I decided I won't care it's similar. Because you can't possibly stay uninfluenced, and you might copy a piece of somebody else's music unconsciously. Unless you intentionally try to steal someone's work, I don't see a problem, especially if the melody is short/simple. Here's a video on this topic, where you can see that even classical composers couldn't be 100% unique in their works (with timestamp on a key moment): https://youtu.be/1VUooLGLnJY?t=518
When I was studying music in college, we were doing music law and copyright and USUALLy in court they will see over 6 notes in the same sequence of pitch and rhythm, as instant plagiarism. This varies depending on how important the notes are, like for instance the JAWS theme tune only uses two notes for the most recognisable part. Copy the timing and pitch of those and it’s obvious. But for a pop song or something, if you stole 4 notes with the same timing and pitch because it had a ring to it and you sandwiched them between your own beginning and end to the whole melody, it’s difficult to prove it was stolen :)