General Music Chat

Okay, but I don't getit. Wasn't this song taken from an Australian folk song? If this is the case how can it be bought?

I thought it was just the flute solo that was "stolen." I guess you can copyright a lead solo or a melody, but not chord structures.

I thought it was just the flute solo that was "stolen." I guess you can copyright a lead solo or a melody, but not chord structures.

The flute solo of the Men at Work song, in the publishing company's opinion, imitated the MELODY of the chorus from the older school song. So, the infringement comes, from copying the MELODY of the earlier SONG. What is copyrighted on a song, is MELODY and LYRICS. It is infringement, because, let's say that I take the LYRICS of the chorus of Stairway to Heaven and I don't "SING" them, but I "SPEAK" them, in the middle of my own song. Or what if I took those lyrics and printed them on a cup? Everyone understands that THIS would be copyright infringement, right? Well, the "MELODY" that the Lyrics are sung to, is copyrighted, just as the lyrics themselves would be.

And if I used the MELODY of the chorus of Stairway to Heaven, and put different words to them, or even just had a lead guitarist PLAY that melody line, in my new song... then that is copyright infringement.

One exception would be "fair use" laws, which allow me to use or play a SMALL portion, for a news show or review. And also there is an exception for PARODY! Think Weird Al Yankovic, the king of song parodies, who... btw... DOES NOT legally need to receive permission to make his song parodies, but... to his credit, he has always had a personal belief in not using songs, if the original author objects. And YES, that means Michael Jackson gave him PERMISSION to parody "Beat It" with Weird Al's "Eat It"!

So... I'm not sure that you can copyright a mere "solo" but you can copyright an INSTRUMENTAL, and then the melody of that song, I believe, could be infringed upon. Think Chuck Mangione's "Feels So Good" which had a VERY recognizable melody line, running through the piece, and was a hit instrumental in it's day.