Singer Leona Lewis has been accused of plagiarism, after releasing a song called “Collide”, which has exactly the same piano track as a song by up and coming DJ Avici. This time, when listening to both, there is no doubt in my mind that they are the same. The piano melody is even the same key…no attempt to hide anything there! Listen for yourself. First Leona Lewis’ track “Collide”:
Record label
Black-Eyed Peas and Plagiarism
For the second time in a year, the Black-Eyed Peas face a possible legal action because of plagiarism. In this particular case, it’s hard to imagine how the BEP’s DIDN’T hear this original song by Phoenix Phenom, who submitted the song to executives at Interscope Records which happens to be the Black-Eyed Peas record label. Have a listen to Phoenix Phenom’s (her real name is Ebony Latrice Batts) original song:
And now, here’s the Black-Eyed Peas song “Boom Boom Pow”, which was a huge hit for them:
At the risk of getting into trouble, here’s a section of the lyrics from Boom Dynamite:
I got that boom dynamite, I make it bang all night
I got that boom dynamite, I make it bang all night
I got that boom boom boom boom boom
I got that boom boom boom boom boom
What you got that I ain’t got (nothing)
I could make it shake when the beat drops (money)
Is what ya’ll say when you hear this
Fear this cause you’ll never come near this
All the boys wanna tap tap tap
Flosin’ jewels with the rap rap rap
They like the bus downs with the clap clap clap
But this right here snap snap snap
(I got that thang) I got that thang (thang)
That make ’em mine
I try to take it to take it to the floor but they cant handle (no they cant handle)
Ya’ll cant pop (pop) pop
You cant drop (drop) drop
I’m like a beat 52 I’m coming for you
And an excerpt from the Black-Eyed Peas version:
Boom boom boom, now
Boom boom boom, now
Boom boom pow
Boom boom
Yo, I got that hit that beat the block
You can get that bass overload
I got the that rock and roll
That future flow
That digital spit
Next level visual shit
I got that boom boom pow
How the beat bang, boom boom pow
I like that boom boom pow
Them chickens jackin’ my style
They try copy my swagger
I’m on that next shit now
I’m so 3008
You so 2000 and late
I got that boom, boom, boom
That future boom, boom, boom
Let me get it now
The lyrics are not exactly the same…the subject matter is similar. The rhythm and lyrical meter in each song are definitely similar, and the line “I got that boom…” is certainly the same. My guess would be that Pheonix Phenom would be able to show that the Black Eyed Peas had exposure to the song because she brought it to their record label, which is quite often what it comes down to in a plagiarism suit. And because she would have a good case, the Peas and their record label would be forced to settle.
It’s never worth copying anything…even if it was unintentional, you would think that someone would have picked up on it somewhere down the pike.
Update Oct.30/2010 – Another plagiarism suit against the Black Eyed Peas. This time it’s from Bryan Pringle, whose song “Take A Dive” was submitted to the same record company, Interscope Records, and shows a copyright date of 1998. I’m thinking that maybe this has been a pattern with the label, just use old songs that were submitted and make them into hits. Read more here…
Signing To a Major Label Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be
For many years now, the deepest desire of many bands and artists has been to find themselves signing a contract with, say, Warner Music or one of the other “big five” record labels in the US, and walking home with a pocket full of dough and a bright future ahead.
- Image via Wikipedia
On every music site on the web, independent bands and artists are asked if they want to be signed to a label and you can bet your bippy that most of them click off the “yes” box. Signing a major label contract is the holy grail of many an artists’ life. And most of them have no idea what it means.
I speak, of course, from the outside because I have never signed a contract myself. However, I personally know people who have, and from the artists’ perspective, I can tell you that it ain’t always a sweet deal.
It is a well-known fact now that record labels made a whole lotta cash from old blues artists and their music years ago, hardly sharing a penny with those who actually wrote the songs or performed on the recordings. A lot of these blues men ended up poor and on the streets because they were only given a very small lump sum to sign away the rights to their music. Many of them couldn’t even read or write, let alone understand that they were being taken advantage of. In the meantime, these record labels made millions from them. And as labels themselves over the years have swallowed up smaller labels and have turned into big, belching conglomerates making millions and millions from their artists and bands year after year, it appears that they’ve gotten greedier.
First, let me explain to a degree how an artist or band contract works. This would not necessarily apply to older contracts with well-established artists, as contracts get re-negotiated over time. But for newer bands and artists, it works something like this: you sign over the rights or part of the rights to your songs and they give you a few million dollars. Sounds good, eh?
Actually, they don’t give you a few million dollars in the end, because every time you record or do a tour or need promotion, etc., they take that out of your few million. And then they expect you to pay it all back. So you really don’t have much control over the money they “give” you, and in fact, it’s more like a loan. In the end, what they are really doing is putting some money towards your career and then expect you to pay it all off. In the meantime, you have to live off that money. If there are, for instance, five of you in the band, that’s five people who need food, clothes, a place to live, and every other ordinary expense you can imagine, all coming out of that one lump sum of money. That’s besides the cost of recording, touring, promotion, etc. That few million runs down pretty quickly. And you OWE it back to them.
So not such a hot deal, eh?
But wait a minute. You’re making money off the tour and the record sales, right? But the label decides how much of it goes towards your “loan” and how much they stuff their coffers with. And now, as it turns out, there are even cases where if you make money from downloads, they take almost all of it. An example is in a story on Wired Magazine‘s website where Tim Quirk, who knew a little bit more about digital music services than the average joe, found out that his band’s label, Warner Music, was doing just that. While he figured out that his band made some $12,000 from albums distributed digitally, Warner Music only paid them $62.47. That’s right, sixty-two dollars and forty-seven cents.
It’s no wonder that record labels have built themselves such a crappy reputation with the general public. They are seen as bloated and greedy. And they are. Unfortunately, the bands and artists signed to them are stuck with a contract and a big loan to pay off. So if you are not signed to a big label, count yourself as lucky.
Just my humble opinion, of course 🙂
IJ
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Don’t Bore Us, Get To the Chorus!
The chorus is what many songwriters and publishers and industry types consider one of the most critical parts of the song. As described in my other article on Song Structure, each part of a song has its purpose, and the chorus seems to be one that is most crucial in driving the whole song “home”. In this article I’m going to go into more detail about the functions of a chorus, using some familiar examples to give you an idea of how you might best construct your chorus when you get to that part of the song.
Well, let’s face it…probably more often than not, a song doesn’t “write itself” in any particular order. You may often find that you come up with some parts and don’t really know what their purpose is right away. In fact, you may even change your mind as to which is which at some point in your re-writing process, and that is perfectly fine. If you are at that point right now with a particular song you’re working on, there are some things to consider. First of all, the chorus is a stand out both lyrically and musically. It’s the part, or at least CONTAINS the part (often called the “hook”) that people remember. So look at what you’ve got and see if one part has that more dominant feeling. Maybe it’s not so obvious, in which case you may have to rework a part to achieve that…or you may not have a chorus yet, or even end up with one. Anything’s possible!
I’ve used this example before as a powerful chorus…Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy“. There is NO DOUBT about that chorus, even when you just read the title of the song. Not all song titles are contained in the chorus, but this is fairly common. The contrast between that chorus and the verses is very obvious. Musically, it lifts up as the melody hits the highest note on “MAKES”. The melody line is simpler in the chorus, and more powerful. The chord progression jumps to a minor chord, an “Am”, whereas the verses stick to more major chords. Lyrically, it’s a great line. “If it makes you happy”….I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole song was written around that line.
Okay, here’s another one: “I Will Always Love You”. The song was written by Dolly Parton, who also recorded a version of it, but it was made even more famous by Whitney Houston. Now, this is not my favourite song or chorus because personally, it got kind of annoying after awhile. But you have to admit, with all of those vocal acrobatics, that was one darn powerful chorus. And what’s really interesting is that this is the only phrase in the chorus…I will always love you. That was it! The rest of it was the performance.
Here’s another…Joan Osborne’s “One Of Us”. What if God was one of us? Not only is it lyrically provocative, but the melody, which is mirrored with a guitar lick, is a real stand out. And which is the the first word in that chorus that contains the highest note? You’ve got it…”God.” 🙂 Either that’s really clever or a wonderful accident!
A great country song that came out in 2000 was by Lonestar…”Amazed”. Very powerful, emotional chorus. “I don’t know how you do what you do, I’m so in love with you, it just keeps getting better.” Now the lyrics are not particulary clever, but the melody and emotional deliverance in the performance are a real stand out.
U2‘s “Beautiful Day” from the same year had a really positive message. If you have no idea what the rest of the song is about (and I didn’t until I looked it up!), “it’s a beautiful day…” is all you need! Again, the production is very powerful as is the vocal delivery, but the phrase itself and the melody that accompanies it, is emotionally very uplifting.
Okay…I’m not going to name the next one…here are the lyrics in the chorus:
I get knocked down
But I get up again
You’re never going to
Keep me down
Do you recognize it? Oddly enough, here’s an example of a chorus with no sign of the title. It’s called “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba. Who thought of that title? But it sure is a stand out chorus. Can you remember the rest of the song? Unless you listened to the song a number of times, the verses probably aren’t as memorable. Now you see what I mean about the chorus being a critical aspect of the song! If it’s well-written, it goes a long way to sell the song.
And finally, a more recent entry:
Oh, it’s what you do to me, oh, it’s what you do to me
Oh, it’s what you do to me, what you do to me
Again, no title in the chorus…it’s called “Hey There Delilah”. Very strong chorus, not particularly fascinating lyrics, but melodically, it’s very powerful and emotional. It’s interesting that each of the verses begins with “Hey there, Delilah…”, so that’s another way to make the title memorable without putting it in the chorus. Probably, using “What You Do To Me”, which is repeated over and over in the chorus, was considered too over-used or boring to use as a title.
Now these songs might not be your taste, and to tell you the truth, I know some of them only by the fact that my guitar students wanted to learn them! If it weren’t for my students I wouldn’t be exposed to a lot of music. Sometimes they are not songs that I myself would choose to listen to, but it sure gives me an insight into what is popular.
The title of this article comes from a well-known phrase in the music industry. When you are sitting in front of a record label exec or a publisher, this is often what is on their mind. It says a lot about what the industry thinks about. They don’t care about long intros and meandering verses…quite often, all they care about is the chorus. So the placement of your chorus is particularly important. On the other hand, if your verses really draw them in, the chorus becomes the bonus!
In a lot of songs, the chorus is the very first thing you hear. Is that a good trick? Well, it might be effective, but not every song works with that particular form…for one thing, the verses can be really effective in lyrically setting up the chorus, so in that case, you don’t want to put the chorus first and give the whole thing away! The purpose of a chorus, as I said in the beginning, is to drive the song home. It is the focal point, the summation…it explains the song. And sometimes, in the case of a chorus being the first thing you hear, the chorus is what sets everything else in the song up.
There are songs that don’t have choruses, but that isn’t as common in popular music genres such as rock and pop and country. In some cases, you have a song with a “refrain“, which might be a line or a phrase that recurrs in the same spot in a verse. For instance, “The Times They Are A Changin'” is an old Bob Dylan song that uses that refrain at the end of each verse. Folk songs, for instance, often don’t have a chorus. But if you are writing in the more popular styles, you are more likely than not going to have to write a chorus.
Studying the chorus’ of the songs you like is an excellent lesson in how they work, and more importantly, how they work successfully. Go to a Top 10 list of songs in any given year, and then listen to and read along with the lyrics of each one. Notice how the chorus is used, and decide for yourself what it is about that chorus that works for you. Where is the placement of the chorus? How many times is it repeated? How long is it? How is the melody structured? What do the lyrics say in the chorus that isn’t said in the rest of the song?
The more you study them, the more you’ll admire the power of a great chorus!
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Composing vs Songwriting
- Image by videocrab via Flickr
© I.Woloshen
It was suggested to me recently that talking a little bit about the differences between the music I produce for television and songwriting might make for an interesting read. I’ll let you be the judge 🙂
First of all, a little history. I wrote my first television theme back in 1993, when my husband, who happens to be a writer/producer at a local TV station, suggested that I might be able to “rip off” a certain theme and he would use it for a new series he was about to produce. Both of us were a little naive about the idea of copying anything at the time (although we aren’t now!), but I was defiant and refused to rip off anything because I knew I could write something completely unique! After much wrangling, he finally and reluctantly agreed to let me experiment. The result is that “Home Check with Shell Busey”, a kind of home fix-it series, was on the air for the last ten years, with my own theme on it.
When I listen to it now, I cringe 🙂 I was pretty new at the whole idea of production at the time, and relied on midi and a simple 8-track reel-to-reel recorder to do my bits. My how times have changed! In the meantime, I’ve composed music for a number of series, the most recent being a news package for CHEK Television Victoria.
In some ways, composing for television is something akin to being a staff songwriter at a record label or publishing company. For instance, I can do what I want, but then it has to be scrutinized by whoever is producing the show, and sometimes more than one person, so the result may not always be what I thought would work best! Some producers are musically succinct in defining what they want, and others have a hard time describing it. Those of us who have had music around us and been involved in it all our lives, take for granted that everyone understands the lingo, but it is extremely difficult for many non-musical people to know how to articulate what they’re after and what they like. So as a composer, you are always trying to get to the root of what the producer wants to hear.
Not all producers are as involved in your work. Some will step back and pretty much let you come up with the ideas. For instance, the producer I worked with on a dog show, pretty much allowed me the freedom to use my own instincts and do what I wanted. I think that it turned out to be one of my best themes…plus, he played trombone, so I wrote a trombone part into the theme and had him come in and play it! It was great fun and we worked well together.
I’ve had to completely scrap ideas and start over. This isn’t easy, because when you have latched onto an idea, it’s hard to let go and start fresh. I’ve also lost work because the producer didn’t like what I was doing. That can be painful, but as long as I keep the attitude that I learn the most from the more difficult experiences, I live through it 🙂
Creating a music package for a television show does not mean only creating a theme. Whenever you watch a show, you’ll notice bits of music throughout. There are bumpers, which are very short musical bits, usually anywhere from 2-10 seconds long, normally placed just before or after a commercial break and leading the viewer into or out of that segment of the show. For some shows there are music “beds”, which are longer bits, anywhere from 1:00 to 3 or 4 minutes long that play underneath someone speaking or some activity within the show. In the dog show I worked on, I created a lot of different beds for the producer to use in segments where, for instance, a trainer might be describing how to get your dog to stay off the road, or a person might be talking about how a dog saved her life. It creates a more emotional impact and gives the segment a nice flow. In fact, I’ll map out what an imaginary show might look like written out on a piece of paper:
Opening theme :15 – 1:00 long
Segment 1 7:00 – music bed 1:35, 2nd music bed 2:04
Bumper into break – :05
Bumper out of break – :06
Segment 2 8:30 – 3rd music bed :55, 4th music bed 3:00
Bumper into break- :07
Bumper out of break – :03
Segment 3 7:30 – 5th music bed 1:00, 6th music bed 2:55
Extro (the closing segment of the show) 1:00 – closing theme :50
For the above show, I have four different length of bumpers, I use 6 different music beds, I have an opening theme and a closing theme (often the same music). I do not edit the music on the show myself, but basically provide the music on CD to the producer, who takes it to the editor when the show is being packaged, and they use whatever they want to make the segment and the show all work. The producer sends something called a musical “cuesheet” to an organization called SOCAN, in Canada (the American equivalent would be BMI or ASCAP) for each episode, and SOCAN decides how much money I’ve earned as a composer.
Television music, in some ways, is hardly noticeable because a viewer is really paying attention to the content. But if you saw a segment WITHOUT the music and then with it, you’d notice the difference! It does a lot to carry the feel of what’s going on in the segment. In a sense, a show without a music bed here and there would be like a lyric without the music. That is true for movies as well…I once saw a James Bond film, many years ago, that was actually a pirated copy (don’t ask!), and it still hadn’t had the post production music on most of the film. It was BORING! You don’t realize how much the music works to drive your emotions in a film, to telegraph what’s coming, and to really milk the happy or sad parts, until you see a film without it.
You notice a lot of songs in films these days, which has become almost an industry in and of itself. A movie soundtrack can do very well for an artist if the movie is big. But television doesn’t quite have those theme music “stars” unless you’re talking about someone like Mike Post, who has composed music for some of the biggest and most popular television series around like NYPD Blue and Law & Order. My work is pretty small potatoes compared to him 🙂
There are rarely any lyrics in the music I do for television…occasionally I will use vocals as some kind of background part, but today’s themes are quite different from the era of the Flintstones and Gilligan’s Island 🙂 In fact, I would venture to guess that there was a lot more work involved in older television themes. For instance, they used live orchestras then, whereas today you can almost get away with being a one-person composer with a lot of synths and effects instead. The audio editing tools we have today make life SO much easier. If I want to create some bumpers, I can edit bits of the main theme and use them rather than creating them from scratch.
My work in television has been fairly lucrative at times for me. I get inquiries from time to time from other newer composers who want to get into what I’m doing. As you can see, in my case it was who I knew! And this, unfortunately is the reality for those who haven’t gotten their foot in the door yet. Once producers have used you, if they generally like your work, they won’t necessarily be on the hunt for anyone else. I have a feeling that the music industry itself is full of the same situations, and I feel extremely lucky to be doing what I’m doing. I know, however, that it won’t last forever. One day another young buck will come along with amazing skills and blow me out of the water! New producers will take over and won’t know me from Adam (well, I’m a GIRL, how could they?) 🙂
In the meantime, I love what I do and it supports my songwriting…what could be better? 🙂
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