The Logic Off Topic list

At 2:58 PM -0400 7/4/01, GAmoore@... wrote:
>Thats the thing, it wasn't a sample of a Stones song, it was a string
>arrangement of a Stones song. I saw it on VH1 "One Hit Wonders" about
>bands who only had one #1 hit song. I think Alan Klein (the same
>aggressive attorney who was involved with the Beatles break-up and who
>John wrote the song Steel and Glass about) aggressively pursued this
>little band. Isn't that screwed...you work on music your whole life to
>get a hit song, and then you don't get anything. I can see, the Stones
>getting some small residual, but what about all the creativity of writing
>the actual song, which would have stood without the sample.

Sure but I guess my point (if I had one) is I don't even know which 
stones tune it was so if the test for infringement is that there must 
be a recognizable phrase then there would not appear to be any 
infringement.  For example what if the phrase was a Mantovani 
embellishment that never even happened in the original?  Then while 
it might be said that they were infringing on Montovani it would not 
follow that they were infringing on the stones.

Gets me wondering.   Since and embellishment on a song by a third 
artist on a later recording is not really the song itself what for 
that matter is the protection for the third artist if his innovation 
makes the song a hit.

For example Prince copies a song off an album by totally unknown 
artist Ecnirp and does a very memorable keyboard solo which makes the 
song a hit for Prince which makes Ecnirp happy because he gets the 
royalties.  Then PeeWee Herman writes a Megahit around his verbatim 
ukulele performance of the prince solo.   In that case Peewee owes 
Ecnirp nothing.  And since Prince's solo was not a copy written part 
of the original PeeWee also owes him nothing,  furthermore he didn't 
use any of Prince's actual recording then PeeWee doesn't owe Prince 
anything for the performance either.

Is this correct?
-- 


                                 Dennis Gunn
                                 Mightyjohn@...

                  check out  MIGHTY JOHN HENRY's album "hot air head"
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