Oh,
happy, you made me laugh. Thank you.
(re: yesterday's post and discussion)
And I love listening to Kinkykiedis' videos. UP is gorgeous and has barely 50 views.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_v0fJN87Qg.
I know, the video floodgates are wide open, Paris is ongoing, and we all can only see a few videos a day and have to let the rest flood by us, but if you get a chance, they are worth it.
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Regarding this music plagiarism debate, I'd go exactly with what Cassie and glitter said regarding the specific situation of 'save me'.
In general, I am not always agreeing with these shouts of plagiarism, and I don't envy the lawyers that are supposed to sort out, what is just similar and what is truly stolen. I do think that Marvin Gaye deserves to win his lawsuit, because that is a tad to blatant, imo. But in many other situations, I am a bit more careful to scream theft. Let me explain. Again, these are just thoughts of mine, thrown out for discussion, wondering what others are thinking, so here we go.
Somehow, the 1950s - 80s were like the time of discovery in modern pop and rock music. Like a new continent, new land.
Of course, nobody cared, that the new discoveries were made on the back of
a few Indians nations classical music, or gospel sounds, or blues and other earlier musical forms. Almost nobody was suing, there were no judges and no jury and usually, no claims were made either.
There are a few rare occasions, like Led Zeppelin being (rightfully) held accountable for what thye did with WWL. This was not just a melody steal, Jimmy Page even took the lyrics along with it. This did not change public perception on who is seen as the mastermind and who is forgotten, but at least a wrong was righted with the eventual settlement.
So, in the quickly expanding pop/rock era of the ca. 1950-80s, the most common chord progressions, rhythmic combinations and phrasings and therefore melodies sitting on top of that, were snapped up by somebody over a time of about 40 years, so they are now claimed as somebody's property, and new songwriters have less and less space to create something that, on one hand is unique, and on the other hand is still easy to sing, has a great chorus or a great hook, is appealing to the masses. Especially in pop, I find more and more songs, that to me seem written artificially around what would be the normal flow of melody, presumably in order to not plagiarize, but with the result that they sound non-elegant and quirky.
You think, there is still a lot of space left? Then why are the creators of the biggest hits of the last few years accused of plagiarism or involved in lawsuit or have since settled. (Blurred lines, happy, save me, etc.). It is imo because they went with the comfortable and natural melodic and rhythmic sequences, and did not write detours around them. And promptly, the public loves these songs, they become hits. And then the battle begins.
Other songs, that are written around the already existing material, are less memorable, and they often don't become hits.
It is a difficult question to answer whether this establishment of ownership by ' we came first ' is not actually canibalizing present song-writers. The space for creativity has tightened imo. Lots of music today is drawing on past influences rather than developing something totally new, and imo there is a reason for this. The greener pastures have been grazed over many times already, and yet they get revisited endlessly, because people have more hope to have success there, than they have in discovering something new.
Add to that, that today the public gets to have a loud voice, via social media, and there is always a fan of somebody else, who wants to bring a specific artist down, in the wrongly held perception, that this is somehow of benefit of their own chosen one.
And so the rumble about every artist supposedly copying somebody else's work is heard around the globe.
I personally don't think there is endless room for all. I actually think, the space has gotten crowded and it has become quite difficult to come up with something original and successful. Interestingly, I don't think this is a problem for Adam, but I do think it is a problem for many others. Adam has come up with a ton of new stuff, compared to other artists that seem to walk in very trodden paths. Adam has found himself quite a bit of new territory, imo, but then, he also has not had the most commercial success with that yet either. But tbh, I believe the reasons for that lack of major success, are of other nature, and I do think, he can continue to work in the new spaces he has started to explore for himself.
Part of the reason why Adam does find new creative space for himself, is because he has got skills that others don't have and can therefore dig on territory that others cannot reach. His challenge is more to now turn this into more perfected songs and more appreciated mainstream songs, and I am hoping that with the new input and songwriting help, he can get the job done. I always thought Adam had interesting concepts and ideas, imo. But across pop and rock music overall, I do see major challenges to figure out something new.
YMMV and opinion open for discussion.
