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A fact from Music plagiarism appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 26 November 2008, and was viewed approximately 1,431 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that according to the U.S. copyright law, musicians who accuse others of plagiarising their work must prove "access" and "similarity", in the absence of a confession?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/November.

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Comment[edit]

First, I would like to congratulate Pin Head for making a nice start to this topic. My only comment would be that the issue is only discussed from the perspective of Unites States law and there are surely similar policies in other countries, particularly in Europe (although I am sure there are laws elsewhere by now). Cheers.Nrswanson (talk) 06:08, 23 November 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

"I Want a New Drug"/"Ghostbusters"[edit]

The two articles are thin on sourcing for this, but the alleged plagiarism of the former by the latter was a) pretty obvious at the time (I walked in a minute or so late the first time I saw the movie and thought they were playing "I Want a New Drug" and b) has spawned an ongoing lawsuit by Ray Parker against Huey Lewis over the latter's alleged breach of confidentiality on Behind the Music. If someone could get some solid sourcing on this, that would be great.

And in the interests of better globalizing this, you should also look into Ray Davies' suit in British courts alleging that the Doors ripped off "All Day and All of the Night" for "Hello, I Love You". Daniel Case (talk) 16:15, 26 November 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Addendum: This is mentioned, but not sourced, in the article about the Doors song. Daniel Case (talk) 16:16, 26 November 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Avoidance[edit]

Has anybody written a set of tips on how to write songs so as to keep this from happening? --Damian Yerrick (talk | stalk) 13:34, 22 February 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

I have personal experience with this and the "only" way to protect yourself is to have an actual Library Of Congress copyright (anything short of that is absolutely worthless, it's a fact). Then, you must have the guts and the stamina to sue and get the lawsuit up and running (not always as easy as it sounds). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.172.19.85 (talk) 02:45, 7 September 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Total Eclipse of the Copyright[edit]

the worst example of this, bar none, is jim steinman's total eclipse of the heart lifted verbatim from ford theatre's "theme for the masses". it is so exact that i am left to wonder whether he payed to license it or something.

i have total eclipse, and it only lists him (steinman) as composer. what's the deal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUy8lt-hDpE

info is sketchy online compared to the other songs listed here. for that matter, why isn't it IN this article? 209.172.25.204 (talk) 07:08, 26 May 2014 (UTC)Reply[reply]

"My Sweet Lord" plagiarism[edit]

The use of the source "abbeyrd.best.vwh.net" is problematic, as it appears to be written by a Beatles fan, ie. it's not neutral. There are no links to references to the claims made on that website, which makes it an opinion piece and in violation of NPOV. 190.167.243.13 (talk) 02:32, 27 June 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Agree, it's a terrible reflection on Wikipedia standards and bias. A good source for many of the Beatles' plagiarisms, and there are many, is The Beatles: Extraordinary Plagiarists (2012) by musicologist Edgar O. Cruz (ISBN 978-971-94954-0-6). KwanzaMan (talk) 03:23, 30 September 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]

What kind of a reflection is it on wiki's standards and bias when you respond to your own comments like that? 138.0.174.22 (talk) 15:01, 17 January 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Stairway to Heaven Intro similarities[edit]

The famous intro part bears some resemblance to Italian composer Giovanni Battista Granata's "Sonata di Chittarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo". The "Stairway" intro appears to be a combination of the bass line on "Taurus" plus the lead melody on Granata's piece from the 17th century. Do a search on Youtube for 'origin of stairway to heaven' and you'll find it. Listen closely at around the 0:32 mark. It would be nice to add this info so more people know about it. Chapa1985 (talk) 20:47, 17 March 2016 (UTC)Reply[reply]

Rum and Coca Cola[edit]

According to the wikipedia on the song Rum and Coca Cola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_and_Coca-Cola :

"After the release of the Andrews Sisters' version of "Rum and Coca-Cola", [Lionel] Belasco and Lord Invader [aka Rupert Grant] sued for copyright infringement of the song's music and lyrics, respectively. In 1948, after years of litigation, both plaintiffs won their cases, with Lord Invader receiving an award of $150,000 in owed royalties. However, Morey Amsterdam was allowed to retain copyright to the song.[2] Lord Invader also wrote a follow-up song to "Rum and Coca-Cola", titled "Yankee Dollar"."

The song as Belasco and Grant wrote it and released by Lord Invader (Grant) was a major hit in Trinidad (and some other places in the Caribbean) in 1943. Comedian Morey Amsterdam (who years later was in The Dick Van Dyke Show) heard the song while there in September of that year. He de-fanged the political commentary in the lyrics (except the latent socio-political intent of referring to doing things "for the Yankee dollar". Most of the rest of the lyric and tune was kept intact by Amsterdam, Jeri Sullavan and Paul Baron, and released in 1945 by the Andrews Sisters, going to US Pop #1. It is one of the most visible and proven example of a stolen song, because it was such a large hit in both forms - in both forms, one of the biggest hits of WW2 in their respective nations. Again, acc to the Wikipedia on the song, "The true credits for music and lyrics were restored in a plagiarism lawsuit won by attorney Louis Nizer, the account of which can be read in his book, *My Life in Court*." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.12.90.14 (talk) 13:22, 18 October 2017 (UTC)Reply[reply]

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Disco Polo[edit]

Plagiarism is very common in disco polo music genre. Most of bands just rip-off mostly Eastern European hi-nrg/disco/eurodance tracks

Too geared towards popular music[edit]

Couldn't there be some examples from other sources? A lot of classical composers have been accused of stealing from one another. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.44.130.135 (talk) 17:21, 31 March 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply]