Tom47

Hi Danidog, It's true that many songs have the same chord progressions. That's not the problem though as chord progressions are not copyrightable. The problems arise when the melody of your song is too similar to the melody of an existing song. In those cases, the precise meaning of "too similar" is what gets hashed out in court; a situation that's best avoided altogether. Best regards.

Why am I so concerned about the possibility? I suppose it's just me. It seems like something that could happen after a song has been released into the stores and result in a copyright infringement lawsuit and all the associated legal costs and unpleasantness. Something that would be best avoided if possible. Also, as a matter of curiosity, may I ask why it matters to you why I'm concerned about the possibility? Tom

James -- An interesting take on the subject indeed, but I don't think it's exactly the same issue. I'm not concerned about writing a song with the same subject matter or even the same treatment as a pre-existing song; my concern is with unconsciously copying another writer's melody, one which I've heard at some point in the past, perhaps while not even consciously aware of it at the time, and then having that melody resurface in my mind while I'm composing what I think is a work of my own. Along those lines, has anyone used any of the melody search engines, such as midomi, WatZatSong, or musipedia to screen your melodies for possible duplication of another's work and, if so, what was your opinion of their utility? In my experience, they seem to generate a lot of false positives. What I'm trying to do with this topic is find a way to avoid accidentally infringing on someone else's copyrighted work.

Hi Cassie, I'm glad you started this topic as it has been one of my main concerns for some time and one prompted me to seek out a songwriter discussion forum to learn how others are handling it. What I would like to know is if anyone has found a reliable way of researching a melody of one's own composition to see if it is perhaps uncomfortably close to an already published one? I've thought about uploading an audio of a new melody to YouTube and leaving it there for a week or so just to see if their Content ID system flags it for copyright infringement, but that seems a bit like abusing their service and may not be that comprehensive a review anyway. I'd be interested in your, or anyone's, ideas on this subject. Best wishes, Tom

1. Do you sing, play an instrument or instruments? Yes What instruments? Trumpet and voice When did you start playing? At age 11 on the trumpet and singing in 2006. Did you teach yourself? No on trumpet. Mostly but with some help from voice coaches with singing. 2. Are you in a band or bands? No What is the name of the band? What do you play? What other instruments are in the band? Do you have a band website? 3. Do you write songs? Yes Do you write lyrics, music or both? Both Do you have a writing partner? No 4. Do you record your music? Yes Do you use a home studio? If so what gear do you use? Yes. Besides a microphone for recording vocal tracks, I use various software applications including Finale Notepad, Audacity, Synthfont, Karafun Studio, and Reaper. Do you use a recording studio? No Do you have music available on the web? if so where? Yes. https://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasHPaine/ 5. What other roles do you perform in the music business? Management? Label owner? Publishing? Promotion? Other? Mixing and mastering my own recordings and creating cover art for my releases. 6. Are you a tech head? No 7. What country do you live in? U.S.A. 8. What are your ambitions? To create music for people's enjoyment. 9. Do you draw/paint/write stories/computer art/dance or other creative pursuit? Yes What are your pastimes? Writing stories, photography, hiking, nature observation. 10. What would you like to get out of Songstuff? Friends and ideas for improving my work as I'm just getting started with writing my own songs.