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I sometimes worry about copyright infringement when I hear something vaguely familiar in my tunes but can never pin it to anything. Sometimes a melody just seems to write itself too easily. On top of this, almost all Hollywood action film music these days sounds the same, and we must unconsciously hear countless hours of background music in daily life.
So my question is, how often are library composers actually sued, and what are the consequences? A publisher once told me of rooms full of dead-eyed NY copyright lawyers spending all day listening to library music for possible matches but he might have been winding me up.
Obviously if you have a monster hit with the melody from Hey Jude you’ll get what’s coming, but I’d hate to lose my house over a library cue that turns out to be similar to something from a long-forgotten episode of CSI.
Does anyone have any actual experience of this?
Hi Vyv,
I don’t have any personal experience. But I have also heard some bad stories. They could be rumors I suppose.
I have had terrible moments of fear where something I’ve made turns out to sound a bit like something mainstream e.g. same key, same chord progression. Twice a friend has pointed something out. The worst thing is that although it’s all by accident, I now have a constant underlying anxiety that I’m making something similar to a well known song without even realizing it.
To be honest, I think if your career is in music creation it is wise to get asset protection. There is no substitute. I have considered hiring a lawyer to do this.
To be honest, I think if your career is in music creation it is wise to get asset protection. There is no substitute.
Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance might cover you but you might be making too much of this.
Here’s a story for you. Back in the 70s I worked for a very successful songwriter, Paul Williams (now president of ASCAP). Paul is a great songwriter with number of hits under his belt. I have this uncanny knack of hearing a melody and being able to connect it to another song. We would be recording one of his new songs and I would quote another song with a similar melody, use to drive Paul crazy!
Point is there are only so many notes in a song and AFAIK Paul has never been sued. Yes, you can get too close but you can also drive yourself nuts. In any event E&O insurance might help you.
I agree, you can easily go mad with this stuff. I pretty much have. My pulse went to about 250 the last time a friend pointed something out.
I like the asset protection because it also protects you from all kinds of other frivolous lawsuits that can happen in the course of a lifetime. For an anxious wreck like me it was the only course of action.
I like the asset protection because it also protects you from all kinds of other frivolous lawsuits that can happen in the course of a lifetime.
I agree and I have it but mine only protects personal not business. Are you in the U.S. and does it cover business liabilities?
Not in the US. It doesn’t cover business in the sense that it doesn’t cover future income from business… there is no way I can find to cover that.
(hello – first post 🙂 )
I’m just getting started with library music, and this is something that concerns me too.
I live in the UK. Does anyone know what kind of insurance or protection I could get here?
I’m not going to tell everyone to not worry, especially outside the US, becuase I’m not familiar with foreign copyright law.
In the US, copyright litigation is a very costly proposition (hundreds of thousands), and you need significant damages to start with.
To be honest. Most library music composers don’t have deep enough pockets to make it worth pursuing. Moreover, most writers, unless you are a Zimmer or Elfman, will not sustain enough damages to even get into court (in the US).Unfortunately, we live in a world in which few people are comfortable with independent thought. They want what sounds familiar. The approach for library composers is to write in a “style,” but not to copy a specific work.
The thing that I dislike the most is working with temp tracks, when the editors have temp track love. That’s very uncomfortable.
I think the best people to answer this question would be the writer and/or libraries who went through the much publicized episode last summer. They could tell us, how much sh@t hit the fan…if they’re allowed.
At least you should not worry about identical chord progressions. That would make it illegal to write a brand new 12 bar blues 😉
What about writers who do lots of sound-alike tracks? I think there’s a lot of skill in doing a sound-alike right. But, even if the melody and chord pattern is deliberately different, so as not to infringe, a good sound-alike is unmistakable in its intent to rip an existing asset. Has anyone ever faced legal issues in this regard?
Ever since reading the Black Keys lawsuit post and this thread, I have been consumed by worries with this.
Can anyone advise where to look for E&O insurance? (I am in the U.S.) I can only imagine that the specific protection in this field is unique and therefore not every insurance company offers/understands this.
I have written my fair share of high quality sound-alikes and even if the melody/key/tempo/changes/etc are different, I worry I am still at risk because they accurately captured the ‘sound’ of an artist.
Can anyone advise where to look for E&O insurance? (I am in the U.S.) I can only imagine that the specific protection in this field is unique and therefore not every insurance company offers/understands this.
E&O insurance generally covers professionals who make a mistake, or forget to do something, in the course of their business. For example. you tell your insurance agent that you want $200,000 dollars of coverage, and he /she accidentally leaves a zero off your policy and you actually only have $20,000 worth of coverage. You have an incident with $50,000 in damages, only to find out that you’re not covered for $30,000 of the damages.
E&O insurance does not cover an intentional act. If you are producing sound-alikes you are engaging in an intentional act, i.e. it is your intent to sound like a specific artist. E&O insurance most likely will not cover “oops I got too close.”
However, whether merely sounding like an artist is infringement is another question. Everyone owns the “publicity rights” to their image and voice etc. The leading cases in which a sound alike has been at issue have involved singers that intentionally sound like other singers, and thereby infringed on the artists publicity right to their voice. (this BTW falls under trademark law, not copyright)
In those cases the ad agency had approached the original artist to license the songs and/or sing the jingles, and were turned down. The agencies then did the stupid thing which was to hire sound-alike singers to sing sound-alike songs. Tom Waits has sued successfully several times for people copying his vocal style in ads, that he turned down.
Last year I composed a cue for a TV show, based upon a temp track. I think it’s fine, but I’m not comfortable. Before we start to market the catalog to the public, I’m pulling that cue and re-working it.
I’ll feel better._Michael
Hi Michael,
All good info. Thanks for the heads up. I have a few cues that just aren’t sitting right me with. Probably going to re-work or pull them altogether.