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Looking for inspiration, I checked out the best-selling tracks at a popular music library- one I have not submitted music to. Search term = “corporate”
The first 5 top-selling songs had the same bpm, very similar instrument choices (what is that muted guitar sound they all use for ostinato?), some combination of I IV VI V chord changes, and I think they were all in C major.
And they were all by different composers.
Which reminded me of the recent videos going around that show scenes with the original temp tracks and then with the final music – and they’re close enough to identical as to makes no difference.
Would any of the more experienced music library composers like to comment on this?
Hi Terlingua,
There was a time when soundalikes raked in some nice money. I could be wrong, but I am sensing that this has changed….it has for me, at least. ‘Clocks’ was the big one a handful of years ago and a lot of tracks still emulate that tempo/vibe. Writing a soundalike or to a temp track is dangerous territory, but I do believe it can be done well without infringing on anything.
The client wants THAT SONG, and is hoping you can get pretty close. I once had a client make a spreadsheet of how my track was different from the temp track. Yep. No clue that you can’t just rip the melodies and other content.
You’d have to ask MichaelL on this one, but I believe it was usually stolen melodic content that was typically fodder for lawsuits. Recent large lawsuits did tell a little bit of a different story, as it seemed that if a groove + sound choices were too close, it could be an issue as well.
And ‘top selling’ doesn’t always mean that it is great music. It might be ‘top selling’ for any number of reasons. Search engine, title, keywords, etc.
Vlad
If what the world wants is another 120 bpm song in C major with 8th note ostinato and vague melody, I can crank ’em out.
Oh god, please no!
If you want to get lost in the flood of other composers doing exactly the same thing then this would be a good plan.
I’ve had to request some composers to stop uploading these cookie cutter corporate music tracks as it is just to awful to review (for me) and subject our clients to.
There is however room to be creative within the dreaded I IV VI V and it is nice to hear composers that can still think creatively within certain parameters.
But please no more freakin’ ukulele and whistled melodies. Drgh!!Received wisdom is that the music library business is a “numbers game.”
Personally I think this is a dangerous piece of “wisdom” that some composers are putting out there. And it should not be accepted out of hand.
We have composers with 100 tracks in the library that make more than composers with 900 tracks. It is totally a matter of quality.
And I have seen a few composers go from being high quality to simply mediocre because they believe it is simply a numbers game. They go from uploading a few great tracks a month to uploading 50 tracks but of drones and stock pads and percussion sample sets all at real low quality production value. No thought or effort or creativity in the process whatsoever.
This is sad.Please don’t get caught up in all the things being said here. Write what you know, what feels good to you, what makes you proud to listen to and share with others.
You are an artist, not an accountant.Please don’t get caught up in all the things being said here. Write what you know, what feels good to you, what makes you proud to listen to and share with others.
You are an artist, not an accountant.refreshing to hear..I came to the same conclusion a few years back..
Plagiarism is trying to pass off another’s work or ideas as your own. In the context of library music, the more pertinent question is “what is infringement?”
Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer or bright line definition to help you. There are many US Supreme Court cases that deal with the issue and the recent case involving the Estate of Marvin Gaye v Williams and Thicke has further “blurred the lines.”
To oversimplify, the basic test applied has been one of “substantial similarity.” That doesn’t necessarily require expert testimony, supported by charts and graphs. On a very basic level, if you play a piece of music for someone and there’s a spark of recognition that may be enough. It doesn’t have to be overt. Infringement can be more subliminal, think He’s So Fine and My Sweet Lord.
There are a number of recognized “fair use” defenses to infringement including criticism, research and scholarship, news reporting, educational use, and parody.
I won’t address the artistic merits of doing soundalikes or of walking down well-worn stylistic paths other than to say that at best it’s a calculated attempt capitalize on a successful formula and at worst it’s lack of imagination on the composer’s part. If you intentionally produce a track that sounds like Clocks by Coldplay and market it as such, you are on thin ice, unless your composition falls under one of the fair use defenses (which is unlikely).
If you want to understand more of how fair use analysis works, read Justice Souter’s opinion in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1292.ZO.html
Specifically, regarding the ubiquitous ukulele/whistling combination and I IV-VI V chords patterns, there are other defenses. First, you cannot copyright chord changes (think 12-bar blues). Of course, before “Blurred Lines” we thought the same applied to rhythmic patterns as well. Next, it’s hard, if not impossible, to say who originated the simple combination of happy ukulele music and whistling. You could point back to Vaudeville artists in the 1920’s and 30’s, like Rudy Vallee. But, more obviously, you can look at Hawaiian folk music, popularized by soldiers returning from the Pacific after WWII. How, when, and why that sound somehow became identified with corporate music — who knows? It may not matter. The potential defense, in this case, is that such a work is based on public domain works and folk traditions, not specifically any of the other 5 million ukulele/whistling corporate cues (which argues that the style itself is generic).
Beyond ukuleles, whistles, and Coldplay/Us knockoffs, something new is dominating the corporate music sound, based on a current trend identified by Patrick Metzger as the “Millennial Whoop” — an alternation between the fifth and the third scale tones, usually to some variation of “wa-oh-wa-oh.” There has already been litigation over this. https://thepatterning.com/2016/08/20/the-millennial-whoop-a-glorious-obsession-with-the-melodic-alternation-between-the-fifth-and-the-third/
@Terilingua, your question goes to the heart of what defines production music and there no simple answer for that either. Given the right situation, almost any composition might function in a production, but the market thrives on familiarity. Accomplishing familiarity without crossing the line into infringement is a challenge, but it can be accomplished creatively if composers are skilled enough and willing and to make the effort.
Thanks MichaelL fascinating about the “Millennial Whoop” and a great read at that link you posted, https://thepatterning.com/2016/08/20/the-millennial-whoop-a-glorious-obsession-with-the-melodic-alternation-between-the-fifth-and-the-third/.
@michaell – thanks for the well thought out and stated response. Good stuff.
Thanks, Terlingua. It’s one of the joys of being a composer and a lawyer. 😀
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