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Prior to the East Coast JP Folks Road Trip, I wrote a song that I wanted to perform at the Sept. 11 showcase - a song of hope, with the recurring lyrics, "On the other side..."

Less than a month after my performance, I heard a new release debut by David Grey; the same song title, with almost the same recurring lyrics, "Meet you on the other side".

I swear I never heard his song before I did mine (especially since his was debuted after I performed mine), but now I feel like I can't perform my song again (even though content is very different).

Has this kind of thing ever happened to you? If so, how did you deal with it? I like my version better and want to continue performing/recording it, any thoughts??

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Tom,

When exactly was his CD released? We have you performing your song on video, so we can prove the date with documentation. If you have additional documentation of earlier versions, performances, work tapes, edits etc.. those all are valuable as well. You might find out if that song on his album got airplay prior to you writing your version just to be sure there was no accidental/subconcious effect. If that didn't happen, then you should be okay. To prove violation of copyright, one piece is proving access. In this case it sounds like you both came up with the same idea in a similar time frame independent of each other. That happens. You should both be able to use the work if you have supporting evidence you wrote it yourself.

Brian


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Yes, it happens. Last year I wrote a song about a guy who speaks no French who meets a girl in New Orleans who speaks no English. A few months ago I hear a song on the radio called "One night in New Orleans" and guess what it's all about?

There's no way the writer of "One Night..." could have heard my tune. And I definately never heard his. Even though we used some of the same French phrases it can only be a coincidence. If you know anything about coincidences what would be really strange is if they DIDN'T occur.

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For sure...like BB sez it happens all the time..

Mine was "Saving The Best For Last"...

I'd met this wonderful woman late in my life and wrote a song about it....
BOOM!!!!!! Vanessa Williams' record came out about 2 weeks after I finished my song..

Oh Well...

Bob

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Yep, it's happened to me 2 or 3 times. Working on a song and here ccomes one out similar to it . Sometimes just the title and titles aren't ordinarily copyrightable, but even one by the same title , if it's gets play, kinda' knocks your song at least for a time

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This is especially bound to happen with popular themes which songwriters' seem to jump on the bandwagon over. Call it an occupational hazard. Best of Luck, TJ Sullivan


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Tom,

As Brian said - >You should both be able to use the work if you have supporting evidence you wrote it yourself<

Anyway, this has happened to me a few times.. The most recent was in 2000. I'll share it with you... My Mom passed away in Feb 2000. Then I lost my brother in April 00.. Both unexpected.. Crazy time in my life to say the least.. One of the songs I wrote with this in mind is called "Everythings Different Now" and was finished at the end of April 2000...

Don Henley's "Inside Job" was released a month later in May 2000 and has a song on it called "Everything Is Different Now"... I heard it on the radio as I was finishing up the demo on my song... Completely different melody and structure but similar repeating chorus section.. There's no way either of us could've heard each other's song... Strange thing is I'm a big Henley fan.. [Linked Image]

Good luck..

russ

www.russonline.com

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It has happened to me on a musical level. Both come from my old CD (Amalgam - Delicate Stretch of the Seems).

First - Track 14 is called "Beside the Lies". Very similar to Joe Satriani's track 14 from Crystal Planet CD. His is instrumental, mine is vocal. But the grooves and the guitars in the verses of both are very similar - very weird.

Second - Track 2 is called "Sex". I have a flowing type of guitar riff in the verse that is very distinctive in the it's performance. Compared to Filter's - "Take a Picture". Though they resolve theirs to a different chord (It sounds as if it's been sampled and pitch-shifted though).

In the first case, my tune was out a year before his. In the second case a couple of years.

I can't prove if they heard it and don't rightly care anymore. I thought the Joe one was cool. But I was really pissed off about the Filter one as it sounded like it could have been sampled from my CD.

Jody
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Sometimes people do steal musical and lyrical ideas from others. Sometimes it's a subconcious thing and in the case of those who don't often listen to or read the works of others, it is merely coincidental simultaneous creation. (I think that is the term the copyright office uses. Something like that anyway. )

There are a lot of unknown writers who think someone has stolen their creation.

I think that is the reason some publishers and producers will only accept registered copyrighted work.

There are only so many notes that can be used in music and only so many conversational phrases that are universal to language. Occasionally people coin a new phrase, but really there is a limit and nearly everything that has been written musically or lyrically has been said before. The challenge is coming up with new combinations of lyrics and music.

I don't know that anyone has "borrowed" from me yet because I am not well known, but I do worry and wonder if I have "borrowed" from others.

I don't worry about lyrics too much, a lifted line is pretty obivious there, but I do worry about music, especially when a melody comes to me easily and it's really good. I try to avoid listening to other composer's songs in the genres (Christian, Children's and Novelty) I usually write in. This is becoming increasingly difficult for me because since I joined JPF I have started creating in other genres. I also need to listen and read the works of others to be supportive, so I can no longer isolate myself like I had done previously. Oh well …

I do wonder about some genres like Blues, Folk and Country. A lot of the melodies sound very much alike. It often seems like only the words are different.
Has anybody else noticed that?

JeanB



[This message has been edited by JeanB (edited 10-11-2002).]


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Hi all,
There are several things that come to mind when reading this post...one is an old saying I heard on several occasions that goes "good writers create, great writers steal". I mean, don't the mentors and songwriting advice givers always suggest listening to certain writer's songs or to read certain books to understand structure and lyric rhyme and meter better? I'm not condoning stealing ideas, but the jist of it is that there is nothing out there that is truly ORIGINAL. There are individuals and bands that are very different and unique, (Ani DiFranco and Les Claypool of Primus come to mind), but, it can all be traced to an influential source. You can even hear in classical music how the great composers borrowed hints of melody lines and themes from each other. I believe this was done more out of respect than to blatantly steal. Whether we like it or not, alot of what we write today can be traced to The Beatles simply in terms of the types of chord progressions that work well in pop music over the last 40 years. I think the problem lies in people's perception, especially when there's a nationally released song involved with a similar line or title, people will automatically assume you're trying to cop someone else's idea. From what I understand, the real problem of actual stealing lies in similarities in the melody line, an example being George Harrison being sued for "My Sweet Lord" for having a very close, if not identical melody line to "He's So Fine" (I think???). And more recently, The Verve totally ripped a string line from a Rolling Stones song for use in "Bittersweet Symphony" and ended up paying royalties to the Stones for it. I would be angry if I had sent a demo out and then found out a similar sounding song was released by the company I sent it to. However, I copyright all material, so I wouldn't have to worry. Anyway, I think for various reasons, mainly that humans experience so many similar things, (love, death, anger, breakups, etc...) and those themes are common to songwriting, it's inevitable that those commonalities would pop up in songs. Whether it's a conscious choice by the writer or by subconscious osmosis, who knows? Just some thoughts on a very interesting topic.
davey O.
to find out if I've "stolen" anyone's songs, check out soundclips (keep in mind that I'm being facetious about the "stolen" thing!!!) at...www.cdbaby.com/daveyo1 and www.cdbaby.com/daveyo2

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Thank you all for your input, and I do mean it sincerely. Quite honestly, I didn't expect so much feedback, so again I thank you.

Brian - a special thanks for your advise, I will have to do some research to find out when the new David Grey recording was released.

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There is NO reason for you to quit performing your song. Nor is there any reason for you not to recrod it or pitch it to others, if that is your goal. If there is another song ( or even many others) with similar words, so be it. Let the cream rise to the top.

However, if the other song becomes a big hit, it WILL definitely effect the market potential of your song. We all have to learn to live with that possiblility.

On three different occasions I have watched as songs with titles identical to songs of mine rise to the top of the charts. Two of them went to number 1. Another number 1 song has a nearly identical title to one of mine. There is nothing I can do about it except take some solace in the fact that I must be writing pretty strong titles.

[This message has been edited by TrumanCoyote (edited 10-11-2002).]

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Quote
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 3daveyO3:
However, I copyright all material, so I wouldn't have to worry.</font>


Actually, you do need to worry. A registered copyright does not guarantee you a win in court. The big publishers have very deep pockets and they can drag out a court case to the point where a "little" guy can't afford it. Most lawyers who specialize in such things will not take on such a case for a percentage of any possible judgement, because they know the odds are very good that the publisher will win.

The hardest thing for an unknown songwriter to prove is that the artist who allegedly stole the song had access to it.

BB


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BB is dead right on the copyright thing. A lot of people think if they've registered the copyright, they're 100& protected. As Waylon Jennings said "Wrong". How many songwriters have the money to fight a case through court, hire a lawyer to match what a big publ. co. or label can hire.
Another technique they use is to go through the archives and drag out a dozen or dozens of other songs that are also similar to the song in question. By the time they get through playing them the judge or jury usually concludes tbat the song is no more similar to yours than lots of others.
Not to say you shouldn't register your copyright. It's the best protection we have , but as far as being 100 % protection, nope

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Right on, Wyman... and because most lawyers won't work for percentage of judgement that means CASH as you go. And you'll have to pay for experts to tesitfy on your behalf. Not cheap. You can take some consolation in the fact that this is not unique to the music industry. Same thing happens in industry with patents, processes, and other intellectual property.

my advice: marry into a family with lots of lawyers.

BB


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Hey BB,
I realize that the "little" guy could rarely win a case against the big corporation of a record or publishing company, probably ending in a settlement for an "undisclosed" amount of money and some sort of documentation agreeing to silence on the case. So, then, what's the point of having copyright protection if indeed I send copyrighted material into a record or publishing company and they can in essence "steal" it away??? I mean it's bad enough that a first time publishing or recording contract practically strips the artist/writer of nearly all royalties. Sorry, if I'm a bit confused on this one, I thought those laws were there to protect the "little" guy.
davey O.

[This message has been edited by 3daveyO3 (edited 10-11-2002).]

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Davey,

Most publising companies would not want to settle out of court. They'll take it all the way to the limit because they want to avoid "nuisance" suits, whereby people sue for copyright infringement to get a little "shhhh" money.

But since we're talking about a legitimate copyright (say you wrote a song and later it appeared word for word, note for note, on a Celine Dion CD) your question of "what's the point in registering?" is a good one.

Well, the point is a little beyond the scope of my small mind. It's like asing why equal rights are more "equal" for some than others? It's just the way our society has evolved. The rich and powerful do have the ability to cheat and steal from the not-rich and not-powerful. I don't question the ethics. There's no point. It happens.

But the fact is, you register copyright protection because 99.999% of the time your copyright WON'T be infringed upon. Then you can collect what is due to you in the form of royalties and whatever.

You also want to believe that most publishers are legitimate. If you come to them with a good product, it wouldn't make business sense for them to steal that from you... because if you have one good product, chances are you'll have more in the future.

Not everybody is a liar and a thief. Sometimes it just seems that way. And don't even get me started on swapping mp3s.

BB


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Are most of these comments directed at the concept or this particular instance. Tom states: "even though content is very different" so I gather the two songs are not similar with the exception of the title and the repeating tag "meet you on the other side".

Given the events of 9-11 and the number of friends and family people lost unexpectedly, my guess is there are more than just these two songs written with this theme in the past year.

If I had written a song I liked on this theme, I wouldn't hesitate to play it.


------------------
Marty Helly

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Marty my home

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We all know that titles and ideas can not be copyrighted,how many songs are written saying "I love you",thousands.The content of the song is what's important,after all a song is suppose to tell a story,make someone laugh or cry or dance,etc.Parts of any song are sure to be the same as parts of some other song some where in the world.A line or two the same is not infringement where a complete verse very well might be,it depends on the song amoung other things,that why we have judges.

A songs is like a jigsaw puzzle,there are only so many words and musical notes in the world to use but when they are put together they give you a different story or picture which you hope millions will appreciate and love.


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In response to Jean B regarding a lot of country music, etc., sounding the same:

The most basic songs can be reduced to a typical 1,4,5 chord pattern. Much of country, folk, and roots rock follows that structure.

Hence, with only 12 notes to apply to this very limited chord structure, it's no wonder many of these songs sound the same. A big part of music is just simple math--2+2 will always equal 4.

The difference between songwriting and GREAT songwriting is the creation of something dynamic, emotional and fresh despite these stated limitations--through the use of creative lyrical phrases, more complicated chord structures, chords with a wider and more complex flavor, interesting rhythms, imaginative topics, and melodies that make musical "sense" but which take the listener to unexpected places.

And, yet, strangely--why is it that those basic songs and bare-bones melodies cling so closely to our conscious memory? Don't believe me? OK then--explain why "Achy Breaky Heart" was such a big hit! (My apologies: I know you'll now be humming that song the rest of the day...) [Linked Image]


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While readin' Ages Ago, I chanced upon an Article on "Morphic Therory"...which basically stated that whenever an IDEA arrives "out of The Blue" in ONE Place, it often Arrives at ANOTHER Place (or Two) at the Same Time. There were SEVERAL Inventors working Miles Apart on The Telephone...Alexander Bell got to the Patent Office FIRST!

The Most POPULAR Melody of ALL TIME is Westminster Chimes. Came from Handel's "Messiah"...A "Dr. Crotch," London, wrote all 16 Words in 1787 (Basically Ripped Off The Melody), it's still sellin' Millions of Copies to this day...(Elvis'll Never Catch Up!) MUSICALLY, it uses ALL Possible Combinations of FOUR NOTES.
If Handel hadn't thought it up, wanna BET SOMEONE ELSE would've ANYWAYS? (It'll be Real Interesting when we Explore Other Worlds to see if WESTMINSTER CHIMES Isn't playing in Some Other Solar System, Eh?)

Also read the Average Copyright Infringement Case costs the Plaintiff around $20K on Average...so be sure to WAIT 'till "It's a HIT"...heh-heh!

Recently heard George Harrison's Attorney APPEALED the Infringement Lawsuit's Judgement and It WAS OVERTURNED...(Any Confirmation?)

'Nother bit of Trivia, read where IF you get a "Top Ten Charted Hit," you can EXPECT a Suit or Two...Author recommended ya Incorporate, as a Writer, and list your (Then-"Typewriter") your Desk, & Telephone as "Corporate Assets." Should ya LOSE the Suit, Victors can then fight over Your Typewriter (OK, Computer), Your Desk, & Your Telephone.

A Nashville "Oldtimer" sez Nashville's Cloning Stuff So FAST Nowadays, they're even Cloning the BAD Ones...heh-heh...and Losin' their Shirts because of it.

That's what I heard---

Big Hugs,
Stan

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Heard the David Gray tune on the radio this weekend and was unimpressed, to put it mildly.

I'd be worried Tom if your song actually sounded like that - and not because of copyright issues. Hope you did a much better job with the theme than what was playing over the airwaves.


Marty my home

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Hi Marty,
To be honest, I hated the David Gray song from the start. Of course I'm opinionated,so I thing my song is WAY better.

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For anyone that is/was curious, I posted my "The Other Side" lyrics at Lyric Feedback Forum 2.

Now I have another question - how do I get the copyright symbol to appear???

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On a mac computer the keystrokes are option + G.

Here is a link that will tell you how to make it in all microsoft programs.

http://www.wesleyan.edu/CTWMellon/Resources/Quickstarts/fcmswindows.html

If you still can't produce it, just copy the symbol from a webpage and paste it in your document.


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Hi guys,

Wanna to make a contribution here. Yes, Tom these things happen. But keep performing it.

I don't know how many of you have gone through the path of suing for copyright infringement.I have...and this goes back 15 years ago. I created a set of instructions for video games called Permastruct. Before launching it I took it to the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, and showed it to a few of my distributors. I was given a bad review. Undaunted I continued to market it, and it became a hit. However, within a couple of weeks I was copied, lock-stock-and-barrel, including my "English" spelling, my grammatical mistakes, etc. I sued a Florida distributor, his distributors, his customers. And I followed this through because I was pissed. This exercise cost my company $60K all told. And when came time to collect for damages, my lawyer found out that these crooks had emptied their bank accounts, warehouses, etc. I got zilch back, except satisfaction. To slap my other cheek, the American Video Association awarded the product of the pirate the award of the most innovative product of the year!!!

Anyway, my contribution to this thread...be prepared to spend lots of money in a suit, and be prepared to follow through. During the course of our action, we mulled over lots of decisions. It was an unproductive exercise. But we did stop competitors...at least for a while.



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Good story, Stan.

Similar thing happened to me, but with happier results. In 1996 I invented a process and our company got a patent on it. I was well-rewarded financially.

Six months later one of our competitors is out hawking the same process. Some of the instructions were lifted directly from our manual (we know because the Spanish and French translations were exactly the same).

Anyway, I guess our competitor didn't realize that we have a whole floor of lawyers in our Atlanta office who specialice in Intellectual Property. It took them a few years (and a lot of money) but we got it all straight in the end. The competitor had to pay us damages and we ended up taking many of their customers away (those ones who had purchased the process).

The point is, if I had been a small business owner I would have been dead. No way I could afford to carry a suit like that. In fact, I have heard of cases where some little guy invents a product, big company snatches it, the little guy makes noise, and the big company ends up suing the little guy. And wins!!!!

Tsk, tsk, tsk... nobody ever said life was fair... but geeze!

Billy Bob


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HI BB!

Too True!

Inventor of the Rotary Dial Telephone was a Tampa Employee of (Believe it was Bell Telephone) who developed it in his Spare Time. Filed for Patent on it, Big Bell insisted since he was an Employee, the Invention belonged to THEM...and Won.

Big Money USUALLY Wins. Something to keep in mind....

Congrats on YOUR Win, Amigo!

Big Guy-Hug,
Stan

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My first band had a really cool, uplifting track that always went down well in concert. It was only months later that I realised that musically it was a note-for-note melody line from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake"! Sounds a bit pretentious when you say it, but it worked really well as a powerpop tune!

Michael
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Stan, almost any large corporation you work for in a specific industry will make you sign a contract that anything you invent while in their employ is automatically THEIRS. It's unfortunate that people don't pay attention to what they are signing.

On that same note, if you sign up as a STAFF WRITER, every song you write for that contract term >>> they own the publishing on. Whether it's 10 songs or 200. It's one of those things that make alot of great writers NOT want a staff deal. Reason being, if you write 20 hits out of those 200 but the publisher doesn't agree and then your contract expires, guess what... you can't go seek other publishing.

Not a risk I think I would want to take.


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Tom, It does happen....I believe many times folks
happen to be on the same wave length at
same certain period of time.

On the OLD, OLD, OLD JPF board..I posted a song
called Let's Play, a simple children's song
and it was one of the first ones I'd written. Wyman and I polished the lyrics up
at the end of 2001 ( I believe)......and right before We sent It in to be demoed, I happen to notice that Raffi's newest album was
Let's Play....so Wyman and I changed the
name of our song. I know our song never caught Raffi's eye...and that it was coincidental, but...it made US FEEL
strange. (like we had been at fault when
it was really coincidental). Other times on the JPF board..
I've been playing with the exact same title
at the very same time someone else was playing with the same title (but thankfully
in different ways).....so I know it happens.

But I'm sure...songs do get lifted..too.
We've been told that if you're pretty sure..
you've got a theme...title...that's super original....and hasn't been done MUCH...
it might be to your benefit...to keep it
"for your eyes only"...but then you lose the benefit...of having lots of eyes....see
what you might not be seeing....

in any case...good luck with this..
and others you write...

Kaley [Linked Image]

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Quote
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Tom Tracy:
Prior to the East Coast JP Folks Road Trip, I wrote a song that I wanted to perform at the Sept. 11 showcase - a song of hope, with the recurring lyrics, "On the other side..."

Less than a month after my performance, I heard a new release debut by David Grey; the same song title, with almost the same recurring lyrics, "Meet you on the other side".

I swear I never heard his song before I did mine (especially since his was debuted after I performed mine), but now I feel like I can't perform my song again (even though content is very different).

Has this kind of thing ever happened to you? If so, how did you deal with it? I like my version better and want to continue performing/recording it, any thoughts??
</font>

Hi, Tom,
Yep it's happened to me too--three weeks after one of my songs was cut on somebody else's CD, I heard a Garth Brooks song with a chorus almost exactly the same. It was the first Garth Brooks song I ever heard--so go figure. It seems like there are a whole lot of talented people writing, and so lots of similar ideas get different treatment.
I read sometimes where songwriters say they don't write the songs but are just "antennae" through which the idea makes its way into the human consciousness. I don't have any idea if that's true, but if it is, maybe the same idea is available to lots of different "anntenae" at any given time...

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Hey Tom,

So are you still performing this song?

Brian


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I think when you pick a phrase as common as "See You On the Other Side" or "Saving the Best for Last" as the main hook and/or title of your song, there's going to be several songs that are similar. And really, unless you become a big star with a lot of media exposure I don't think you have anything to worry about.

And to clarify, David Gray's song and entire new album is about his father passing away, not 9/11. Not that I'm a big Gray fan, but I read an article about it.


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