Perhaps inspired by the recent rash of high-profile copyright cases, a bunch of our favorite music blogs have lately been providing interesting tips for legally recording and performing covers of other musician’s songs. Unlike the more complicated forms of musical imitation involved in those lawsuits, covering a song is actually quite straightforward. A “cover” is a new performance of…
Happy Friday! This week’s Off Notes is a festive one. We’ve got a series of musical celebrations lined up — from a subterranean hullabaloo over Bach the elder’s 330th birthday, to the upcoming global observance of music’s newest holiday, Piano Day, to an awards show for a digital age — we have a lot to…
The music world is up in arms. In case you’ve been living under a rock, here’s what happened: Last week a jury decided that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams had violated the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” with their hit song “Blurred Lines”. The song made $16.67 million dollars, so the songwriters…
I have always been fascinated by songs that sound alike. I love the kind of artists’ mindmeld that happens when multiple songs released around the same time converge in similar sound. I love when musicians pay homage to their favorite influences. I love trying to pick out samples in songs. And I love the gossipy…
