I watched a video where he demonstrated that many songs use the same tune / Chord progression (?). What is chord progression and why was the one in question essentially uncopyrightable?
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A chord is a group of notes played together.
A chord progression is a series of chords.
It’s a fundamental building block of music.
So attempting to copyright a specific chord progression is similar to attempting to copyright a common word. Not that people don’t attempt this, also, and are sometimes successful.
But like with copyrighting a common word, context is important. For example, if you own a video game IP called Mirror’s Edge, you would have a case if someone else made a video game called Mirrored Edge.
But if someone made a romance movie called Look in the Mirror you’d have no chance.
It’s the same in music- context is important. If the songs are substantively different, even if they use the same or similar chord progression it’s usually a no-case. But if the songs are very tonally similar, it’s less cut and dry.
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