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?
In: 531
Think of music notes like Legos. There’s only 12 different Lego pieces you can use at any given moment. You and everyone else will only ever be able to work with those same 12 Legos.
Using more than one Lego piece together is a chord.
Now, between individual Legos and combinations of various Legos (notes and chords) and rhythm, you can still get a lot of variation in how they string together (progression) to end up with different builds/structures (songs).
The plaintiffs in this case would have had more of a leg to stand on if Ed had used the *exact* same sequence of Legos. He did not. He used a vaguely similar, but still singularly different sequence of Legos. Welcome to 90% of music. When you only have so many building blocks to work with you’re bound to find a lot of similar music. That doesn’t mean anyone was ripped off or stolen from.
It is impossible to create a unique chord progression at this point, it’s all been done over and over and over. All a chord progression is are chords, which is the combination of 2 or more notes, played in a specific order. The combination of a melody, which is a series of notes, over a chord progression is what is supposed to be copyrightable, and even then if we’re being 100% honest is unlikely to be absolutely unique at this point, simply copyright law is only enforceable via law suit and some melody/progression written 50-60 years ago is unlikely to have a challenger to a modern artist as that songwriter is more than likely dead.
Unfortunately George Harrison got hit with this. “My Sweet Lord” chord progression is similar to another song “He’s So Fine”(?), he got sued and lost.
Chord progression is series of chords that usually underlie the melody of a song.
Why do so many songs use it? Same reason they make the same movie over and over again. People are very simple minded.
Chord progression is literally pulled out of the air from the vibrations of strings, whether on a piano or a guitar or a uke. The fact the D goes with G goes with Em goes with C is a natural phenomenon. B7 might fit, but not E.
4 Chords has already been shared multiple times, but he was also just on Howard Stern explaining what he did for the Jury.
If you want to hear it straight from the songwriter’s mouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcCKlsTgjeM
Its simply too easy to sue people in the United States. I dont even like Ed Sheeran, but he gave like 8 years of his life fighting this nonsense.
Yes, many many songs use the same progressions. It’d be impossible to create ones “just for your song”. But that’s why melody exists. It’s the melody that’s unique. Let’s say I play the chords Am, F, C, G. As an example, Red Hot Chili Peppers songs “Otherside” and “Don’t Forget Me” both use that progression. But the songs don’t sound the same (even though it’s the same band) because the singer creates a melody over the chords.
Edit: melody isn’t strictly for the singer, the guitarist and bassist can, and do make melody. It’s just that the most common thing people know from a song, is its words, because of the strong, unique melody singers make their words flow in over the chord progression.
A chord progression, is the harmonic function of the song. It is the chords used in a song, and the order they are used. Its not just the one that is uncopyrightable, No chord progression can have a copyright. Many are used over and over again. The harmony while important is not what identifies a song. Its the melody and the lyrics. If you have ever heard a twelve bar blues its the some chord progression, and about 10 million different songs .Same with the so called Axis progression, also known as the “Let it Be” progression. They key is not relevant either. There are quite a few other very familiar chord progressions (to musicians anyway). You can copyright individual notes either. In other words you cant own Bb. You also cant own the title. Which is why many songs have the same title.
Didn’t Metallica trademark the E5 powerchord? /s
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