I'm not defending the record industry but Bo
Diddley signed those
contracts. So did Chuck Berry.
I suppose that's why Chuck always insisted on being paid in full, in
cash, before he would go on stage. There's a famous story about a
promoter in the UK having to push banknotes one at a time under the
dressing room door.
Will Bach be upset that Chuck Berry lifted complete
sounds from
his work at times?
I don't think the lift was quite so complete, or close in time. To
take the example of Bo Diddley, he would have been able to hear
plenty of derivative music coming out of his radio while he was still
working. On one level that's flattering, on another it must be
upsetting - especially if the sound-alike bands are getting all the
attention and making all the money.
Every musician uses pieces of everything he's
heard from the time he was born.
Absolutely. There's a difference between influence and plagiarism
though.
Music as a whole is part of a cultural commons but my
creativity
in writing a particular song is not.
I'm not arguing that artists shouldn't be able to earn a living.
The general problem of 'intellectual property' seems to apply across
many arts. Disney, for example, had very few orginal ideas, but is
now keen to keep all the folk stories it borrowed in an
ever-extending copyright envelope. Just parody or otherwise adapt
Mickey Mouse, and see how far a defence of creativity gets you in
front of the judge.
Granite is pretty much common
property too but I don't own any of Michaelangelo's sculptures.
Those 60's British musicians weren't exactly starting with the raw
stone - more like taking a mould of the sculpture. I think the
imitation for the most part was sincere, and done out of respect, but
this discussion was originally about proper attribution.
I live in Mississippi and I've met
many of the still living Delta blues players. Trust me, they're
not very depressed (or repressed) either.
Glad to hear it. I think the Bonzo's lyric was actually a joke :-)
In my opinion, anyone
who has been addicted to heroin and whose son has done a one-way
nose dive out of a fourth story window has a right to play the
blues.
I think Clapton's career as a bluesman was well established by the
time those things happened.
Cheers
Daniel