I’m currently in the process of writing a song. I’ve got a tune and I’m putting the lyrics together but I’m always concerned that any tune I think of might just be another song I’ve heard somewhere randomly that I don’t remember hearing.
Do I just have a shitty memory or is this a problem that other people have too?
- Skezlarr ( @Skezlarr@aussie.zone ) 54•4 months ago
Not sure how to help you out with it, but you’re at least not alone. Robert Smith from The Cure had the same problem with the song “Friday I’m in Love”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_I%27m_in_Love
“During the writing process, Robert Smith became convinced that he had inadvertently stolen the chord progression from somewhere, and this led him to a state of paranoia where he called everyone he could think of and played the song for them, asking if they had heard it before. None of them had, and Smith realised that the melody was indeed his.”
- Pea666 ( @Pea666@feddit.nl ) 27•4 months ago
Similar story with Yesterday by the Beatles. Paul McCartney was convinced he had unconsciously plagiarized the song after he’d supposedly heard it in a dream.
- Susaga ( @Susaga@ttrpg.network ) English10•4 months ago
Is that what inspired the movie?
- kambusha ( @kambusha@feddit.ch ) 19•4 months ago
No, you see it’s: “dun-dun-dun-dudu-dun-dun dudu dun-dun-dun-dudu-dun-dun”
not
“dun-dun-dun-dudu-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dudu-dun-dun”
- Pat_Riot ( @Pat_Riot@lemmy.today ) 6•4 months ago
Stop…
- pixelscript ( @pixelscript@lemmy.ml ) English6•4 months ago
collaborate and listen?
- Nusm ( @Nusm@yall.theatl.social ) English3•4 months ago
Ice is back with a brand new invention?
Hammer time?
- Hazzia ( @Hazzia@discuss.tchncs.de ) 1•4 months ago
“Beep boop beep”??? “Boop boop bop”!!
- Ephera ( @Ephera@lemmy.ml ) 19•4 months ago
Nope, happens a lot to me, too. Worst part is that whatever you’re accidentally plagiarizing, will immediately sound great and will be really easy to write, because of course, you’ve listened to it before. And it can be nigh impossible to distinguish between accidental plagiarism and just being in a flow.
- Pulptastic ( @Pulptastic@midwest.social ) English12•4 months ago
Everything is derivative of something else. Thag made that drumbeat on a rock 20000 years ago and it has passed down in oral history to eventually be in a Nirvana song.
This sometimes results in songs like Dani California that are almost certainly overt or unintentional copies of another song. When you find out your song is subjectively too close to another song you do the right thing, whatever that may be between you and the original musician.
- INHALE_VEGETABLES ( @INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ) 1•4 months ago
Crug hit rok fist.
- Kayel ( @Kayel@aussie.zone ) 12•4 months ago
Art is theft
All art is inspired by other art, it grows, evolves, eats itself, parodies life, informs living.
I wouldn’t worry about it
- darkphotonstudio ( @darkphotonstudio@beehaw.org ) 9•4 months ago
Copyright bullshit has made artists paranoid.
- averyminya ( @averyminya@beehaw.org ) 8•4 months ago
No you see, that’s the secret. All my songs are just me Weird Al-ing every aspect of them.
Eventually they’re different enough that they’re truly mine.
- DessertStorms ( @DessertStorms@kbin.social ) 8•4 months ago
Run it through shazam (or a foss alternative if there is one) and check?
- SubArcticTundra ( @SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml ) 8•4 months ago
I’ve done this. Yes, they did exist. That’s one of the risks of creating songs from melodies stuck in your head
- INHALE_VEGETABLES ( @INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone ) 1•4 months ago
What was the song?
- Pat_Riot ( @Pat_Riot@lemmy.today ) 6•4 months ago
Don’t worry about it. There are only so many progressions. Everything else is just variations within them, with bass lines, melodies and rhythms.
- eezeebee ( @eezeebee@lemmy.ca ) English4•4 months ago
It is a problem for other people too, but I would argue it’s a very small insignificant one. Unless you’re ripping off an entire song and it’s not parody, you’re fine.
- LainTrain ( @LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 4•4 months ago
You don’t lol. There have been instances in the past when pro musicians did this
- HenchmanNumber3 ( @HenchmanNumber3@lemm.ee ) 4•4 months ago
It might be similar to a song you’ve heard but you’re misremembering the notes of the existing song.
Maybe try playing it for an app that recognizes the song that’s playing and then listen to any songs it guesses might be the song.
- orsetto ( @orsetto@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 2•4 months ago
- stewie3128 ( @stewie3128@lemmy.ml ) 1•4 months ago
When I come up with something particularly good, I take a screenshot of the melody + chord symbols and send it to a couple of my musician friends to ask if they recognize it as anything.
One time, they identified an idea as the bridge to an old pop song, but otherwise I’ve thankfully been in the clear.