Music Law – copyright law for musicians
This seminar is an intermediary seminar – a followup seminar on our introduction course in copyright law – Copyright laws for youtubers and influncers. We will dive into the world of music and will discuss legal cases where copyright laws came to a head.
The Verve was accused of stealing Bittersweet Symphony from Rolling Stones. Rolling Stones had “borrowed” the song from The Staple Singers, who had borrowed it from earlier musicians. In fact, the melody to Bittersweet Symphony comes from the folk music and the cotton fields. Where do you draw the line between stealing and borrowing? When are you allowed to remix other artists’ songs and when are you not allowed to do that? Why did The Verve have to pay enormous fees to Rolling Stones, when Rolling Stones themselves had borrowed the melody from other musicians?