chaihyunblogs

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The difficulty of Navigating Copyright Music: Is it Copying if they all sound the same?

Navigating copyright music and what constitutes violating copyright is a lot harder and trickier than it seems. In this blog, I want to share different YouTube videos that show how the music industry structures their music quite similarly and relies on tried-and-true chord progressions which can muddy the waters of copyright infringement.

According to the Entertainment Weekly news outlet, EW has obtained a court document of Dua Lipa’s song “Levitating” and that they are being sued by music artist Kritical Sound System for Copyright Infringement for “Substantially Similar” song.

To argue if Kritical Sound System have merit in their claims is Adam Neely, from YouTube compares the rhythm structure and chord progression of the songs.

[Screenshot from Adam Neely’s YouTube channel: Did Dua Lipa ACTUALLY Plagiarize Levitating?

(Adam Neely, 2022, 1:45) – Live your Life and Levitation

When you compare the composition side-by-side, it seems obvious that Dua Lipa’s Levitating which was released in the year 2020, looks identical to Artikal Sound System’s “Live your life” which was released in 2017.

So here are the similarities that Adam Neely, argued that make the songs sound similar:

1.     The Melodic Arc in 5 4 4 key - that makes the tone sound similar

2.     The same minor 4 key chord progression

3.     The Rhyme and Lyric Scheme are also similar

It seems, that with all these similarities that it is clear that Dua Lipa’s song might have been copied from the Artikal Sound system, but similar music rhythms used for both songs are more commonplace in dance music. The music elements that make the rhythm and sound of the music similar are called the “Charleston Rhythm.”

(Adam Neely, 2022, 2:05) – Live your Life and Levitating

(Adam Neely, 2022, 1:45) – Cake by the Ocean

The common observation of the listening public is how "Live Your Life" and "Levitating" sound the same as Outkast’s song “Rosa Parks” which was released in 1998. The other song that it bears a resemblance to is DNCE’s “Cake by the ocean” All of these songs use similar minor 4 key chord progression, same melodic beats, and even lyric scheme.

In another video done by Adam Neely, “Did Olivia Rodrigo steal from Paramore? Also tackles a similar conundrum. Although this time instead of “The Charleston” it is “The 4 chords of alternative pop music” and the use of similar tonal and melodic beats.

The 4 chords popularly used in Alternative Pop Music

If you align the songs of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day, “We are never getting back together” by Taylor Swift, and the point of contention in the public discourse that Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” stole from Paramore’s “Misery Business” you can see it is the same song.

In examining all of this, I wonder if being an independent musician makes it harder to navigate the murky waters of copyright. It seems it is getting harder to create unique creative output, and there might be a chance of accidental copyright infringement or big music corporations can easily claim you copied from them when it's a chord progression everyone uses. I suppose it makes it harder to navigate if indeed a big music industry is infringing on your copyright or again just songs sounding the same.

I–V–vi–IV progression – The four Chord of Pop.

To finalize the point, I made in this video, I will leave a link to the video that showcases how Pop Songs are basically the same.

Sources:

Youtube Sources:

Adam Neely (2022) Did Dua Lipa ACTUALLY Plagiarize Levitating. 6 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnA1QmZvSNs&list=PLTK1cuYoIX6UqyDwc7pMno7ZQ8YLe9hC-&index=4

Adam Neely (2021) Did Olivia Rodrigo steal from Paramore? (analysis). 30 August. Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX7a2p5_JsM&list=PLTK1cuYoIX6UqyDwc7pMno7ZQ8YLe9hC-&index=3

The Axis of Awesome (2011) 4 Chords | Music Videos | The Axis Of Awesome. 20 January

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ

News Article Source:

Nolfi, J. (2022) ‘Dua Lipa sued by reggae band claiming 'Levitating' ripped off their song’ Entertainment Weekly, (2 March).

Available at: Sources: https://ew.com/music/dua-lipa-sued-levitating-artikal-sound-system/

(Accessed: 3 April 2022)

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The Limitation of the Trademark Act: Protection Not Guaranteed.

For this blog, I want to share with you a podcast from 99 Percent Invisible on “Articles of Interest: On Knock offs” by Avery Truffleman. The podcast, in a nutshell, is about the culture of Knockoffs, and how logos, symbols, and brands of established luxury brands have their cultural power over people. But the main theme of the podcast is the Trademark Law at work in the world of fashion businesses. The podcast explores the stories of two people with their personal experiences of the American Trademark Law.

The first story is on Daniel Day AKA Dapper Dan, in this podcast he recounts his past self as a hustler, making ends meet, and how he used to sell stolen or knock-off clothes. He has always been stylish and the reason why he calls himself Dapper Dan. Because of his interest in style and fashion, he decided in the 80s that he wanted to be part of the fashion business and run his own shop. Dapper Dan’s brand is actually using other popular luxury brands’ logos and symbols embossed into his clothes. He wanted to transform the symbol of luxury into his garments. But in end, it all got caught up to him because even if the Luxury brands of Louis Vuitton, Fendy, and Gucci never made garments or clothes, he was still infringing on their Trademark even if he transforms the logos into something else. As the Trademark of 1994 states “A trademark may, in particular, consist of words (including names), designs letters, numerals or the shape of goods and their packaging.” Unlike, the copyright law with the exemption of Fair Use in America and Fair Dealings in the United Kingdom, it doesn’t have any exemption whether the logo is used in a transformative matter.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dapper Dan (@dapperdanharlem)

As clear-cut, and to the point Trademark Law is, it doesn’t always work how it is intended. One of the personal stories from the podcast is Tuesday Bassen. Tuesday is a small fashion business owner, and an illustrator and she designs her own clothing and accessory. The design and logos and illustration are trademarked but despite this, it did not automatically protect her when the fashion Giant Zara has sold a line of a design identical to Tuesday’s.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tuesday Bassen (@tuesdaybassen)

Despite the law being on her side when she filed suit against Zara for trademark infringement, she still got caught up in litigations, and legal fees for years only for it to eventually end in a mutually satisfactory settlement. The Trademark law that was put in place to protect the IP of its citizen like Tuesday Bassen ends up hurting the little guys while benefiting the rich. I suppose because fashion trends come and go, the smaller creators, who have gotten their trademark infringed by big companies that by the time they file their suit, their design the big corporation used is already out of their rotation.

(Messy Nessy, 2022) - pictures from https://www.messynessychic.com/2013/04/30/the-harlem-hip-hop-tailor-dapper-dan/

I suppose the turnaround is, that Gucci, 2017 has made a design that is similar to the clothing Dapper Dan has created in the 80s. Although Gucci is all within its rights since they own the logo and design, the public outrage was overwhelming which led Gucci to hire Dan as a designer with complete freedom and autonomy.

References:

Truffleman, A. (2020) Knockoffs: Article of Interest #8 [Podcast] 15 May. Available at: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/knockoffs-articles-of-interest-8/

(Accessed: 3 April 2022)

Images used:

Bassen, T. (2020) “Happy International Women’s Day”. 8 March [Instagram]. Available at:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bner8-gFAkW/

(Accessed: 4 April 2022)

Bassen, T. (2018) “My Girl Martina” [Instagram]. 8 September Available at:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9etZC8Hswb/

(Accessed: 4 April 2022)

dapperdanharlem (2013) “Follow the leader” [Instagram]. 16 June Available at:

https://www.instagram.com/p/aoPhpGDMLO/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e0c19d73-acb6-4ce2-8253-04572e1c5c44

(Accessed: 4 April 2022)

Messy Ness. (2018) “The 80’s Harlem Hip Hop Tailor, Messy Ness” 30 April Available at:

https://www.messynessychic.com/2013/04/30/the-harlem-hip-hop-tailor-dapper-dan/

(Accessed: 4 April 2022)

[chaihyunblogs]

My Personal Branding and Journey

For this blog, I would like to invite you on a personal branding journey as a creative. I will be using this opportunity in my blog to navigate my place in the creative industry. The main theme of this blog would be what I am learning as a Postgraduate student and understanding my value and standing in the creative field.

Zoe Bather is an independent creative and editor designer in London. she runs her creative studio and social enterprises and does independent book design and is an educator. One of the foundations of understanding my personal branding is through her teachings.

Kingston University (2022), Zoe Bather Session 2021/22 [Recorded Lecture]

From the lecture from Zoe is she is asking you to reflect on these three questions below. And overall identify what you can offer creatively.

1. What makes your business distinct?

2. Who do you want to work with?

3. WHY do what you do?

To reflect on these questions, I would like to share the works of Steven Sparling on the Pran Quadrant model. Steven Sparling created the Pran Model as a map for mid-career actors through the lens of creative entrepreneurship and as a sustainability map (Sparling, 2021).

The PRAN model is divided into four quadrants

Reactive-Acting and Reactive Non-Acting = The Protean Career

The upper and lower left quadrant is what Sparling (2021), refers to as the Protean

A protean Career is part of the sustainable map that describes how people react or find work because of necessity, survival or reacting to the forces of nature. Currently, in this quadrant, I am reacting to the nature of my situation as a BA Communications major, and it is leaning me towards a Marketing and Advertising career – and to which I reacted by pursuing a postgraduate degree in project management. All these careers have collaboration elements to them. (This is where I answer why I do what I do.)

Proactive - Acting and Proactive Non-Acting = The Portfolio career

The Upper and lower right Quadrant is what Sparling (2021), refers to as a Portfolio Career

The Portfolio career term is coined by musicians to diversify their income sources to mitigate financial risks. I suppose I am diversifying my portfolio by starting a blog or at least entertaining the idea of becoming a freelance article writer.

I suppose the big question is “how do I distinguish my personal brand”? To answer this, I wonder if I am a specialist or a generalist. Based on the quadrant I would say I am a generalist, since my discipline is quite broad, and it could be applied in different creative fields.

To understand, what distinct creative value I could offer is by reflecting on my hobbies, interest, and the skills I have showcased publicly. And I realize that it all came to one thing: My interest in analyzing public media, whether it be films, TV, music even politics.

In some form, my distinct brand is sharing my knowledge in Media literacy which I can apply to each quadrant from the PRAN model. I find that even answering the question, of why I do what I do, all lead to working for a public media platform and working with people in creative fields in a collaborative and effective manner.

References

Steven, S (2021) ‘Ducking and Diving: An evaluation and mapping of mid-career UK actors’ and performers’ career sustaining strategies.’ PhD Thesis. University of London. Available at: https://doi.org/10.25602/GOLD.00030465

Bather, Z. (2022), ‘Zoe Bather Session 2021/22’ [Recorded Lecture]. HA7514: The Creative Freelancer. Kingston University. 15 March.

Available at: https://canvas.kingston.ac.uk/courses/20204/pages/unit-defining-and-marketing-your-creative-offer

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Did the Pandemic change the traditional 9 -to- 5 way of work?

According to Newton (2021) a freelance writer with decades of experience as a consultant, explains that freelancing should not be confused with self-employment (e.g., running a business) but instead are employed short-term, independently, and not by a third party. Freelancers also get to negotiate their own terms of service. In these times of uncertainty from the global pandemic, how does this affect the nature of freelance and remote work for those who opt for full-time employment?

Friedman (2014) in his studies on the rise of “Gig Economy” on shadow business employment, and its impact on the American economy, discusses that the explosion of “gig economy” could be from the economic collapse and the great recession, where the level of unemployment is on the rise. The great recession causes uncertainty in the workforce, and to make ends meet - with the internet boom it seems that people need to find other avenues for income. This seems to align with the finding from the February report of McKinsey & Company, that the COVID 19 pandemic disrupted the global labor markets in 2020, causing people to lose jobs, be temporarily laid off, and causing workers to adapt from working remotely when the offices are closed (Lund, et al. 2021).

Photos from: The Future of Work after COVID 19 (McKinsey, 2021)

One of my friends, who is having trouble finding employment during the pandemic has opted for a freelancing job, as a Social Media marketer for a Blockchain-type company. She lives remotely in the provinces for family reasons and with the lockdown, she had to find a way of earning income. My friend is still quite inexperienced in freelance but able to find work and give value to her clients through her knowledge and research skill at her disposal from home. According to Newton (2021), an inexperienced consultant can have a better understanding of the target age group better than more experienced marketing professionals, and that knowledge could be a brand-new technology or social trend. This was my friend to the T, she read headlines from almost every major financial outlet and cryptocurrency news. She also understood her target audience by scanning Twitter every day, this way she had a better understanding of the collecting tick of the crypto-blockchain community. She apparently has impressed her boss who isn't too social media inclined.

I do have my other friend in freelancing, who enjoys her work because of the independence and the ability to work from home because she lives with her grandfather who is immune comprised. She is a graphic artist with a Japanese Manga comic book angle to her style and she works independently for a company, which allows her to set her own work schedule. She says what she enjoys about her freelance work is being able to manage her time however she wants. She can create her own optimal routine for productivity. She can set up her self-care morning routine for the day, and set up work periods with breaks in between. She also self-manages her work with an assistant to get things done faster. So, she is a well-oiled, self-managing machine.

This is a representational drawing of her life as a freelancer.

“Remote working is possible and becoming increasingly normal. I expect this is a trend that will continue (Newton, 2021)” I do agree with this, based on my friends who worked in an office and are now working from home because of the pandemic. I think companies are adapting to remote work with the “new acceptance of virtual meetings and other aspects of work (McKinsey, 2021).” It seems that traditional jobs have gotten similar to freelance working structures because of Covid.

My friend's Illustration of how they spend their breaks working remotely

Aside from clocking in and clocking out with the companies’ work software, my friends have more leisure in their work. They can chat online with friends during work. Listen to music or even have a conversation with someone while working and they get to set when to take breaks and when to start working again, something you couldn’t do freely in an office setting.

References:

Friedman, G. (2014) ‘Workers without employers: shadow corporations and the rise of the gig economy’ Review of Keynesian Economics, 2(2), pp. 171–188

Available at: https://doi-org.ezproxy.kingston.ac.uk/10.4337/roke.2014.02.03

Newton, R. (2021) ‘The Freelance Consultant’ 1st edn. Harlow: Pearson Education

Lund et al., (2021) The future of work after COVID-19

Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19

(Accessed: 3 April 2022)

Mygayar- Baldocchi, M. Schaninge B., and Sharma, K. (2021) The future of work: Understanding what’s temporary and what’s transformative

Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/the-future-of-work-whats-temporary-and-whats-transformative

(Accessed: 3 April 2022)

[chaihyunblogs]

Steppingstone of Networking: Based on Recent Creative Projects

Networking to me has been quite limited but I would like to consider it as taking a small step, from friends you connect to, people you meet in school and how that could expand into widening the network of people you have.

There is this concept from Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of Cultural Capital about people developing their sense of taste, skills, mannerism, and credentials based on upbringing and social standing (Routledge, 2016).  The concept is more about, by surrounding yourself from people with similar backgrounds, it creates a sense of collective identity. I suppose the collective identity that I have surrounded myself with are people from the upper-middle class background who are well educated which have led them in pursuit of structured creative career.

Which leads to my still ongoing networking journey. It seems my personal networks I have built is through the collective identity that I placed myself in. Surrounding myself with people in the creative fields. My friends pursue creative careers. In a way my personal group of friends all have their distinct creative discipline.

I have a connection to a graphic designer who has helped with my school project and helped with illustrating a children’s book to which it has been showcased in a children’s book congress.

(Illustration from my Rossini to showcase a children’s book for school congress.)

Because of my experience working with a graphic designer and by working as middleman to my personal team in the completion of the book, led me to get hired in my first ever professional internship.

 I suppose my networking process have been following what Newton (2021), have advised when you still need to build your working network which is by “Joining industry associations and trade organizations.” I suppose in my own way joining an industry association and trade is by attending my post graduate school seminars, lectures which have connected me to professionals with different career backgrounds, and even the schools with their own connections and networks.

This reminds of a guest speaker lecturer at my school Rob Nicoll, co- founder of the Chip[s] Board with his partner Rowan Minkley, a company that values on sustainability by utilizing materials that has not been properly used or recycled. In order to accomplish their mission, they had to hire the right people, specifically the Biotechnologist and chemist. Since science is not in their wheelhouse, they haven’t had the proper network yet. But they mentioned how by hiring one chemist, or a specialist in Biotechnology that it created a snowball effect. Because people they hire had the appropriate knowledge, they know other chemist who can do the best job for the company.  Which interesting enough aligns with what Newton (2021) advices to do which is to build a network by “reaching out to people who do the sorts of things you want to do”.

I suppose in order to expand my network, I need to branch out and be more engaged in the field that I am in. Looking at different social media of people who is pursing similar career to me.

 References:

Newton, R. (2021) ‘The Freelance Consultant’ 1st edn. Harlow: Pearson Education

Titleswap, (2018) “Titleswaps Instagram Page” [Instagram page]

Available at: https://www.instagram.com/titleswaps/

Routledge, (2016) 'New Connections to Classical and Contemporary Perspectives, Social Theory Rewired. No Date.

Available at: http://routledgesoc.com/profile/pierre-bourdieu

(Accessed: 4 April 2022)