[Smt-talk] Music Plagiarism Cases

Mon Dec 21 08:21:19 PST 2009

Dear Jay,

thank you for the clarification. Now, I understand, that if you stole my wallet, it will be plagiarism; if I stole your wallet it will be the infringement of copyright. This reminds me a theological distinction: killing is OK, murdering is a punishable crime.
As for the moral and parody, these two things are incompatible. It is either the moral, or parody, one is not the other other side of another. 
I have been watching Penguins of Madagascar last week. One of them dances for the Russkij Tanets from Shchelkunchik. It is suposed to be funny. A parody, so to speak. In fact, it is crucial for this CGA that everything should be funny.  It imposes the regime of fun, a strict taxinomy of fun making, laughter behind the barbed wire. Tchaikovsky's music is parodized, but that is just a side effect.
The most important aspect of this art is to be funny at all costs.

Please, do not tell me that there is nothing sacred in life for you. That there is nothing you would not make fun of. 

However, if the crime of steaking and making fun of something which does not deserve it has happened, what should we do? How it is possible to punish the perpetrator? Imagine that someone has stolen a symphony from Mahler (as a result of murky manuscript business, for example). First of all,  our law is based primarily on ius talionis. In order to retaliate, or compensate for the loss, we have to establish  the scale of the damage. This is the question of what is the price tag on Mahler's symphony or Tchaikovsky's ballet. It is known how much has been paid for Penguins, but I am not sure about the price of Tchaikovsky's Russian Dance. 

Best,

Ildar Khannanov
Baltimore
ikhanna1 at jhmi.edu

--- On Sun, 12/20/09, JAY RAHN <jayrahn at rogers.com> wrote:

From: JAY RAHN <jayrahn at rogers.com>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] Music Plagiarism Cases
To: smt-talk at societymusictheory.org
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2009, 1:03 PM

Even in Mexico, where, I believe, the term of copyright is a seemingly endless 100 years after the death of the creator, there would be no case of copyright infringement for using Tchaikovsky's music (d. 1893): Plagiarism is not necessarily copyright infringement. As well, there is no 'taking care of' involved in copyright as long as one can establish that one created the work (very easy nowadays with digital date stamping).

As for 'abuse' of a composer's music in TV commercials etc., the other side of 'moral rights' is parody. Would that recent concert music were sufficiently well known to sustain meaningful satire. All the same, a very fine example of stylistic parody is the Webern pastiche that I recall served as a variation on the Powdermilk Biscuits theme several years ago on A Prairie Home Companion.   

Jay Rahn, York University (Toronto)

--- On Fri, 12/18/09, Ildar Khannanov <solfeggio7 at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Ildar Khannanov <solfeggio7 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] Music Plagiarism Cases
To: smt-talk at societymusictheory.org, "Robert Judd" <rjudd at ams-net.org>
Date: Friday, December 18, 2009, 7:28 PM

Dear All,

I would like to narrow this question to: "Has anyone compained about massive stealing of music of Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, using and abusing it in TV commercials and movies?" I understand that poor P. I. did not take care of the copyright of his music, but the abuse of it has become simply ridiculous.

Best,

Dr. Ildar Khannanov
Professor of Music Theory
Peabody Conservatory
Johns Hopkins University

--- On Fri, 12/18/09, Robert Judd <rjudd at ams-net.org> wrote:

From: Robert Judd <rjudd at ams-net.org>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] Music Plagiarism Cases
To: smt-talk at societymusictheory.org
Date: Friday, December 18, 2009, 9:10 AM

This is not as bizarre as Steve Soderberg's batting cage story, but
it's bizarre enough that I feel the need to share.

I got an inquiry some years ago at the AMS office re copyright and the
theme from "Jaws" (rising two-note semitone--who remembers the
"ominous semitone" thread on some e-list way back when?)..  The maker
of a novelty "Shark Cookie Jar" that played the theme when the lid was
raised was concerned about the theme and copyright (held by Paramount
Pictures).. Paramount threatened to sue. The case never went to court;
the cookie jar maker changed it to a descending minor third (which I
hear as "nyah nyah").

Cheers,
Bob Judd
rjudd at ams-net.org
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