Traditional but original?
Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2024 7:37 am
Hi Folks,
I recently submitted to a Taxi listing seeking “Traditional Flamenco’.
The dilemma is that for a piece of music to be Traditional it will inherently contain recognizable musical motifs, chords structures/voicings that are pre-existing and that define the genre.
A similar description could apply to some other genres eg Blues, World, various Ethnic forms etc.
How do other composers deal with the copyright issue in for example Blues?
If a Blues composition has a typical 12 bar , 3 chord arrangement and is played on guitar using the familiar ‘chuggy’ shuffle riff known to most guitarists eg https://youtu.be/xWexaS61NwY?si=2YhMWnKlMJaIAX0L
but has an original melody superimposed or added, can this be categorised as an original work?
Similar to Flamenco, Blues has unclear, mostly anonymous and archaic origins which form a fundamental and defined genre but whose primary authors are unknown.
For composers submitting Blues or other traditional compositions to libraries, what approach do you take re. authorship/ownership of your original work?
Any response much appreciated. Thanks. Pepeluis
I recently submitted to a Taxi listing seeking “Traditional Flamenco’.
The dilemma is that for a piece of music to be Traditional it will inherently contain recognizable musical motifs, chords structures/voicings that are pre-existing and that define the genre.
A similar description could apply to some other genres eg Blues, World, various Ethnic forms etc.
How do other composers deal with the copyright issue in for example Blues?
If a Blues composition has a typical 12 bar , 3 chord arrangement and is played on guitar using the familiar ‘chuggy’ shuffle riff known to most guitarists eg https://youtu.be/xWexaS61NwY?si=2YhMWnKlMJaIAX0L
but has an original melody superimposed or added, can this be categorised as an original work?
Similar to Flamenco, Blues has unclear, mostly anonymous and archaic origins which form a fundamental and defined genre but whose primary authors are unknown.
For composers submitting Blues or other traditional compositions to libraries, what approach do you take re. authorship/ownership of your original work?
Any response much appreciated. Thanks. Pepeluis