Plagiarizing?

Ok, well, some of you may know the song, Take Me Away by the Plain White T's. Anyway, I have that song and another Plain White T's song stuck in my head, and I was humming/singing Take Me Away, but then I started rewriting it with my lyrics, and I really liked it. But I didn't wanna take the chords, so I tried putting it over something else, but it didn't work. So now I really wanna just take the chords and put together my song, but I don't know if it would be considered plagiarism. I mean I wouldn't steal everything, not the intro and outro, and stuff, and not the order, or the little riffs in it. Just the chords. Would that be consider plagiarism?

I don't know if it's legally plagiarism but generally speaking.. if you have to ask, then it generally is because you know it's wrong. All you are really doing is changing someone else's song.. it's a cover song.. to call it your own would be plagiarism because you knowingly took pieces of the song and incorporated into your own. The same is true if you start writing the song and then realise it is already a well known song.. even if it's by accident.. you know when it's too close to a song because you just "know it".

Why would you want to put out a song that you know someone already has done? I understand a new version with permission, but to put out a plagiarised song on purpose! That's just wrong.

When you play songs in a club that belongs to some else, the club owner is paying for permission for you to perform those songs by contributing to the BMI, ASCAP, and/or SESAC and royalites are paided to the publishing company and in turn to the original artist and songwriter.

It's pretty simple. If it's not yours (and you know it's not), it's stealing!

Hmm, what I took the verse chords but not the lyrics? Cuz, I'm really screwed here, I don't wanna plagiarize but my lyrics on fit the verse chords :(

if using the same chords as another song in the same progression is a crime, then most musicians would be locked up. I can't count the number of popular songs over the past 15 years that use the standard F C D Bb pattern. If your riffs and lyrics are different and all you're "copying" is the chord pattern, I see nothing wrong with that.


now if you are singing your new lyrics the same as the original, that would be a problem

Originally Posted by: turkeyjerky214if using the same chords as another song in the same progression is a crime, then most musicians would be locked up. I can't count the number of popular songs over the past 15 years that use the standard F C D Bb pattern. If your riffs and lyrics are different and all you're "copying" is the chord pattern, I see nothing wrong with that.


now if you are singing your new lyrics the same as the original, that would be a problem

It's actually the medley and lyrics that is copyright. Chords, chord patterns, progressions, strum patterns, make up the sound. The melody and lyrics must be different. Even the tempo will change the sound, but merely changing the tempo will not be enough. Plus, all of these cases you mentioned, may have been done with permission.

You won't be locked up. You will just be finded and loses your work and all rights to it. Of course, it may (as with me) cost you thousands of dollars just to prove you were the original creator of the song.

You won't even be challanged unless your song makes millions anyway. Is there a chance of that happening? And if it does, are you going to worry about a few million more? Settle out of court and share the copyright.

As someone mentioned earlier, if in doubt, don't do it!

Does the melody mean the whole melody of the song, or the melody of each section(verse, chorus, etc)? Cuz, I was only taking the melody of the verse, everything else changed.

Originally Posted by: oib111Does the melody mean the whole melody of the song, or the melody of each section(verse, chorus, etc)? Cuz, I was only taking the melody of the verse, everything else changed.

Actually, it would pertain to any part of the song, however, it would be left up to a judge to decide. My suggestion would be to just forget it and move on to something that's original.

I have created a version of Comfortably Numb. The only change is the tempo (150 BPM). I'm not selling it or anything like that. Is there anything wrong with that?

there's nothing wrong with it if you're not mass distributing it. for example, I love the guitar riff for Moby Dick, but I don't necessarily want to listen to the drum solo every time. so I took out the drum solo and put Livin Lovin Maid the middle of the song. whenever my friends hear it they ask where I got "that version" so I send it to them. of course all of my friends I give it to have Led Zeppelin II.

I love the Moby Dick riff. It's so awesome, btw, it's in drop d not standard tuning(evry1 plays it in standard, it's annoying)

Originally Posted by: turkeyjerky214there's nothing wrong with it if you're not mass distributing it. for example, I love the guitar riff for Moby Dick, but I don't necessarily want to listen to the drum solo every time. so I took out the drum solo and put Livin Lovin Maid the middle of the song. whenever my friends hear it they ask where I got "that version" so I send it to them. of course all of my friends I give it to have Led Zeppelin II.

Actually, if you call it yours, there is a problem. If you are merely doing your version of a song, then there is no problem. Just don't claim it as yours.