Hey gang,
Interesting article, and the fact that no credit was given to the actual writers on the Zep songs, does mean they were technically stolen. That is the fine line right there, look how many times some songs have been recorded by different artist in many genres. What makes the difference is that the writers get credit for the song they wrote.
This also happens in other genres, take for instance one of Britney Spears new singles. "Hold it against me" was the last part of a song by the country act the Bellamy brothers. Their hook was "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me." This song pretty much launched their career in the 70's, and after no response from Spears they are now suing her over this.
Being a songwriter for over 30 years with moderate success in Nashville. I stay informed on the copyright laws, and make sure my material is registered. I also keep a log of who I pitch songs to, and have a really good friend that specializes in these cases if ever I need him. They don't just look for similarities in the music, they also look for a trail so to speak of how the artist or producer got the song, or perhaps a better word would be the idea.
You can't copyright a hookline, you can only copyright the idea, and of course the lyrics and music. That article is informative about some groups, and artist, but it's also misleading too. I can't speak for the artists mentioned in the article, but most of the time it's a manager or someone in the camp that brings the song to the table. In most cases they don't mention where the idea came from, because they really want the kudos for finding the song.
This does still happen today too, I know of many cases, some still pending, so I can't go into details. This doesn't happen with reputable publishers though, as I said it's usually the manager, and in some cases a producer that may be misinformed because someone else wants credit for finding it. There are circumstances in any situation, and it's no different here. Most artist are not to blame, they actually just show up and record what they're told to record. There are many sides to the music business, and some of it is not pretty. Don't think that your favorite band is bunch of song thieves, in most cases they have no knowledge of where the song came from.
It was also mentioned that much of this stuff was traditional blues, this too is not entirely true. Music has evolved over centuries, and much of the old blues stuff came from old spiritual songs, folk ballads, and even so called mountain music. Bluegrass is a mix of Irish, and scottish fiddle tunes that have been passed down by generations for hundreds of years. Country was derived from that, and then rockabilly, rock, metal, thrash. It's so hard to label these, because sometimes it took several of these to make a new sound. This is my take on it, since I hear these influences in so much music today.
If a song is listed as traditional, it was written long ago, and in most cases the writers descendants are no longer living either. A copyright doesn't last forever, there's a limit on everything. Some of these songs are also listed as public domain. It's not that the writer isn't given credit, it's just that no one knows who actually wrote the song. I'm familiar with this because of my experience with bluegrass music, I've studied it for over 40 years now. I still hear that influence, among others in many styles of music today. It's a total mix now, and there are many more influences today, probably 4 times as many as when I was growing up. With the internet, and other media, they're much easier to access too.
This is just my opinion, you don't have to agree with me. This doesn't apply to classical music either, but that has been mixed in to much of todays music also. I wish we lived in a world where everyone was honest, and gave credit where credit is due. All we can do is be that way ourselves, and try to set an example for others to follow. That's what I do, and my conscience wouldn't let me take credit for someone elses creation.
