OK, let’s imagine, for a moment, a scenario. Let’s say, I’m sitting around the Winnebago some night, and I got the Tele plugged and suddenly, I channel some distant muse. I am inspired and, I come up with a riff that is rife with heaviosity. No ordinary riff, one that is hitherto unbeknownst to other rock and rollers. And let’s say that I then pick up the cell phone and immediately, because of the inherent urgency, place a call to Lou saying something like; “Lou, put down whatever you are doing and call Lloyd. Book a session immediately, I have happened on the mother of all rock riffs and we need to get this to the people, it’s of utmost importance”. And, let’s just say that Lou checks his messages in 3 or 4 days and calls me back in a couple of weeks and then, gets a hold of Lloyd and we go and lay this killer riff down. Then, we put it out over the web for the world to admire.
Now, let’s take this wild fantasy a bit further and imagine some young suburban, fantastic looking, wild eyed guitarist, who is in between classes and looking on the internet for a discussion about Hugo Chavez’ new socialism because he was really moved by that political science lecture that professor Grunwald gave this morning and, somehow by the magic of Google or divine intervention he finds himself at my site and, quite by accident, he hears this incredible guitar riff and starts humming along.
Now, flash forward 8 months, this same guy is sitting at his laptop and has all his plug-ins activated, has a Vox AC30 simulated along with a vintage Echo Plex and an octave divider and, he just broke up with his cheerleader girlfriend and he’s got the damnblues. Now he starts playing the first thing that comes to his angst-ridden, not quite post adolescent mind and it just so happens that it’s my riff that he heard so long ago. But, he’s really feeling the pain and anguish and he ends up writing a masterful piece of pop rock and roll, which he decides to put up on MySpace.
Now-does this guy owe me some money?
The correct answer is….only if he makes a bunch of money.
See, even if he took the whole thing note for note, word ford word and it’s obvious to anyone that ever hears it, I got to hire a guy that has Esq. after his name that lives in Nashville who in turn, will hire some guys with patches on the elbows, with my money, to make my point.
If it doesn’t make any money, have at it,
That’s the only sensible way to look at riff copping.
This brings up the case of Jason Shapiro who says that The Hives stole his riff.
Let’s go to the video.
First we have a clip of The Roofies (Jason’s old band) doing “Why You?”
As always, make sure your paperwork is in order then press pause on the music player located in the side bar before playing the YouTube.
Next we have The Hives doing “Tick Tick Boom”, a song that made a little dough.
Whatch’ya think? I think Jason has a case there. I think it’s riff coppage. See, it’s pretty hard to come up with a riff that nobody has done before these days. Especially when you are working with a limited set of notes (see blues scale) within a limited set of 12 notes (see Pythagoras) and, if you’ve dedicated your existence to living fast and leaving a good looking corpse, you should get your just rewards.
From L.A. Weekly.
Shapiro, best known as a guitarist for the Don Bolles glam-pop band Celebrity Skin has just filed a music plagiarism suit against the Swedish rockers. “I absolutely love The Hives and don’t feel great about suing a band I love,” says Shapiro, who discovered the similarity after friends heard the Hives tune in a movie trailer and brought it to his attention. “But I also feel credit is due where it is due if you borrow a riff.”
And lest you think that garage riffs are all the same, Shapiro tells us the two tunes were analyzed by a musicologist. “He said the part in question -the main riff and vocal melody- was very similar and its uniqueness led him to believe it wasn’t just a coincidence,” says Shapiro. “He also runs it through a background test seeing if any charts from previous songs are close and we were clear on that front.”
See what I mean, you got lawyers and “musicologists” (hunh!!??) involved and really, Jason sums it up; The Hives just “borrowed” a riff. It’s a simple case of riff coppage. Everybody does it. It only matters if the riff makes some dough.
Now, I talk a lot about how the music industry is over and the devaluation of creativity and such but, I think there is a better way to settle these matters of riff coppage. There is a way to handle this without all of the lawyer fees and musicologists. There are only 12 notes, we all know that. And, with all pop/rock music being based on a few simple rhythmic patterns, this stuff could easily be sussed out without threat of a jury.
What I propose is similar to what the insurance industry refers to as a “meat chart”. See, if you lose say, a finger or even a leg, in an industrial accident, there is a set figure, already in place, that is accepted as the value of that body part. X amount of $$$ for a finger, a toe, etc…See, the insurance companies know that if they have defined these values, they can avoid some costly billable hours. So let’s have the same thing for riffs. A meat chart for riffs. If it’s an 8 note riff, it’s worth X amount against the money made. Three noters would be worth considerable less.
It’s the same thing really. If you get a leg screwed off while you are working for someone that’s got no dough…well, it’s like your riff getting copped by someone that isn’t selling any records.
Hmmmmmmmmm…..This might be a good time to toss this in to the mix.
Randy Newman – “Political Science”
As always, press the pause button on the music player in the side bar before watching the YouTube.
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