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Extracting chord progressions: a copyright issue?


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13 hours ago, Quinn St. Mark said:

A question I've been pondering on for a while has been: are there legal guidelines for extracting chord progressions from preexisting songs and using them in my own work? Is it similar to drawing on an entire melody?

I think using the harmonic underpinning of a pre-existing composition as an under-drawing of a new composition is a common technique in variation technique - you can change basically all the other features of the music while keeping the harmony the same and make it totally unrecognizable from the original.  Also - as far as I know, you can't copyright a chord progression itself.  I could be wrong though - these things have been repeatedly contested in court.  Interesting question!

Peter

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Hey @Quinn St. Mark,

I agree with Peter. I don't think anyone can claim a copyright for a chord progession since it should be some public knowledge but not privately owned by anyone. Also the creativity of a whole piece involves not only harmony, but many parts like melody, rhythm etc., and if other parts are not too similar with the original song I am sure your piece should be counted as an original piece as well. I sometimes quote passages from previously composers both consciously and unconsciously (with the main victim being Beethoven since he's my idol lol), but I think they are all fair use since they are integrated into my piece, rather than just copying.

Henry

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