[LINK] "Men at work" up a gum tree

[grove at zeta.org.au]

On Thu, 4 Feb 2010, Jan Whitaker wrote:

> At 05:34 PM 4/02/2010, Kim Holburn you wrote:
>
>> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/04/2809848.htm
>>
>>> Men at Work plundered Kookaburra riff: court
>>> Iconic Australian rockers Men at Work could be facing a hefty legal

> As a theme, it could also be said to be a variation on the main
> melody, which is what Beethoven and Bach did. It's a natural musical
> technique. I would hope that the 'men' at work are musically adept to
> make that case.

The song pays homage to "kookaburra" but it's just a snatch of music.
Might as well get Vivaldi's estate sued by birds.

> Anyway, I hope they appeal.

Yes, let's look at something called "sampling law" and the various rap,
R&B (the worst misnamed contrivance of rubbish ever conceived) and HipHop 
etc.  Since the Fairlight CMI, "artists" have been sampling tracks 
from individual beats and drum hits to tracks that use a whole 
other recording as a basis.   And this is done a lot more than 
you think.   Even if you cannot ascertain the source, they still 
"steal" music and "get away with it".

In this case it is an avaricious record label going through a bad financial 
patch latching on to what they hope will pay the rent for a few years.

I would like to see a public campaign around this.    I don't even like 
the song much, but it deserves "fair use" releases and so on.

It is not like M at W is just blatantly stealing a whole riff through sampling. 
They took an obscure nursery rhyme that would have otherwise remained in the 
schoolroom and used it as a riff - played by a flautist no less.

My god - what is going to happen to all those cover bands?!  What 
about the kids learning to play "Smoke on the Water" in guitar shops 
across the land?

It's not a Larrikin  - it's a corporate arsehole.   (Excuse me)...


rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia
grove at zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
    "The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum." - Finagle's Law