Now I’m no patent/copyright attorney but I heard something recently that was so appalling and so egregiously hideous that I had to give it some attention in hopes that one of my learned readers from the legal profession would reply and help me understand this practice.
I was in a local business and I heard barefoot’s latest offering – an abortion of music and lyrics set to the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B” in which barefoot tries to poke fun at the gay cruise ship situation in Cayman – a topic which, by the way, has grown quite old.
Here’s a brief review: The musical quality is only slightly above what a drunken 6-year-old could do with a keyboard and the correct software if locked in a closet for a month with nothing but a wet sock, a box of saltines and a strobe light.
It’s replete with barefoot’s feeble attempts at clever rhymes and his vocals that sound as if he’s singing into a paper bag whilst riding a bucking bull.
Now, I don’t want to dwell on the fact that barefoot’s latest "song" is precisely the type of low-quality, sophomoric bilge that defines and supports the argument that local artists should NOT be entitled to air play simply because they are local, so I’ll move on to my point.
The point (if you want to call it that) is this: many artists today have no originality – period – and continually “sample” other artists' music to use in their songs. What is “sampling”? It’s when an artist doesn’t have the talent or the inclination to write his own music so he “samples” or “steals” music from a successful artist with talent.
In my opinion, those who can, do. Those who can't, steal - and call it "sampling."
This is why so many of barefoots songs will remind you of good songs you’ve heard before. Fortunately, for us, Compass writers don’t “sample” net news writers… just had to throw that in.
Getting back to my original thought regarding copyrighting; do musicians have to have permission to steal/sample music, or is “Sloop John B” in the public domain and therefore fair game for any no-talent hack that wants to write a bad song with a good tune?
The same can be said for businesses that steal logos – how do they get away with it?
Since barefoot stole/sampled the music to “Sloop John B," shouldn’t some of the royalties that he’s going to make off of it by my mentioning it here on my blog (he told me his CD sales go up every time I mention him on my blog – the bum still hasn’t said “thank you”) go to Brian Wilson or whoever owns the rights to the Beach Boys' music?
Maybe that’s why barefoot is barefoot – he’s so broke from paying royalties or licensing fees for all the music he’s stolen/sampled he can’t afford footwear. Who knows…
I’ll be anxious to hear back from an attorney on this one. Please explain to me, briefly, “sampling” music and the rights people have to do so. I have a great idea for a piano concerto and a requiem.
In the meantime, I’ll be sampling expensive watches at Kirk Freeport.
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