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Timbaland rips Commodore 64 tune


makke
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Harmless borrowing, or shameless rip-off? You decide yourself.

Personally, I find it "funny" how the record industry can turn young kids into criminals while "proteciting their own interests" - then, at the same time, they don't seem to have any problem stealing music from generous people who release their creations for free.

The word "hypocrisy" springs to mind.

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I take it most of the old scene chiptunes aren't copyrighted in any way? If so, the industry has a potential goldmine of tunes they can steal and get away with it at the same time.

In short, all old scene chiptunes are copyrighted. If you've created something, you own the copyright to that. What most old scene chiptunes are not, however, is registered with a publisher or the likes, which makes it a lot harder to prove you did it first - and raise the cash and guts to take a multinational recording company with the best lawyers money can buy to court on a copyright infringement charge.

The record companies know this, and usually seem to think "Let's go ahead and f these guys over. Should they have the guts to take us to court, we can probably buy ourselves free pretty cheaply".

And the world keeps turning.

Fix the thread title, that's not Timberland, it's Timbaland. You'd be surprised but there's a difference.

Ah, crap! That's a bad typo. I meant to write Timbaland, my mind and fingers must've slipped. I seem to be unable to change the topic though.

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Fix the thread title, that's not Timberland, it's Timbaland. You'd be surprised but there's a difference.

Yes, please.

At first I thought we were talking about a Timberland commercial using the tune.

Also, hasn't this been going on for a while now? People don't really make that big of a deal about it, well at least, not to my knowledge.

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Wow, that is down right blasphemous, though not too shocking considering the major media and hype world today revolved around nothing but drama and hypocrisy. The original composer should be contacted, if possible, so that they may receive royalties for said song.

What program was the video creator using? The one where he put the two songs together. Looked vaguely familiar.

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I'm surprised I'm defending him but here's the deal:

1. The song that was "copied" off of wasn't copyrighted, hello no legal groundwork.

2. How long is the song Do It? According to wikipedia, 3:41. Ok, their examples are an 8-second long intro and 7 seconds of a verse/chorus. Truth be told this reminds me a lot of the whole "Michael Jackson created the music for Sonic 3" thing.

3. Timbaland has been record label lawyers behind him, this Finnish guy won't have enough legal power to win this case.

4. Ok, so they sound very similar and knowing Timbaland he probably did rip it off, but here's the deal. Connecting the RIAA suing people to this has absolutely no basis whatsoever, Timbaland is a producer who makes beats for people, the RIAA is a huge money-grubbing machine trying to salvage what it can while the music business goes into a decline. Also, if I were the Finnish artist I'd be happy. Honestly, if it weren't for Timbaland doing this who would've heard of him? Now people are trying to find more of his stuff. Also, Timbaland didn't even rip it off nearly as badly as he could've, he took a Lo-Fi chiptune and turned it into a bangin' R&B track. Besides, this isn't even one of his best productions, Dirt off Your Shoulder and My Love kill this one.

5. Uh, this has been going on forever, from people taking songs into existence and getting famous off of them (I'm looking at you Mr. Presley) to making songs that have similar chord progressions (there was some court case for Nickelback about this, also its happened with Linkin Park and many other times), to plain ol' sampling a bassline, or a melody line off of a record. Nowadays, its becoming less about the melodies, and more about the presentation. Is that a good thing? I dunno, to me it is but to others its not. Point is, singling out Timbaland like this is unfair, considering he's made countless other original pieces of work.

My point is this:

Did he steal it? Probably, but this isn't even close to the first time its happened and besides, Timbaland's one of the best producers in the rap and R&B game, he and Scott Storch practically ran mainstream music in 2006, this isn't what's going to end his career or anything as he's made countless original beats for people already that were better than this one. Besides, this isn't even one of the singles off of the album, chances are no one bought this album for the song "Do It" over "Maneater" or "Promiscuous"

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Did he steal it? Probably, but this isn't even close to the first time its happened and besides, Timbaland's one of the best producers in the rap and R&B game, he and Scott Storch practically ran mainstream music in 2006, this isn't what's going to end his career or anything as he's made countless original beats for people already that were better than this one. Besides, this isn't even one of the singles off of the album, chances are no one bought this album for the song "Do It" over "Maneater" or "Promiscuous"

Oh? So, "everyone's doing it" and "he's allowed special privledges because he's so good" are valid excuses for such actions?

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Oh? So, "everyone's doing it" and "he's allowed special privledges because he's so good" are valid excuses for such actions?

Not necessarily, this isn't exactly the most honourable of actions but everyone's throwing too big of a fuss over it because it happens all the time. It wasn't even a straight rip either, one of the best things about the Timbaland song is the drum work which he didn't copy, and he also presented the original in a new way. I'm seen far worse before and this wasn't even a big deal, also I have yet to hear from the original artist himself yet, some of you guys may be getting more offended than he is. Stop acting like this is a travesty to end all travesties.

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1. The song that was "copied" off of wasn't copyrighted, hello no legal groundwork.

Not true. When you create something, you automatically hold the copyright until you release the rights to somebody else.

2. How long is the song Do It? According to wikipedia, 3:41. Ok, their examples are an 8-second long intro and 7 seconds of a verse/chorus. Truth be told this reminds me a lot of the whole "Michael Jackson created the music for Sonic 3" thing.

The MJ/Sonic 3 thing was a bunch of loose connections. This is, pure and simple, the same song. They weren't even subtle about it.

3. Timbaland has been record label lawyers behind him, this Finnish guy won't have enough legal power to win this case.

Doesn't mean the son of a bitch doesn't deserve to have his ass force-fed to him.

4. Ok, so they sound very similar and knowing Timbaland he probably did rip it off, but here's the deal. Connecting the RIAA suing people to this has absolutely no basis whatsoever, Timbaland is a producer who makes beats for people, the RIAA is a huge money-grubbing machine trying to salvage what it can while the music business goes into a decline. Also, if I were the Finnish artist I'd be happy. Honestly, if it weren't for Timbaland doing this who would've heard of him? Now people are trying to find more of his stuff. Also, Timbaland didn't even rip it off nearly as badly as he could've, he took a Lo-Fi chiptune and turned it into a bangin' R&B track. Besides, this isn't even one of his best productions, Dirt off Your Shoulder and My Love kill this one.

I'm not even going to take the time to respond to this.

5. Uh, this has been going on forever, from people taking songs into existence and getting famous off of them (I'm looking at you Mr. Presley) to making songs that have similar chord progressions (there was some court case for Nickelback about this, also its happened with Linkin Park and many other times), to plain ol' sampling a bassline, or a melody line off of a record. Nowadays, its becoming less about the melodies, and more about the presentation. Is that a good thing? I dunno, to me it is but to others its not. Point is, singling out Timbaland like this is unfair, considering he's made countless other original pieces of work.

ANY asshole who pulls shit like this deserves to get shot. Timbaland is no exception. Just because there are others doesn't make it any less heinous when he does it.

Timbaland's one of the best producers in the rap and R&B game, he and Scott Storch practically ran mainstream music in 2006, this isn't what's going to end his career or anything as he's made countless original beats for people already that were better than this one. Besides, this isn't even one of the singles off of the album, chances are no one bought this album for the song "Do It" over "Maneater" or "Promiscuous"

All of which is completely irrelevant.

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It's also not a C64 tune, it's in .mod format so it's from the Amiga.

I'll post my thoughts, since I already commented on my ThaSauce article:

I see on all the youtube video comments and Digg discussion that there's a lot of naysaying: "The songs aren't all that similar" "I can't believe how sad this whole thing is. Some idiot made a song 6 years ago and just sat back until someone else made something similar just to claim they wrote it first and should be paid. I think its absurd to think that someone else can't independently come up with a similar tune/beat."

These are quotes from COMPLETE TOOLS. There is obvious ripping if you listen to both of the songs. But I have a bad feeling about this whole situation. I predict Timbaland is just going to shrug off the whole thing, or basically ignore all the hatemail. And you know what? There will be no mainstream outrage, but of course most internet musicians will [and should] raise a stink about this, though I think that still won't amount to anything. Why? Because Timbaland and Nelly Furtado are so mainstream. Tempest, from the public eye, is basically a nobody who made a chiptune for some Finnish "nerdparty," and they won't bother listening to the original.

In the end, Timbaland will probably lose no credibility from the group that actually buys Nelly Furtado's CDs.

One thing about this situation though, I actually find really funny. Can you imagine Timbaland sitting on his computer, browsing scene.org? Yeah, what the fuck? Maybe MODs and chiptunes are starting to come into the mainstream a little bit more?

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Not true. When you create something, you automatically hold the copyright until you release the rights to somebody else.

I stand corrected

The MJ/Sonic 3 thing was a bunch of loose connections. This is, pure and simple, the same song. They weren't even subtle about it.

If it weren't for the Commodore 64 sounds during the chorus I doubt many people would've noticed the connection. Using the MJ thing was probably a bad example but let's use another one. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk is based off of Cola Bottle Baby by Edward Birdsong, in fact the basis for the entire song is based off of it, but Daft Punk adds so much more to it that makes it a different experience all in itself despite being extremely simple. The only difference between the two cases is Timbaland didn't at least cite it was based off of the Finnish guy's song, which is all he should've done, but both are different enough in their own right to be considered different songs.

Doesn't mean the son of a bitch doesn't deserve to have his ass force-fed to him.

Oh, well taking the melody of a song and reinterpretating it is SO barbaric so we must make him eat his own ass. Glad to know we're making progress.

I'm not even going to take the time to respond to this.

You're a smart dude, I've seen your posts on PPR and I agree with them for the most part but don't resort to these types of responses. Every time I see someone make this response I think either they're not sure how to respond, or they think they're too good to respond, neither of which are very appealing.

ANY asshole who pulls shit like this deserves to get shot. Timbaland is no exception. Just because there are others doesn't make it any less heinous when he does it.

That is a completely bold and ignorant statement, death or at the very least intense physical pain over something like this is too much, if every time this happened someone got shot then the music business would be a bloodbath.

All of which is completely irrelevant.

Maybe.

I would like to say that I'm not trying to piss people off but its how I feel about the situation. Should the Finnish artist have been credited? Yeah, he should've, but he wasn't, and saying that now Timbaland should be shot because of it is wrong. Would I ever do this? No, I think its between the artist and his or herself. This isn't a big moral war between the big bad record label and the independent artists, this is and should be just between the Finnish artist and Timbaland.

Yeah really, there's no defense for this. And meanwhile you have the RIAA going after people with dubious legal ground and ignoring infringement of their own artists who're on a member label. Good job RIAA, your efforts to flex your cartel muscle knows no bounds!

For God's sake this has NOTHING to do with the RIAA, people are just using this situation to find a way to bitch about the RIAA. We all get it, the RIAA sucks, we all know that, but this has nothing to do with it. The only reason people are making such a big deal out of this is because they want another reason to bitch about the RIAA. You guys want a real reason to bitch about the RIAA? Recently the owner of Warner Brothers Records, Edgar Bonfman Jr., had two of his sons caught for downloading music illegally. Guess what the RIAA did? Nothing. That is real hypocrisy, you guys are just comparing apples to oranges.

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Also, has anyone here aside from me heard the entire song or just the video? Because I just listened to it, and like I said in my first post, this isn't even a direct rip, the sections taken out were selectively the closest to the original but the Timbaland version has so much added to it. The intro bassline isn't even the same all the way through, the last two bars are different than the original. If this video didn't existed I wouldn't have made the connection.

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Oh, well taking the melody of a song and reinterpretating it is SO barbaric so we must make him eat his own ass. Glad to know we're making progress.

No. But taking somebody else's work, claiming it's your own, and selling it is. My objections stem not from the fact that he drew from other sources, but that he did not ask permission, offer compensation, or even give credit to said source.

That is a completely bold and ignorant statement, death or at the very least intense physical pain over something like this is too much, if every time this happened someone got shot then the music business would be a bloodbath.

That comment was intended as (slight) hyperbole, but I guess that doesn't come accross all that clearly on the internet.

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No. But taking somebody else's work, claiming it's your own, and selling it is. My objections stem not from the fact that he drew from other sources, but that he did not ask permission, offer compensation, or even give credit to said source.

Fair enough, that is where it comes down to opinion. If he had noted the influence from the song then it would've been good enough for me but arguing this point further is meaningless.

That comment was intended as (slight) hyperbole, but I guess that doesn't come accross all that clearly on the internet.

My sarcasm/hyperbole detector broke after Bush's State of the Union in '05 when I couldn't figure out whether he was being serious or not.

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For God's sake this has NOTHING to do with the RIAA, people are just using this situation to find a way to bitch about the RIAA. We all get it, the RIAA sucks, we all know that, but this has nothing to do with it. The only reason people are making such a big deal out of this is because they want another reason to bitch about the RIAA. You guys want a real reason to bitch about the RIAA? Recently the owner of Warner Brothers Records, Edgar Bonfman Jr., had two of his sons caught for downloading music illegally. Guess what the RIAA did? Nothing. That is real hypocrisy, you guys are just comparing apples to oranges.

Geffon is a member label of the RIAA. The RIAA claims to uphold artist copyrights. If you don't see the hypocrisy here, then I don't know what to tell you.

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