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-- Aril Brikha accuses Shlomi Aber of plagiarism.
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Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 17:39:

Aril Brikha accuses Shlomi Aber of plagiarism.

quote:
Aril Brikha has accused Israeli techno producer Shlomi Aber of plagiarism.

The famed Detroit devotee was reportedly e-mailed by a fan, pointing out the similarity between Aber's recent b-side 'Efrat' and his own 'Groove La Chord'. After comparing the two, Brikha took the matter to the court of public opinion and posted a long message to his blog on MySpace. After elucidating how close the songs were, including a unique off-beat chord that appears in both, Brikha then got a bit nasty:

quote:

"apparently, as so nicely written in his bio...not only has dance music chosen israel for its vacation. it has apparently also lost its integrity there."

Ouch. This is the internet, so it was only a matter of time before Aber showed up to the party in the comments, defending himself thusly:
quote:


"the sound may be a bit sounds on the same idea , but i guess he also used the same preset . I can say the same about million other tracks I found on the net which contains sounds From my tracks, which means , that if we using preset we don�t Owens them , if you check carefully you can find million other tracks Which used with the same preset, though non of them is tagged as "Shlomi Aber" and didn�t pull the fire in. I wonder what of the german producers wav will say about it , as they all use the same moog's bass and machines."


While we're still processing exactly what that means Brikha apparently ran it through Google Translator and was not impressed, responding:

quote:

"when it comes to these millions of tracks being THAT similar to groove la chord...im really curious on hearing them. as i mentioned before...i have NEVER made a statement like this to any other similar tracks...until now."


As of press time, the threat of legal action has been hinted at, but RA could not confirm that any suits had been filed.



Groove La Chord Sample

Efrat Sample

First of all, does this not remind you of basically every argument on the internet that has ever taken place?

And Second, I'm not sure how I feel about this - they are indeed quite close, but I'm not sure I buy the plagiarism tact, that is, unless Brikha wants to accuse FDV of basically stealing his sound as well.

I don't know, maybe a few more listens to the two and I'll feel different, but what do you all think?


Posted by PETRAN on Jul-17-2008 17:43:

Re: Aril Brikha accuses Shlomi Aber of plagiarism.

quote:
Originally posted by RJT
Ouch. This is the internet, so it was only a matter of time before Aber showed up to the party in the comments, defending himself thusly:


While we're still processing exactly what that means Brikha apparently ran it through Google Translator and was not impressed, responding:



As of press time, the threat of legal action has been hinted at, but RA could not confirm that any suits had been filed.



Groove La Chord Sample

Efrat Sample

First of all, does this not remind you of basically every argument on the internet that has ever taken place?

And Second, I'm not sure how I feel about this - they are indeed quite close, but I'm not sure I buy the plagiarism tact, that is, unless Brikha wants to accuse FDV of basically stealing his sound as well.

I don't know, maybe a few more listens to the two and I'll feel different, but what do you all think?





Does second sample lead to a "headphones.gif"?


Posted by d-miurge on Jul-17-2008 17:44:

Nothing new, listen to "Looking in God Eye's" (first track of Shlomi's album). It's an obvious sample of Trentemoller's Moan.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 17:47:

quote:
Originally posted by PETRAN
Does second sample lead to a "headphones.gif"?


My bad, thanks for the heads up - fixed now

quote:
Originally posted by d-miurge
Nothing new, listen to "Looking in God Eye's" (first track of Shlomi's album). It's an obvious sample of Trentemoller's Moan.


Yeah, I don't know much about Aber beyond having a handful of his tunes - but this comparison did remind me of countless other comparisons from the "tracks that sound like other tracks" thread, which made me wonder whether or not this was legitimately plagiarism, or just what is, and always will be the case in electronic music.


Posted by Clovis on Jul-17-2008 17:48:

Regardless of whether or not it is plagiarism, is he that devoid of ideas? Never liked his music much anyway.


Whats upsetting to me is less the actual copying itself than the fact that people are so out of creative juice that they recycle stuff to such a point.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 17:52:

I guess, but what happens when someone comes up with an example of similarly close tunes that Brikha supposedly "plagiarized"? Will you all of a sudden not care much for his music either?



To be honest, I can't remember the last time I heard a track I thought was truly "original" in the world of dance music. That doesn't mean I haven't heard loads of good music over the years, but originality in general seems to be absent from much of EDM.


Posted by elFreak on Jul-17-2008 17:53:

liked 2 songs...moved on.


Posted by Clovis on Jul-17-2008 17:55:

quote:
Originally posted by RJT
I guess, but what happens when someone comes up with an example of similarly close tunes that Brikha supposedly "plagiarized"? Will you all of a sudden not care much for his music either?



To be honest, I can't remember the last time I heard a track I thought was truly "original" in the world of dance music. That doesn't mean I haven't heard loads of good music over the years, but originality in general seems to be absent from much of EDM.



Sure, but the guy basically admitted "I use presets, so does everyone else" and I think we should be striving not to.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 17:55:

LOL, I can see it already - this thread is about to become a "Shlomi Aber was always shit anyway" thread rather than the topic actually posed.

I haven't been a particularly huge fan either, but do think this whole little situation raises the more important point of whether or not there is, and to what degree, originality exists in the world of EDM.


Posted by chesco on Jul-17-2008 17:56:

Groove la chord is such a nice track.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 17:56:

quote:
Originally posted by Clovis
Sure, but the guy basically admitted "I use presets, so does everyone else" and I think we should be striving not to.


Is it OK for you then when people do it but don't admit that they do?



I'd wager it happens more often than not.


Posted by Clovis on Jul-17-2008 17:57:

quote:
Originally posted by RJT
LOL, I can see it already - this thread is about to become a "Shlomi Aber was always shit anyway" thread rather than the topic actually posed.

I haven't been a particularly huge fan either, but do think this whole little situation raises the more important point of whether or not there is, and to what degree, originality exists in the world of EDM.


There are people being more original than others, thats for sure.


Posted by elFreak on Jul-17-2008 17:57:

well he certainly is no Aril Brikha


Posted by Clovis on Jul-17-2008 18:01:

quote:
Originally posted by RJT
Is it OK for you then when people do it but don't admit that they do?



I'd wager it happens more often than not.



I'm sure it does, and I probably do play some those tracks. But I just try to find music in general from people I think are trying interesting things. The thing is to, maybe certain tracks reuse elements, but when you're talking about a main melody or bassline, something that is really the nest of the track, it makes a big difference imo.

This relates to a funny story by a buddy of mine telling me about asking Troy Pierce how he made some part of one of his track, and Pierce basically saying "I can't tell you, it's a secret". My friend then went home that weekend, opened up his production software, found the preset, and basically remade the track, and then played it in front of Troy at house party.


Posted by d-miurge on Jul-17-2008 18:03:

quote:
Originally posted by RJT

Yeah, I don't know much about Aber beyond having a handful of his tunes - but this comparison did remind me of countless other comparisons from the "tracks that sound like other tracks" thread, which made me wonder whether or not this was legitimately plagiarism, or just what is, and always will be the case in electronic music.



In Looking in God's eyes you can clearly listen to the Trentemoller's work: the piano and some layer chords.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 18:06:

quote:
Originally posted by elFreak
well he certainly is no Aril Brikha


Thank you, Captain O!

quote:
Originally posted by Clovis
I'm sure it does, and I probably do play some those tracks. But I just try to find music in general from people I think are trying interesting things. The thing is to, maybe certain tracks reuse elements, but when you're talking about a main melody or bassline, something that is really the nest of the track, it makes a big difference imo.

This relates to a funny story by a buddy of mine telling me about asking Troy Pierce how he made some part of one of his track, and Pierce basically saying "I can't tell you, it's a secret". My friend then went home that weekend, opened up his production software, found the preset, and basically remade the track, and then played it in front of Troy at house party.


I know you do, Clovis - I'm definitely not accusing you of playing bog-standard music. I just think that no matter how hard you dig, maybe 1 in 10, or 1 in 20 records stands out to me as something pretty original - and even then I often find myself surprised months later to find another track from years earlier that either does the same thing, or does something very, very similar and better.

If every producer who's ever been ripped off starts defaulting to the court of public opinion, we might as well just close the internet for business now. The line between influence and plagiarism just seems to be very fine at times.


Posted by Clovis on Jul-17-2008 18:08:

I guess if you suck as much as Shlomi Aber, people aren't gonna have as much sympathy for you recycling something thats been done before.


Posted by elFreak on Jul-17-2008 18:10:

quote:
Originally posted by Clovis
I guess if you suck as much as Shlomi Aber, people aren't gonna have as much sympathy for you recycling something thats been done before.



can guy j be next? plz plz plz plz plz.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 18:10:

quote:
Originally posted by Clovis
I guess if you suck as much as Shlomi Aber, people aren't gonna have as much sympathy for you recycling something thats been done before.





Indeed, though I still don't like the notion of double standards like that.


Posted by MrJiveBoJingles on Jul-17-2008 18:14:

quote:
Originally posted by RJT
To be honest, I can't remember the last time I heard a track I thought was truly "original" in the world of dance music. That doesn't mean I haven't heard loads of good music over the years, but originality in general seems to be absent from much of EDM.

True.

IMO most pop music (and I include almost all dance music under the broad heading of "pop") is less about originality than about using whatever "works," which means looking for the quickest and simplest route to get people dancing or feeling the intended emotions (e.g. in "uplifting" trance). And if that means re-using a certain rhythm from yesterday's hit, a bassline, part or whole of a melody, or even just lifting out an entire chunk from someone else's track and using it in your own, then so be it. This music is made for having fun, as part of the array of ephemeral pleasures experienced in a night out -- not for being exhaustively analyzed on a formal level, assessed with regard to relations to predecessors, or set up alongside venerated composers in the history books. So it makes sense that a lot of its producers would have few worries about whether they're being all that original -- that's just not their goal in many cases, or at least not their main one.


Posted by Lunar Phase 7 on Jul-17-2008 18:15:

lol.

really not that similar imo. and there are far worse examples.

I also would like to point out there is very little originality in most music not just edm.


Posted by RJT on Jul-17-2008 18:22:

I also think this kind of "he said, she said" bickering is only really going to serve to make both parties look bad, but perhaps worse for Brikha than Aber.

There's a reason people respect those who take the high road, and unfortunately if it does in fact come down to most people saying "Well, that's great - but it's really no different, or worse, than countless other examples", then what was the point in opening your mouth in the first place?

It isn't as if he's going to win an international intellectual property battle and be paid boatloads of money - hell, I don't think there's any way Brikha could manage to stop Efrat from being distributed.

I don't know - I love Aril Brikha, and just wish in general he'd taken the high road rather than putting this out there for people like us to sit and dissect.

No one was ever going to say "Hey, you know that Shlomi Aber - 'Efrat' track? Yeah, that's a WAY better version of a crappy old Aril Brikha tune."


Posted by PETRAN on Jul-17-2008 18:31:

quote:
Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
True.

IMO most pop music (and I include almost all dance music under the broad heading of "pop") is less about originality than about using whatever "works," which means looking for the quickest and simplest route to get people dancing or feeling the intended emotions (e.g. in "uplifting" trance). And if that means re-using a certain rhythm from yesterday's hit, a bassline, part or whole of a melody, or even just lifting out an entire chunk from someone else's track and using it in your own, then so be it. This music is made for having fun, as part of the array of ephemeral pleasures experienced in a night out -- not for being exhaustively analyzed on a formal level, assessed with regard to relations to predecessors, or set up alongside venerated composers in the history books. So it makes sense that a lot of its producers would have few worries about whether they're being all that original -- that's just not their goal in many cases, or at least not their main one.




+1


Posted by MrJiveBoJingles on Jul-17-2008 18:34:

I think that in most cases when dance music producers think they're doing something very original, they're either not particularly well-informed (not knowing much about the history of dance music or music generally) or they're splitting hairs (carving out a domain of "originality" by doing something just mildly different).

Anyway, I think there's something to be said for the notion that originality shouldn't be the main yard stick by which to judge music-makers.

A few people think that an overemphasis on originality is what led the classical tradition to produce what most people think of as unlistenable crap in the form of modernist atonal music:

http://www.classicalarchives.com/ar...edwards036.html
http://www.classicalarchives.com/ar...edwards037.html
http://www.classicalarchives.com/ar...edwards040.html

Interesting reads, if you have the time and an interest in music history.

On the other hand, I too get frustrated at the number of idiots out there who are outright plagiarizing other people's work.


Posted by d-miurge on Jul-17-2008 18:44:

Speaking of plagiarism, check your facebook inbox Rob!


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