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In most modern trance songs, there's nothing, compositionally, that you can copyright about it. A chord progression can't be copyrighted. Try telling anyone playing blues that they can't use a 12 bar blues progression. Or anyone in trance using generic trance progression #3 that they can't use that progression. If all you add over the top of it is some arpeggio sequence, or some lead notes which don't constitute a distinctive melody, then there's nothing stopping someone using exactly the same progression and arpeggio sequence and calling it their own song. You could turn to any legal system in the world and they won't help you out.
If you use words, you can copyright the words in your song.
If you come up with a distinctive melody (maybe 5-10% of trance songs these days (if that) would have a strong enough melody to be considered as such), you can copyright the melody.
People can't steal your actual version, but there's nothing stopping them from creating their own version and calling it their song. It's totally legal, and very standard practice for a lot of styles.
Listening to the original version in this video, it contains no melody. It contains a "lead sequence" of notes, which forms part of the chord progression, but it's nowhere near strong and distinctive enough to stand up in any court as an "original melody". Most modern trance is in the same boat. Tiesto would have much more of a case, since he's added a much more distinctive melodic idea. The chord progression seems identical, which is absolutely fine. As I said before, chord progressions can't be copyrighted.
Do I think Tiesto used his track as a basis for his own? Very probably. Not definitely, but probably. Is there a problem with that? Not at all. If you don't want someone to steal your idea, make sure there's an idea to steal. Write a good melody. If someone ripped off the melody to '9pm (Til I come)' or 'The Theme' or a similar track, then they're in big trouble. If they rip off the progression and lead sequence from most modern trance songs, they're fine. There's no court in the world which will convict them of doing something wrong.
Take my songs/remixes in my signature below for example - my latest song, Dawn Flight, has a copyrightable melody. Most people absolutely hate it, but it's distinctive enough to copyright. Universal Movement I would argue has no melody as such, just an arpeggio sequence of notes. I doubt very much I could do anything if someone wanted to grab the chord progression and lead sequence of that song and do their own version. Day One's melody is distinctive enough, Sun Haze's melody is distinctive enough. But most modern trance songs don't contain strong enough melodies to protect themselves. I listened to the first CD of Trancemaster 61 today, one of the eleven songs contained a real actual melody. (Sterilis, if you're reading - good work on that song!)
Last edited by derail on Aug-31-2008 at 06:54
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). And BTW, I can also create a track now, that looks a lot like traffic and saying Tiësto stole my song.
