Hello everyone,

I would like to ask if it is legal to use a preset MOX arpeggio in an original song which is intended to be launched in the market. Would this violate any copyrights?

Thank you.

Honestly,

if Yamaha sells professional workstations , and want copyright for every song we write using it, it should be written everywhere in the documentation .

epafos - 05 July 2012 07:34 PM

Hello everyone,

I would like to ask if it is legal to use a preset MOX arpeggio in an original song which is intended to be launched in the market. Would this violate any copyrights?

Thank you.

No, it’s free for use same as Apple loops ;-)

I’m not a lawyer (although the posters who have answered above, maybe)… here is the skinny:

There are basically 12 tones in the chromatic scale. If you use an arpeggio and create an exact duplicate of someone’s copyrighted song, you will get sued. The fact that you say to the judge “...but I used an arpeggio I found in my Yamaha MOX”. That will not save you.

If you are asking can you use the Arpeggio data in the MOX for your original song, OF COURSE you can!!! They are license-free (in today’s jargon)

None of the arpeggios in your MOX is a song. None of the arpeggios is a ‘musical composition’ - as defined in the law.

I’m saying that if you put the 12 tones of the chromatic scale in the same order as an already copyrighted song, you can be sued - it is that simple and that complex.

Mind you: No one has ever done this “by mistake” - you know when you have stolen a song. It’s a human thing called the conscience (lol).

Any of the arpeggios played by themselves are not songs. They do not define a song. A song has a melody. The fact that the PERFORMANCE “Dark Continent” suggests the Toto tune “Africa” does not make it liable for a law suit. But if you play that and then add the Toto melody and duplicate the song, and try and take credit for it… well, the judge will tell you, you did a bad, bad thing.

:-)

Now if you tried to release the Yamaha MOX arpeggios as a “data library” in some piece of software, claiming that you created these arpeggios - I don’t doubt you would hear from some legal department types (again, you could not do this by mistake… in this case you might be infringing on the use license of the data.

Bad_Mister - 06 July 2012 11:04 AM

Mind you: No one has ever done this “by mistake” - you know when you have stolen a song.

George Harrison might have disagreed. ;-)

Bad_Mister - 06 July 2012 11:04 AM

Any of the arpeggios played by themselves are not songs. They do not define a song. A song has a melody.

I’m not sure a copyrightable work of music needs to have a melody. See rap. Or John Cage.

It is an interesting topic, which lends itself to gray areas, as copyright issues often do.

An example: I don’t think someone could get away with writing a new song over the My Sharona riff. Now imagine that My Sharona didn’t exist, but Yamaha happened to create that pattern as a supplied arpeggio, and subsequently, someone had the knack for turning it into a catchy little song. Could that prevent any other Yamaha owners from legally writing a song over that same riff? Hmm!

George Harrison might have disagreed. ;-)

I know that was his defense, but the judge also laughed as I did (lol). It had not only the same melody, but the same bridge and the same key… so Ronnie Mack got paid!!!

Again I’m not a lawyer but your conjecture is not that difficult to sort out, trust me. As to the original poster’s question - go for it, the arp data can be used as you desire. Just don’t steal someone else’s song. And if you steal “My Sweet Lord” - you too will play Ronnie Mack (who wrote “He’s So Fine” for the Chiffons)

Thanks to everyone for your answers.