For example, in 2019 Damien Riehl and Noah Rubin used a computer to compose every possible 12-beat melody without chords in a one-octave heptatonic scale; there are approximately 68.7 billion such combinations at full length,[1] small enough to fit on some commercially available hard drives.
Composer Dmitri Shostakovich perhaps commented sarcastically on the issue of musical plagiarism with his use of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", an instantly recognizable tune, in his Prelude No.
[5] According to U.S. copyright law, in the absence of a confession, musicians who accuse others of stealing their work must prove "access"—the alleged plagiarizer must have heard the song—and "similarity"—the songs must share unique musical components.
[8] In 2012, when Bob Dylan was questioned over his alleged plagiarism of others' music he responded, "It's an old thing—it's part of the tradition.
EMI's output is convincing enough to persuade human listeners that its music is human-generated to a high level of competence.
A different approach is being followed by Melomics, a technology focused on teaching computers the rules of music composition, not the works of previous composers.
The records produced (Iamus' album and 0music) are in the computer's own style, so they cannot be considered a pastiche or plagiarism of previous works.
[13] Contradicting this claim is classical music critic Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times who said that many composers used material from previous composers—for example, "John Williams all but lifted the core idea of his soundtrack score from the Scherzo of Erich Korngold's Symphony in F-sharp Major, written 25 years earlier.
International sampling is governed by agreements such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act.
[15] The Columbia Law School Library's Music Plagiarism Project provides information on many cases over the decades, with a few dating back to the 19th century.
[16] The following are accusations of plagiarism appearing in notable media: We were listening a lot to The Beatles' Revolver album.