Plagiarism In Music

Lately, many musical artists have faced accusations of plagiarism in their music, such as Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”, and Demi Lovato’s “Stars”. Music history consists of many instances of theft, however it was much harder to detect them. since the means in which music was distributed was limited in the past. When radio made its breakthrough appearance in the field, music not only made it easier for material to reach its intended audience, and a wider crowd; including the victims having their spotlights taken away, mostly having to do with race. From then on, radio and music began to be regulated by the government, and created the laws in which the music industry now functions; including the protection of musicians from being taken advantage

Bands flooded into the states with widespread acceptance, such as the Rolling Stones, who owes it’s beginnings to black blues musicians. The Beatles were by far the most successful band in the U.S to come out of the U.K. The Beatles not only also influenced by the blues, but in many foreign genres; in this case, Indian music. Indian music had its first hallmark in western music among Acid rock bands, for example Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead. Psychedelic drugs, like LSD, and acid began to take popularity among counterculture hippies in the late 60’s. Acid rock became a very distinctive genre that mimicked the effects of such hallucinogenic drugs in the underground scene. The Beatles however, are crowned with the first use of the Indian instrument of the sitar in western music. They meddled with Indian music under the influence, thus creating the connection between Indian culture, and the drug/hippie subculture. The Beatles were able to rejoice in the light of oriental music without exploiting Asian religion, by taking its influence, making a seemingly new sound, and having a deep respect for it. Unlike Led Zeppelin, another rock band that sampled, and simply stole both white and black artists songs without permission and payment, The Beatles are a perfect example of how to take influences, and combine them with your own background in a respectful manner to create something fresh without

One instant in which African American culture wasn’t used with vain intentions was that of the hip-hop group, The Beastie Boys. Hip-hop has become a forefront place of discussion for racial inequality. Although there are those who argue that this genre now represents a variety of backgrounds, in a sort of melting pot, why is it that the more successful of artist related and connected to hip-hop are white? Eminem’s rapping, and Miley Cyrus’s twerking, are fine with audiences, but when a black artist does the same thing they are a bad influence although they developed the trend in the first place, and that robs them of their freedom of expression, fans, and damages racial identities. The Beastie Boys had the first platinum hip-hop album creating controversy due to whites capitalizing more than blacks on borrowed material. Although, The Beastie Boys were from a very privileged background, they have been praised by many for being influenced heavily by African American hip-hop music, bringing their own talents, and creating an entity staying true to who they were, and not harness African American culture away from it’s rightful owners for fame, but to be innovators to the shared