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Justin Bieber, Skrillex Sued Over 'Sorry' Hook

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R

radios shipping overview

Member
crooked spin said:
Skrillex just tweeted this: https://twitter.com/Skrillex/status/736328422901714944

Case closed?
Click to expand...

Well, that's just uncanny. Also, the original a cappella recording wasn't in the same key as the final song, but "Sorry" ended up in the same key as "Ring the Bell."

Does willful intent have to be proven in an infringement case like this?

Unrelated, but watching the dance version of the Bieber Sorry video shows me that all the wrong elements of early-90s fashion have been brought back.

ZK6j5Uw.png
 
Airola

Airola

Member
Fusebox said:
Down 4 semitones then up an octave, why not just up 8 semitones from the start, does that technically make the sample manipulated enough to use without release or something? You're not gonna get the grain of an old sampler doing that with Abletons algorithms so it seems redundant otherwise.
Click to expand...

I guess when they made the Bieber version, they wanted to make it 4 semitones lower than the original. Then as they wanted to take a sample from the original song, they first had to lower it to match the Bieber version, so they lowered it 4 semitones. When they found what they wanted to use, they at some point tried to make it higher to have more interesting sound to it, or for some other artistic reason. That ended up being 12 semitones higher than the future Bieber song and 8 semitones higher than the original version.

In the video he showed that process in a shorter form.
 
F

Fusebox

Banned
Airola said:
I guess when they made the Bieber version, they wanted to make it 4 semitones lower than the original. Then as they wanted to take a sample from the original song, they first had to lower it to match the Bieber version, so they lowered it 4 semitones. When they found what they wanted to use, they at some point tried to make it higher to have more interesting sound to it, or for some other artistic reason. That ended up being 12 semitones higher than the future Bieber song and 8 semitones higher than the original version.

In the video he showed that process in a shorter form.
Click to expand...

Hey yeah man, I think you're right. That'd explain it for sure.
 
P

perfectchaos007

Member
Airola said:
I guess when they made the Bieber version, they wanted to make it 4 semitones lower than the original. Then as they wanted to take a sample from the original song, they first had to lower it to match the Bieber version, so they lowered it 4 semitones. When they found what they wanted to use, they at some point tried to make it higher to have more interesting sound to it, or for some other artistic reason. That ended up being 12 semitones higher than the future Bieber song and 8 semitones higher than the original version.

In the video he showed that process in a shorter form.
Click to expand...

How many semitones different does a sound have to be to avoid an illegal copywrite?
 
B

blakep267

Member
As people have said, it looks like they didn't take the sample, but recreated the sound by tweaking the other artists voice. Is that a case? It'd be hard to prove intent
 
T

the_batman

Banned
do artists have to ask other artists if they sample others' stuff? i remember it got to be a big deal when Kanye was starting out his solo career.

btw, i hate to say it but i seem to like the Bieber song more than hers LOL
 
L

lenovox1

Member
the_batman said:
do artists have to ask other artists if they sample others' stuff? i remember it got to be a big deal when Kanye was starting out his solo career.

btw, i hate to say it but i seem to like the Bieber song more than hers LOL
Click to expand...

Permissions are one thing. You must credit and compensate all of the artists, creators, and the owners of the material (the label) properly in order to sample another artist's work.
 
Z

Zaptruder

Banned
It's like having an image with an overlapping number of pixels with a similar feel (both of the same stylistic genre).

I mean... you draw enough boxes and it'll end up looking like a box that someone else drew you know?
 
Airola

Airola

Member
perfectchaos007 said:
How many semitones different does a sound have to be to avoid an illegal copywrite?
Click to expand...

It could be that if you use the same melody played in a lower or higher scale you can be accused of stealing a melody. I'm not sure about it, as sometimes playing a certain melody on a lower scale sounds very different and it always has completely different notes than the original.
However, in this case one could only accuse Skrillex for stealing from the original composer of the original song. As the Bieber version is a real cover of it, I believe that as they have gotten the rights to make the cover, they have cleared their right to use samples from that original song as well.

The artist who is now accusing Skrillex has nothing to do with the original version of Sorry. So even if Skrillex had stolen something, he hadn't stolen anything from the accuser, but from completely other person.
 
D

Doc_Drop

Member
So it's not a literal sample, but it's clear that the hook was not their own. However, that basically means nothing can really be done about it
 
T

the_batman

Banned
Weckum said:
How does this mean anything? That he made it himself from the voice doesn't mean he didn't steal it, right? I mean, I can't just sing/make a song/sample myself and then call it my own even I copy someone literally?
Click to expand...

what are you even trying to say.
 
C

Cipherr

Member
komplanen said:
He's saying you can't just sing your own copy of a popular song and say "it's not a sample so it's okay"
Click to expand...

They weren't singing that ladies song... at all. You would have to not be paying attention to not see that. The notes sung are similar but aren't even the same.

The only way this makes sense is if the acapella was literally singing that girls song. I know its cool to dislike Bieber and this dubstep dude, but take the L. They clearly didnt copy it. Just coincidence. All these reaches are crazy.
 
K

komplanen

Member
Cipherr said:
They weren't singing that ladies song... at all. You would have to not be paying attention to not see that. The notes sung are similar but aren't even the same.

The only way this makes sense is if the acapella was literally singing that girls song. I know its cool to dislike Bieber and this dubstep dude, but take the L. They clearly didnt copy it. Just coincidence. All these reaches are crazy.
Click to expand...

I don't know. I haven't even heard the original song. I just explainedwhat that poster said.
 
V

Vyse The Legend

Member
Weckum said:
How does this mean anything? That he made it himself from the voice doesn't mean he didn't steal it, right? I mean, I can't just sing/make a song/sample myself and then call it my own even I copy someone literally?
Click to expand...

That means she has zero case. The lyrics aren't even the same. If she gets anything, it'll be minimal and purely so that she can never bring it up again.
 
U

Unfriendly TimeTraveler

Member
Surprised ring the bell grew over a million views overnight. Honestly I like the song, vocals are alright but the sound is overall pretty good. Now sorry on the hand is pretty uninspiring and sticks to the same formula most songs like that now a days.
Still this whole thing and confusing because the fact is that hook sounds just like the hook from ring the bell and that's what is still kind of important.

Edit: also the amount of hate that must be going to white hinterlands is inexcusable and the people doing it should be ashamed. In the end the only people who should be sorry is the fans of Justin beiber who went to that song to just bring hate.
 
I

ItIsOkBro

Member
Weckum said:
How does this mean anything? That he made it himself from the voice doesn't mean he didn't steal it, right? I mean, I can't just sing/make a song/sample myself and then call it my own even I copy someone literally?
Click to expand...

It's 4 very unoriginal notes an a very unoriginal order. I have no problem believing that she was just vocalizing a melody that happened to sound like Ring the Bell.
 
P

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
I don't know shit about music and forgive me for the following but:

ooO oo wuh AH

vs

ooO ooO OOO

and they're going at different tempos and the songs sound completely opposite outside of that.
 
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