royalty free straight outta compton instrumental remake

Atoms in a regular crystal lattice like a diamond comprise a very low-entropy physical system. Following the leading tone with the flat second would be a higher-entropy move, unexpected to most Western listeners.Īnalogies with physical systems are helpful here. This note sequence conveys little information to the Western listener we have heard it countless times, and we have come to expect it. Coffman’s example of a low-entropy musical idea is the leading tone followed by the tonic. A well-worn cliché will have lower entropy because it introduces little or no new information. A more novel musical idea will have higher entropy because it will contain information that is new to the listener. In his formulation, originality is coextensive with novelty, which in turn is coextensive with informational entropy. Donald Coffman has a useful approach based on information theory. What Is Originality?īefore we can discuss the impact that digital music has had on the concept of originality, it would be helpful to have a definition of the term. In so doing, I will advance the thesis that complete originality is neither possible nor desirable, in digital music or elsewhere, and that the spread of digital copying and manipulation has done us a service by bringing the issue into stark relief. I will examine perspectives from musicians and fans, jurists and journalists, copyright holders and copyright violators. I intend to parse out our varied and conflicting notions of originality, ownership and authorship as they pertain to electronic music. Is a mashup of two pre-existing recordings original? Is a new song based on a sample of an old one original? What about a new song using factory sounds from Reason or Ableton Live? Is a DJ set consisting entirely of other people’s recordings original? Can a bright-line standard for originality or authenticity even exist in the digital realm? Still others gleefully and willfully appropriate and put their “theft” of familiar recordings front and center. Others feel comfortable using off-the-shelf products but try to avoid common riffs, rhythmic patterns, chord progressions and timbres. Some electronic musicians view it as a necessity to create their tools from scratch, be they hardware or software. Others freely use samples, presets and factory sounds for reasons of expediency, but feel guilt and a weakened sense of authorship.

Some electronic musicians feel the need to generate all of their sounds from scratch, out of a sense that using samples is cheating or lazy.

Sometimes one may have creative approval but no legal sanction within the hip-hop community, creative repurposing of copyrighted commercial recordings is a cornerstone of the art form, and the best crate-diggers are revered figures.Įven in purely noncommercial settings untouched by copyright law, issues of authorship and originality continue to vex us.

Sometimes the copying is legally permissible but artistically dubious, as when one downloads a public-domain Bach or Scott Joplin MIDI file and copies and pastes sections from them into a new composition. Sometimes this copying is relatively uncontroversial, as when a producer uses royalty-free factory sounds from Reason or Ableton Live. Questions of authorship, ownership and originality surround all forms of music (and, indeed, all creative undertakings.) Nowhere are these questions more acute or more challenging than in digital music, where it is effortless and commonplace to exactly reproduce sonic elements generated by others. This post is longer and more formal than usual because it was my term paper for a class in the NYU Music Technology Program.

Royalty free straight outta compton instrumental remake