Can we prototype?

[epiNoesis]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm new to music, I do not know enough, but a keyboard has about 88 keys. And there are so many songs in the world. So how can you make a new song, that is, a new combination of those 88 keys (actually combination of seven notes differing in octaves), that does not resemble other songs?

In other words, how can you monetize your "new" song without a creator coming to you and accusing you of stealing his melody?

[Eino]

Think of notes as words, how many different sentences can be made?, as in poetry, how my different poems can be written?
Think of notes of the music of nature, how many different sounds are in nature?
There are endless possibility's.
It's what inspires you, what music you write.

A lot of times, If I play a random music from my head. I use the same notes with my right hand, as the left hand, then switch the melody back the between the two. I never lay claim to any music from my head because it maybe something I have heard, or played before. So I call it random music If I share it.
If I write words to a song, and add notes. The music takes on a meaning, and it will be different than any music out there.

[epiNoesis]

I have similar "problem". I try to improvise, but can't help ending up creating melodies that are in my memory from other songs.

So, a song may have somewhere some melody similar to another song, but on the whole, with it's distinct sounds, not to mention by using lyrics, becomes a totally different song, so nobody can accuse you of stealing their song.

So, in few words, just a similar melody won't bring you any trouble, wright?

[Eino]

If you listen to the modern day composers, and you listen to the old masters , like Beethoven, Chopin. etc. You can hear the inspiration for their music, and the similarities. So even if you get inspired by someone else's work, If it is different in many ways. They can not say you stole their music.

[StakeoutPunch]

Just look at Ice Ice Baby and Under Pressure. There is a single note difference between them, and that is why the copyright infringement claim failed.

From a purely legal standpoint, if you change a melody enough, you should be able to call it yours. However, that doesn't mean that other people will approve. It's about making something that means something to you. As someone who has issues coming up with original melodies, I tend to make a lot of remixes of other songs.

[epiNoesis]

Thank you for all your responses!

if you change a melody enough, you should be able to call it yours

I see, but that presumes knowing the other song, so you can differentiate yours. What if you do not know that there is a licensed song similar to yours?

To be honest, I am not thinking of something like joining the music industry. As I said, I do not even know much about music. But I was thinking of making youtube videos (not music videos, maybe vloging), but covering them with my melodies, that I create using lmms, so that I do not need to get royalty free music for background music. And of course, hoping to be able to monetize those vids through youtube partnership, although I do not expect much views, but I would like to try.

[Sti-Jay]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm new to music, I do not know enough, but a keyboard has about 88 keys. And there are so many songs in the world. So how can you make a new song, that is, a new combination of those 88 keys (actually combination of seven notes differing in octaves), that does not resemble other songs?

In other words, how can you monetize your "new" song without a creator coming to you and accusing you of stealing his melody?

Mindfuck...One could calculate all different note combinations lets say in a one minute song where you play a variety of note frequencies and lengths. That number is infinity. Then you could say that you only want to play hearable frequencies (not surprisingly) and even combinations that sounds good, which will reduce the number to a really really huge number. So yes, with some rules you can calculate a finite amount of combinations. Maybe small short and simple melodies have been written (or just sung) before, thousands of years ago, which is exactly identical the one you will write. I don't think you will ever need to be afraid of copyright if you believe you have never heard your song somewhere, cause your imagination seems quite often to be a product of what you have heard, my (sub)consciousness makes me make songs I like all the time.

Now we were talking about sheet music, we were not considering that different instruments could play different instruments and that it will sound different from instrument to instrument and by who plays it (unless a computer). And we haven't even begun considering that the reverb will vary from room to room when actually hearing the song, or all the effects being used, oh I even forgot about the dynamics!

You can check if the songs are totally identical if a microphone had recorded all of them and you had then compared all the bits. That is what this video is about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAcjV60RnRw

[Eino]

epiNoesis Think of this as opensource music, it's music I put together for my music box theme.
Change the time signatures, tempo, etc to your liking. I just ask that you do not use it in any commercial form.

Sheet 1 https://jumpshare.com/v/TMeGR2gye921zf3B53QH

Sheet 2 https://jumpshare.com/v/WzJMlZkv0CQlootxjkP0