Cryptomnesia: The unconscious plagiarism affecting the music industry

Times of discover News: Only 12 notes are used, and most pop music is based on similar chord structures. That's why accusations of plagiarism are so common in pop. This was the case with George Harrison, who had to sign away the rights to two-thirds of his first big solo hit, My Sweet Lord; it probably sounds like 'He's So Fine' by girl band The Chiffons. The Beatles had to admit they knew the song, but were certain they had written something original. 

Many others, including Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Lana Del Rey, Oasis and Coldplay, find themselves in similar, though often unresolved, dilemmas. Melodies and lyrics are repeated over and over: for example, Enrique Banbury, lead singer of Heroes of Silence, was chosen to sing 37 songs that, to put it mildly, were inspired by the writings of others - mostly poets.

Over-the-top or over-the-top plagiarism is called cryptomnesia. This has nothing to do with Bitcoin, but rather repressed memories that have lost their source and context. Writing songs is complicated: the composer turns the tune over in his mind and finds exactly the right lyrics. No song is created in a vacuum. The influence of the past is always there. 

American music, on the other hand, has a long tradition of incorporating other people's songs without including original lyrics. As the recording industry boomed in the 1940s and 1950s, a series of composers emerged who wrote songs for major artists; it was only in the 1960s that the idea of ​​composers composing their own music emerged.

When an artist is accused of plagiarism, you have two options. You can claim cryptomania and save face by negotiating a financial settlement with the original author and adding it to the credits. Or, as many artists prefer, they can claim ignorance of the original song, and claim that any similarity is purely coincidental. In such cases, the judges must seek the help of music or literary experts, who ultimately decide how similar one song is to another.

Shake It Off is arguably Taylor Swift's most recognizable song. Her chorus is, "'Cause players gonna play, play, play, play, play, play, play, play/And haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate," - lyrics that prove she'll be able to handle any criticism that comes her way in 2014, and is still hitting hard, but it turns out that some of the lyrics are almost identical to Playas Gon' Play, written by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler for 3LW. 

A one-woman single that the trio released in 2001 ("The beach, they'll play / They'll play / And the haters, they'll get hats / They'll get hats") The two sides will fight for five years in court before a deal comes in 2022, which has been kept secret since then.

The lawsuit is the subject of a CNN documentary: Tracking Taylor Swift. Hall and his lawyers spoke, music and copyright experts gave their opinions, and numerous other cases of plagiarism were cited with a degree of cryptomnesia that is hard to gauge. Olivia Rodrigo, a star who was very impressed with Swift and acknowledged her as a co-writer of several songs, welcomed her.

Meanwhile, the defensive strategy of Swift's team was somewhat confusing. In their first written statement, they said they had never heard the track 3LW, as only country CDs played in their house and the radio was never turned on. This argument broke down when an old recording surfaced in which the young singer played herself on the MTV show Total There was an enthusiastic review of Request Live, including the song “Playas Gonna Play”, which had some influence at the time. 

The judges initially deemed the controversial phrase too “common” to be protected by law, but there were successive appeals, after which the issue was decided. It is fair to say that there is some financial compensation, but no acknowledgement of debt or any confidentiality agreement.

The most controversial aspect of the documentary is that there is a pattern of this kind of plagiarism that matches the systematic racism of the cultural industry. In American pop, it is quite common for white artists to adopt the compositions of black artists and make them available to a wider audience – not only the songs but the style, rhythm, rhyme and slang. 

This could be considered too broad a conclusion for this particular case – a small shortcoming given the singer’s trajectory, but not lacking precedent. And, as in My Sweet Lord, we have a great white star using elements of a song by a lesser-known African American girl band.