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Recycling is a fundamental part of the song creation process.
To figure out how to copy a song, you must first know which parts to copy.
It is typically expressed by the guitar, keyboard, or synthesizer.
When you sing along with your favorite song, you are singing the melody.
Of the three elements, harmony and rhythm are pretty much fair game for copying.
Many songs utilize the same chord progression, and even more have the same or similar beats.
Melody is where things get complicated.
Using one songs melody in another without authorization is how musicians often get sued.
Sampling is also the foundation upon which hip-hop is built.
Their lawsuit set the legal copyright precedent governing the rules of interpolation.
There are several other regularly copied and easily identifiable tropescurrently happening in todays hip-hop world.
Its so pervasive these days, it can be hard to tell one rapper from the next.
And thats kind of the point.
Without it, certain styles of music could and would simply dry up and disappear.
Copying stylecan sometimes bring unwanted litigation, but style remains something that is not a copyrightable component.
Lyrics
The final component of a song that often gets copied is lyrics.
How many songs have an ooh baby in them or an in your arms?
How many times has someone walked on out the door in a song?
What makes for a copyrightable component when it comes to lyrics?
Usually, it happens in the narrative part of a songs lyrics, which take place in the verse.
And like the musical elements of a song, one persons homage is another persons plagiarism.
