Silence is copyrighted...

Loose Ends: Did John Cage Invent Silence?

Music copyright infringement can be a fairly tricky thing. Some cases, like the fiasco over the similarity between Huey Lewis' "I Want A New Drug" and the Ghostbusters theme, are reasonable. Others are a little more iffy. For instance, can anyone own a copyright on the sound of silence?

According to the estate of late avant-garde composer John Cage, yes. Cage, as you may remember, perplexed an audience decades ago with a "composition" called "4'33," which featured him sitting in front of a piano, in complete silence, for exactly four minutes and 33 seconds. Now, a classical composer by the name of Mike Batt has put a track called "One Minute's Silence" (which is exactly that) on an album by his protegees, The Planets. According to the British newspaper, The Independent, John Cage's people have served him with a legal document, claiming copyright infringement.

http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2002/07/0404.cfm

All I can say is :/

Rahhyahyahyahyahya. Rrr-r-r-rrahyahyahyahya.. That's funny.

I should copyright loud non-stop gibberish and sue all the people who force me to listen to them talk.

That is pretty messed up.
I wonder if rain is copyrighted...

Aight ya'll............... now I'm fuckin scared! Dat shit is fucked up on so many levels!
O_O

Davidoom said:

I wonder if rain is copyrighted...

Yes, by me. You all owe me big time.

How the hell can you copyright silence?

bigbadgangsta said:

How the hell can you copyright silence?

Leave it to BBG to ask the questions the rest of us are afraid to...


=)

stphrz said:

Leave it to BBG to ask the questions the rest of us are afraid to...


=)

Yeah, I ask all sorts of offensive questions (this one wasn't). I remeber I met this girl my brother liked so I had to stop myself from asking her if she swallowed, until they broke up and became friends ;)

OMG...now they have to sue Trent Reznor 91 times.

The John Cage Society fails it.

According to what I have been thought John Cage's "masterwork" 4,33 is not just silence. It is in fact a thoroughly composed piece of music, albeit one that only consists of rests.

If the "infringing" work does include the same thematic elements as 4,33 even though it is also only made up of rests they might not have a case at all.


Anyway the whole idea is stupid. I'm not particularily fond of John Cage. The only thing I dig about him is that he was a fellow mushroom collector in his spare time.

His concert for four radios is funny though.

meh, thats retarded. what next. I copyright nose hairs and fart sounds? I say the letter a and copyright it? ugh. I'm an artist and am all for copyright laws, but thats just ridiculous.

John Cage = idiot
Who wants to listen to someone do nothing?!?! He's stupid enough to do it...but he's even dumber to try to copyright it.

You just don't get it, do you?

bigbadgangsta said:

How the hell can you copyright silence?

Quietly

the_Danarchist said:

You just don't get it, do you?

If this was directed to me...you're right I don't get it. I am a musician myself, and believe me that is NOT music.

...mingling over the topic: silence is copyrighted...

Doom II Guy said:

John Cage = idiot
Who wants to listen to someone do nothing?!?! He's stupid enough to do it...but he's even dumber to try to copyright it.

Actually, IIRC, he didnt do nothing. He sat and played a piano that had no strings. Thus he was technically doing something. Also, I dont think this was ever aired on a radio or anything, it was only at concerts (correct me if I'm wrong). I myself dont get it though, but i'm not a musician so I cant really say much.

This thread is just another perfect fuckin example of how fux0red the usual legal system really is! It's amazin how many peeps use the US' laws against the government every year, and get away with some outrageous shit because of it. Da whole idea of silence being copyrighted is just freakin' ludicrous.

I wonder if they are going to sue Einstürzende Neubauten for making 'Silence is Sexy'. It has music, but it's like half pauses. Heh...this is just stupid.

I want to copyright the letter 'e' and whenever anyone uses it, they owe me 1 cent for their infringement.

Great, I've never used the letter 'E' before

WHat's Johnny Cage doing outside Mortal Kombat?

They took him out of mortal Kombat for being gay. Now he just annoys people in real life.

OMG...now they have to sue Trent Reznor 91 times.

heh yeah, marilyn manson too (on AS)

Linguica said:

WHat's Johnny Cage doing outside Mortal Kombat?

I was thinking the same thing.

copyright suck, they dont work for anybody but large corporations. the same goes for patent owners... "protecting the little guy" my ass