If every drumbeat was considered songwriting, the Bonham ‘Levee’ beat, the Bo Diddly groove, the ‘We Will Rock You’ stomp, even the standard four-on-the-floor pattern would all exist in only one song, and if you emulated any of them in a new song, you could be sued for plagiarism. This is actually a good thing in many ways.
This is arguable because the latter two are considered “accompaniment,” while the first two form the backbone of the composition, and remain consistent regardless of who is performing the composition. Most often, lyrics and melody are afforded protection under the law before the other two. The law makes clear that lyrics, melody, harmony, and rhythm can be copyrighted. Drumbeats and drum patterns are not typically considered songwriting – it’s not typical to copyright a drumbeat. So the real question we need to ask: are drumbeats considered songwriting? If they are, then they form part of the musical composition and would be protected under the law just like a chord progression, melody or lyric. In other words, nobody could sample or otherwise exploit your recorded performance without your consent. This happens in the recording of that performance. But what about drum beats…can they be copyrighted?Īs a starting point: any musical performance that is recorded in any form already has automatic copyright.
In light of the many high profile plagiarism cases making headlines in the music business over the last few years (Lana Del Rey, Led Zeppelin, Robin Thicke, Sam Smith, etc.), it felt like the right time to examine the topic of songwriting from where we all sit: the drum throne.Īll of the above instances of alleged plagiarism involved similarities in melodies or chord progressions.