men at work are thieves?

[Dr. Love]

This is the section of kookaburra in question
Same phrasing etc, different notes.(or different key I should say)

Looking at the sheet music above it appears that pattern of notes is played twice (4 total measures). The sheet music indicate the song has 8 measures. That's why I was saying it was half of kookabura

I agree that the percentage is out of whack ... and that perhaps the people that bought the rights shouldn't be suing at all given the pretext for why they are doing it.

But if it had been the original songwriter, I'd be more supportive. From what I can tell, they did practically lift half of his/her song. At the very least, ask permission or give some sort of credit, or write a different damn flute part.

Who the hell plays flute in rock'n'roll anyway?

[Dr. Love]

Other than the skin flute.

[Panamark]

If I have read the story correctly so far,
It was written by a woman in the 30's who gifted it to the girl guides.
No money involved.

It was only after some dudes heard Colin Haye refer to it, that
they checked out who the rights belonged too and voila !

Men at Work, and possibly every person in Australia would have
considered that song so old it would be public domain.

On this subject I seem to recall a Heavy Metal song in the
80's that "paid homage" to the roots of Rock and played
the actual riffs note for note throughout the song. I think
Black Dog was somewhere in there... Now that was really blatant.
Yet nobody sued them. I cant remember who the hell it was,
if I do I will post it.

[Blackflag]

You really need to simmer down.

[Panamark]

You really need to simmer down.

Nah - I could rave on about this for 4 more years !!
I dont believe there has been anything like this in musical
history. This is a bad precedent. Correct me if wrong.

I couldnt give a flying fuck if it were Loverboy, this is wrong !

[Panamark]

Fightback ???

Colin Hay plays Land Down Under without the offending flute to show it was all his song
By Alan Howe From: Herald Sun February 08, 2010 12:00AM EXCLUSIVE - Colin Hay: Down Under (2010)Play

Hay records new version minus flute
Says the flute was "incidental, at best"
Men at Work to fight rip-off ruling

LAUGH, kookaburra, laugh? He must be splitting his sides.

The judgement last week stating that Colin Hay and Ron Strykert stole the late Marion Sinclair's annoying Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree may well be challenged, and good thing, too.

The song was born from a bass line put on cassette by Strykert and which had hypnotised Hay.

In 1978, while driving down Power Street in Hawthorn, near the intersection of Riversdale Road, a line suddenly came to him: “Living in a land down under”.

Hay quickly mapped out the rest of the song on acoustic guitar. He called from California to play me the song as he originally intended it, with just a guitar and him. You can listen to it now on our website.

It is an emphatic challenge to the comments by Federal Court judge Peter Jacobson that “in my opinion, there is sufficient degree of objective similarity between bars of Kookaburra . . . to amount to a reproduction of a part of Miss Sinclair’s rounds”.

Down Under lived as a song long before musician Greg Ham unwittingly reprised a handful of notes from Kookaburra in his cheeky adornment to the worldwide hit.

At first, Ham wasn’t sure where the notes had come from, and in any case it was just a passing reference to somebody’s else’s moment, quite a tradition in jazz, classical, pop and rock, and in painting, in film, graphic art, political speeches, architecture and even cooking. When did you last see an acknowledgement of someone else’s idea in a recipe book?

Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones is a plagiarist. Greg Ham is a flautist.

When Men At Work recorded Down Under the song already existed, it wasn’t something that came out of thin air, the song was alive and well. It was a song,” Hay told me.

The judge says himself that the ‘two bars were part of a flute riff that was added to Down Under after is was first composed’ ... so the inference there is that the song already exists, and if the song already exists therefore it’s copywritten.

“It was always a big song, with or without that reference . . . (the flute) was incidental, at best”.

The Kookaburra notes “crept in there, it was innocuous”.

“I really love the song. It doesn’t define who I am or what I do and it may be hard for people to understand, but I really feel like I’m protecting the song. It has a life, to me. Down Under is a song unto itself. It’s been that way since 1978. It’s not fair.

“For me the song was a success before Men At Work, when I played it at the Cricketer’s Arms and somebody walked up to at the end of the night and said to me (the Scot Hay adopts a broad Australian accent) ‘hey, mate, can you play that song about downunder, I really like that’. That’s when it was a success to me.”

Hay has re-recorded his original version of Down Under so that our readers can hear it and make up their own mind if they agree with Judge Jacobson that “a substantial part” of Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree was stolen by Men At Work.

[Panamark]

Colin Hay without the flute. (As was originally wrriten)

Video - news.com.au

[Panamark]

How cool was that, Colin still delivers 30 years later !!

[WACF]

How cool was that, Colin still delivers 30 years later !!

That was cool...I hope they win this.

[Blaze]

Band penalized for copied riff in 'Down Under' hit

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 16 mins ago

SYDNEY – A judge ordered Australian band Men at Work on Tuesday to hand over a portion of the royalties from their 1980s hit "Down Under," after previously ruling its distinctive flute riff was copied from a children's campfire song.

But the penalty — 5 percent of the song's royalties — was far less than the 60 percent sought by publishing company Larrikin Music, which holds the copyright for the song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree."

"Kookaburra" was written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition, and the song about the native Australian bird has been a favorite around campfires from New Zealand to Canada.

Sinclair died in 1988, but Larrikin filed a copyright lawsuit last year. In February, Federal Court Justice Peter Jacobson ruled Men at Work had copied their song's signature flute melody from "Kookaburra."

On Tuesday, Jacobson ordered Men at Work's recording company, EMI Songs Australia, and "Down Under" songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, to pay 5 percent of royalties earned from the song since 2002 and from its future earnings. A statute of limitations restricted Larrikin from seeking royalties earned before 2002.

The court didn't specify what the 5 percent penalty translates to in dollars.
"I consider the figures put forward by Larrikin to be excessive, overreaching and unrealistic," Jacobson wrote in his judgment.

Adam Simpson, Larrikin Music's lawyer, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Hay and Strykert were not in court for the decision and couldn't immediately be reached.
"Down Under" and the album it was on, "Business As Usual," topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983. The song remains an unofficial anthem for Australia and was ranked fourth in a 2001 music industry survey of the best Australian songs. Men at Work won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100706/ap_on_en_mu/as_australia_men_at_work

[Blaze]

the penalty — 5 percent of the song's royalties — was far less than the 60 percent sought by publishing company Larrikin Music, which holds the copyright for the song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree."

Cliff notes

[twonabomber]

are we to believe the Men At Work back catalog still sells well enough to earn decent royalties? ok, the 80's stations probably still play it, but enough that 5% is going to hurt these guys?

what's half of nothin'? that's right...nothin'.

[Blaze]

are we to believe the Men At Work back catalog still sells well enough to earn decent royalties? ok, the 80's stations probably still play it, but enough that 5% is going to hurt these guys?

what's half of nothin'? that's right...nothin'.

That is a good thing, read the back story to this. The guys that got the 5% were pirates.

[Seshmeister]

Personally I don't think either of them should get anything - copyright should last for just 20 years.

[Nickdfresh]

Personally I don't think either of them should get anything - copyright should last for just 20 years.

It was 70 years in the U.S. as of the late 1990s. But I'm pretty sure the corporatist assholes have ever expanded copyright law so that the original artists are not the ones benefiting...