Hm... Is it a Remix?
How often is it that when you scroll through Google News, Twitter, or Instagram that you'll see singers like Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, or Ariana Grande being accused of ripping off a song? Well, I realized see it way more often than I thought I did.
However, one of the most controversial accusations of ripping off a song is Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby." When the song came out, many people noticed that it the baseline was very similar to David Bowie and Queen's hit "Under Pressure." Many have claimed that Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline, making it slightly shorter.
If we begin to analyze the two songs together, we’ll see that right away in the first few seconds of both songs, they sound identical. In case you wanted to follow along, I’m referring to both music videos of the tracks. At exactly 0:01 in David Bowie and Queen's hit Under Pressure, and 0:08 of Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby, you can hear the exact same baseline of the slight drumming, clapping and snapping. If you were to layer these two together, you would not be able to tell the difference.
Other than the obvious baseline similarity in the first couple of seconds of each song, I feel like that is where the similarities end. After the first minute of Ice Ice Baby, I completely forget that it even mimicked Under Pressure, as the more prominent beat and lyrics are not similar. Vanilla Ice begins to rap his lyrics before David Bowie and Prince start the vocals. Vanilla Ice’s song has a more hip-hop/rap tempo, while David Bowie and Queen's song is slower and more rock and roll. The lyrics are also completely different in both songs and are both interpreted in different ways. The message that both songs portray are clearly not the same, and its visual representations of the music videos are evidence of that.
Overall, I personally believe that the baseline in Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby is just a remix of David Bowie and Queen's Under Pressure. Vanilla Ice may have just been inspired to use that specific baseline, put his own alterations around it to create his own song, lyrics, and video. Other than the first 10 seconds of each song, I really do not see any musical similarities between the two songs, thus making me believe that Ice Ice Baby does not infringe the copyright to the song Under Pressure.
I think that creators should be able to follow a set of guidelines to make sure that they are avoiding being accused of “ripping something off.” However, it is also important for artists, producers, writers and any other creators to realize that a lot of great work comes from the inspiration of other great pieces of work. At the same time, any work that isn’t original and was used should be given credit to its original owner. With that being said, I believe that it should be emphasized that it is okay to reference the work of others as long as you give credit to where credit is due. Creators should be able to use certain things for inspiration, but there should also be limits to that. For example, copying large part of lyrics or an important catch phrase should not be allowed unless they have permission from the original owner. This way, it would avoid any legal implications regarding copyright, plagiarism, it would avoid any ethical implications between the artists, and everyone gets to enjoy multiple great pieces of work, inspired by one another.
References
However, one of the most controversial accusations of ripping off a song is Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby." When the song came out, many people noticed that it the baseline was very similar to David Bowie and Queen's hit "Under Pressure." Many have claimed that Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline, making it slightly shorter.
If we begin to analyze the two songs together, we’ll see that right away in the first few seconds of both songs, they sound identical. In case you wanted to follow along, I’m referring to both music videos of the tracks. At exactly 0:01 in David Bowie and Queen's hit Under Pressure, and 0:08 of Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby, you can hear the exact same baseline of the slight drumming, clapping and snapping. If you were to layer these two together, you would not be able to tell the difference.
Other than the obvious baseline similarity in the first couple of seconds of each song, I feel like that is where the similarities end. After the first minute of Ice Ice Baby, I completely forget that it even mimicked Under Pressure, as the more prominent beat and lyrics are not similar. Vanilla Ice begins to rap his lyrics before David Bowie and Prince start the vocals. Vanilla Ice’s song has a more hip-hop/rap tempo, while David Bowie and Queen's song is slower and more rock and roll. The lyrics are also completely different in both songs and are both interpreted in different ways. The message that both songs portray are clearly not the same, and its visual representations of the music videos are evidence of that.
Overall, I personally believe that the baseline in Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby is just a remix of David Bowie and Queen's Under Pressure. Vanilla Ice may have just been inspired to use that specific baseline, put his own alterations around it to create his own song, lyrics, and video. Other than the first 10 seconds of each song, I really do not see any musical similarities between the two songs, thus making me believe that Ice Ice Baby does not infringe the copyright to the song Under Pressure.
I think that creators should be able to follow a set of guidelines to make sure that they are avoiding being accused of “ripping something off.” However, it is also important for artists, producers, writers and any other creators to realize that a lot of great work comes from the inspiration of other great pieces of work. At the same time, any work that isn’t original and was used should be given credit to its original owner. With that being said, I believe that it should be emphasized that it is okay to reference the work of others as long as you give credit to where credit is due. Creators should be able to use certain things for inspiration, but there should also be limits to that. For example, copying large part of lyrics or an important catch phrase should not be allowed unless they have permission from the original owner. This way, it would avoid any legal implications regarding copyright, plagiarism, it would avoid any ethical implications between the artists, and everyone gets to enjoy multiple great pieces of work, inspired by one another.
Want to compare the two songs for yourself?
Here's a shortened video comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk6NhjD3Dbg
Famous Copyright Infringement Plagiarism cases in Music., Associativecreative, www.fairwagelawyers.com/most-famous-music-copyright-infringment.html.
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