Whenever I go shopping at some place around Taiwan, I hear Chinese versions (covers) or translations for many American/Foreign songs blasting on the radio. Is it legal? Can the original singer sue the local singers for stealing their songs?
Fuck the legality. It’s morally abhorrent.
brilliant!
As to the original question; If the performer or his manager/agent/label have contacted the original songwriter/s or the current license holder of the song and asked for permission, as well as agreed upon a sub-license fee… then it is absolutely legal and pretty much the way that it is done the world over.
However that KTV shit that you hear pumping from every fuckwads shop is probably not from performers who give a shit about legality, rights or moral abhorrence. The law of this land is laws are only obeyed when you get caught.
Fuck the morality. It’s musically abhorrent!
And the other way around, Mandarin to English. There are a few tunes that might do well in the west in soft music sphere…with the right singer.
Lots of bands cover others’ songs…it’s a long-time tradition. Hell, Johnny Cash covered Depeche Mode. Who’d have ever thought it possible?
Fuck the morality. It’s musically abhorrent![/quote]
Mostly because they choose crappy songs to do it to.
We get our revenge. We do the same shit to their movies. Except we usually pretend they’re original.
A few years back I heard a song I had co-written playing on the radio at a Taiwanese gas station. It was a pretty obscure song, never charted in Europe but sold quite a few copies through niche compilations. It had magically turned into a mandarin song, slowed down a little and re-sequenced. I was very surprised and thought it was pretty cool - I wouldn’t have made any money from it even if they licensed it legally.
I found out it was released by the Taiwanese branch of a very large label who should have known better. I dropped their A&R department a light-hearted email saying that I was the rights owner and they were a bit naughty but I would have liked to get involved with the project directly. They never replied, which validates my original decision to get out of the music business.
About a year later I heard another song that I recognised from an old colleague. It had been big enough to get a low chart position in the UK but I asked and nobody had given permission to license a Chinese cover. They were even cheeky enough to keep the original English chorus. A quick search revealed that it was the same big label that pinched my song, ironically one of the labels going after internet pirates with gusto.
Everyone involved with music is a fucking scumbag, me included.
So why didn’t you sue them?
NEVER write a song when you are playing on the radio at a Taiwanese gas station. That shit will always come back to haunt you.
I think most of the time the songs aren’t true covers. The Mandarin lyrics are ususally totally different and not realted to the original meaning of the English words. Or something.
George Harrison was sued and had to pay for using someone else’s music.
George Harrison was sued and had to pay for using someone else’s music.[/quote]Many have, for just sounding like the original recording. It doesn’t have to be identical. Mandarin covers still use the same tune, they would have to pay the writers for that. Not sure about translations. There was fuss over an unofficial translation of a Harry Potter book.
George Harrison was sued and had to pay for using someone else’s music.[/quote]
Barney the dinosaur got sued too.
I like the ones where they don’t even go to the trouble of recording a band, but just “remaster” the original with a Mandarin lyric track stapled over the top.
Covering a song is “morally abhorrent”? :loco:
Covering a song is “morally abhorrent”? :loco:[/quote]
It is if you don’t acknowledge the true author and pass it off as an original. Ask Robert Plant or Mick Jagger.
[quote=“Tigerman”]
George Harrison was sued and had to pay for using someone else’s music.[/quote]
Neil Young was sued by the Rolling Stones for apparently stealing the riff from “Satisfaction” for “Mr Soul”. Bunch of pretentious qunts ©Funk500. One cannot copywrite riffs, basslines or drum patterns. Hah! Have never listened to the Stones since I heard that. I do sometimes sneak a wee earfull of “Paint It Black” when no-one is looking, though.
[quote=“Mawvellous”]
Covering a song is “morally abhorrent”? :loco:[/quote]
Have you become so assimilated into Taiwanese culture that irony eludes you?
[quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“Mawvellous”]
Covering a song is “morally abhorrent”? :loco:[/quote]
Have you become so assimilated into Taiwanese culture that irony eludes you?[/quote]
No doubt.
But since most of the topics in “living in Taiwan” seem to be about affirming the moral superiority of the expat community over the locals, it is easy to miss the “irony” sometimes.