Copyright on all of Nothing

The Independent ^

[per loin]

Big noises at odds over the sound of silence

By David Lister Media and Culture Editor

21 June 2002

'The Sound of Silence' may have prompted engaging harmonies from Simon and Garfunkel – but a more literal appreciation of the absence of noise has prompted one of the more curious copyright disputes of modern times.

Mike Batt, the man behind the Wombles and Vanessa Mae, has put a silent 60-second track on the album of his latest classical chart-topping protégés, the Planets. This has enraged representatives of the avant-garde, experimentalist composer John Cage, who died in 1992. The silence on his group's album clearly sounds uncannily like 4'33", the silence composed by Cage in his prime.

Batt said last night: "I've received a letter on behalf of John Cage's music publishers. I was in hysterics when I read their letter.

"As my mother said when I told her, 'which part of the silence are they claiming you nicked?'. They say they are claiming copyright on a piece of mine called 'One Minute's Silence' on the Planets' album, which I credit Batt/Cage just for a laugh. But my silence is original silence, not a quotation from his silence."

[bvw]

Erase it!

[Maceman]

The two are not at all alike. Cage's piece was 4 minutes and 33 seconds long. This piece is only 60 seconds long.

A world of difference.

[Billy_bob_bob]

What kind of "silence" are we talking here? Is it the sound of a room with a microphone? Is it the hiss of blank tape? Is it a series of zeroed bits on a wav file? Is it the silence of an open circuit on a synthesizer? Just exactly how was this "silence" created in the first place?

[Maceman]

What kind of "silence" are we talking here? Is it the sound of a room with a microphone? Is it the hiss of blank tape? Is it a series of zeroed bits on a wav file? Is it the silence of an open circuit on a synthesizer? Just exactly how was this "silence" created in the first place?

From a copyright perspective, these would be arranging variables, not composition variables. You can't copyright an arrangement. You can't even copyright a chord progression. All the examples you provide are just different ways of making the same sound -- silence. It's kind of like the difference between playing "The Macarena" on a piano, vs. a saxophone, vs. a synthesizer.

Of course, this is all silly, because in reality you can only copyright an actual melody. I would really love to see the letter from the Publisher claiming copyright infringement on this. It must have been written on a Friday afternoon when someone was feeling giddy. What a hoot.

[supercat]

I wonder if they're going to go after distributors of what would normally be called blank tapes, since they contain many copies of Cage's piece.