The Internet is often accused of illegal distribution of music
but many netizens are now using it as a method of protecting the
interests of musicians.?
One of the netizens' biggest successes so far has come by
highlighting one of China's most popular songs, Xi Shua
Shua, as being very similar to Japanese female duo Puffy
AmiYumi's 2003 hit K2G.?
Xi Shua Shua was released last year by a band called The
Flowers (Hua'er) on an EMI album. The record company revealed this
week that they had reached an agreement with Sony, holder of the
copyright of Puffy's K2G, for each company to hold 50
percent of the copyright of Xi Shua Shua.
Netizens were the first to point out that the chorus of Xi
Shua Shua was almost identical to that of K2G. The song
was included on The Flowers' album, The Blooming Season
Dynasty, released by EMI in July 2005. It sold some 200,000
copies in the 40 days after being released and was considered a
great success in the country's pop music scene.
The band was founded in 1998 when members were still in their
teens and immediately won popularity among youngsters. The Flowers
appeared at the China Central Television's
Lantern Festival gala show on February 12.
On February 20 the organizers of the Pepsi Music Chart Awards in
China announced The Flowers had been nominated for the prizes in
the categories: Chinese Mainlands, Best Arrangement; Best Lyrics,
Best Composition and Best Rock 'n' Roll Band.
Xi Shua Shua was nominated for the best song.
However, their increasing fame and the glare of publicity
brought close scrutiny of their work. And this led to the media and
netizens digging further. They claimed 13 of the 24 songs on the
band's last two albums were suspected of plagiarism. Netizens claim
to have found the original ?"sources" of the songs and posted
them on the Internet.
They include:-British trio Busted's Losing You, Canadian
singer Avril Lavigne's I Don't Give, Danish group Aqua's
Turn Back Time, American singer Hillary Duff's Party
Up, Belgian group K3's Heyah Mama, Irish singer Samantha
Mumba's, Always Come Back To Your Love, Romanian group
O-Zone's Dragostea Din Tei, South Korean singer Kim Gun Mo's
Swallow and ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell's
Calling.
Allegedly similar-sounding melodies appear on songs supposedly
penned by The Flowers under the credit of their lead singer Zhang
Wei.
A Hainan-based magazine New Century Weekly arranged for
Chen Qi, music director of the International Cultural Exchange
Audio and Video Publishing House, to analyze four of the 13 songs
and the corresponding "original works". After transcription Chen, a
pianist and composer, compared the scores.
He found that The Flowers had in their songs used almost
identical melodies to the already known international works. The
'imitated parts' far exceeded "eight measures” which is considered
the common standard of judging whether a song is original or
not.
"In the thousands of years of music history in the world there
has been practically no coincidence of identical melodies," Chen
told China Daily.
"Music is a manifestation of composers' personalities and
experiences. It's impossible for two people to come out with
completely identical melodies except when something has been
pirated," he added. The result of Chen's analysis was published in
the latest edition of New Century Weekly.
On Tuesday representatives of EMI and The Flowers' lead singer
Zhang released an official statement on the matter. While not
saying he had plagiarized the songs Zhang said there were some
"flaws" in his music.
But he admitted he listens to hundreds of songs every week and
when he tries to write his own songs some melodies come naturally
without manifesting their origins.
Steve Chow, a music director of EMI, said the notes that appear
in a songwriter's mind are often similar to that of others. A
songwriter himself Chow said his brother used to help him pinpoint
any similarity between his melodies and those of others. He went on
to explain the agreement reached with Sony over Xi Shua
Shua.
EMI and Zhang's statement was far from satisfactory to most
people who have been following the matter closely. Debate on the
content of the of the statement, mostly critical, can be found on
many websites.
"If EMI and The Flowers don't admit Xi Shua Shua was a
plagiary of K2G why do they give half of the copyright from
Xi Shua Shua to Sony," said Jiang Hong, an editor with
New Century Weekly who organized a special report on the
matter.
"Even if those companies come to an agreement consumers still
have the right to know the truth," Jiang told China
Daily.
Thanks to the Internet it's simple enough for netizens to listen
to similar or related songs and make their own judgments about the
music. ?
According to a survey by www.sina.com, 70.8 percent of netizens
believe that The Flowers plagiarized their songs from foreign
musicians--only 4.06 percent believed they did not.
Chen Yan, an EMI publicity officer, said the statement released
by the label and the band were their final comments on the matter.
.
On Wednesday, the board of judges of the Pepsi Music Chart
Awards announced the cancellation of The Flowers' qualification for
the awards.
In the 1980s when China's pop music began to redevelop after
decades in the wilderness many singers initially used melodies from
foreign pop songs.
Due to lack of communications with the international music scene
at that time Chinese pop singers could leave credits for songs off
record sleeves and anyway it was impractical then for them to pay
royalties to the original songwriters and musicians.
Nowadays cultural exchanges between China and other countries
have dramatically expanded and the Internet has offered music
lovers an immense resource to browse the world of pop music.
Another song in focus
Netizens have now focused their attention on another very
popular song, The Sun, the Moon and the Stars (Jixiang
Sanbao).
Composed by Burenbayaer, an ethnic Mongolian singer, the song
has sparked controversy over whether it plagiarized French composer
Nicolas Errera's Le Papillon, the theme song from the hugely
successful film of the same title.
However, it has turned out to be quite a different case. The
similarity of The Sun, the Moon and the Stars and Le
Papillon mainly lies in their structure as both relate to
questions and answers between a child and parents. The melodies
themselves cannot actually be regarded as being particularly
close.
Furthermore, Burenbayaer said his song had actually been
originally released in 1998 much earlier than the release of the
French film which came out in 2002.
"In terms of the time frames involved it's impossible for me to
plagiarize Le Papillon," Burenbayaer was quoted as saying by
China Radio International. "Why do people have doubts about my work
just because it became popular later than Le
Papillon?”?
Reports that the film's director, Philippe Muyl, was suing
Burenbayaer for plagiarism appear to be unfounded. Luo Keyun,
Burenbayarer's publicist, told China Radio International: "We have
not received any summons from France. Even if Philippe Muyl wants
to sue us, we're not at all worried because we have proof that the
song was written earlier. Buren's friends and relatives in France,
who received the cassettes, can testify to that."
And as s for The Flowers there could be more trouble ahead.
Jiang said that his magazine would attempt to work with the
overseas media to inform copyright holders of those songs which are
claimed to have been plagiarized by The Flowers.
"It is the copyright holders' choice whether to take legal
action but I believe the media have the responsibility to publicize
the fact," said Jiang. "In this age and with the Internet no one
can fool anybody."
(China Daily March 17, 2006)