So MBD has done it again. Based on the following video, you can clearly see that MBD's song, Daddy Dear, is a rip-off straight from some old black and white film. The tune is exact and the rythm and rhyme are close.
This is not the first time he has done so. His hit song Yidden was exposed as being a straight ripoff from a German group called Ghenghis Khan who sang the original in the Eurovision in 1979. You can see the original here:
compare that with MBD's yidden:
My friend Chaim from LOR even contacted them when the original video was located. He asked them if MBD had ever requested permission to use their song and music and if he had bought it from them. They answered that he had not, but they were not disturbed by it as they were happy people were enjoying their music.
The thing is, that in the recent lawsuit/cherem, MBD is suing Gal Paz. Gal Paz took a bunch of MBD songs and compiled them into a series of albums. MBD is claiming they have no rights to that music and therefore they owe him damages to the tune of 5 million dollars. So, in other words, it is ok for him to steal other people's music and make money off it, but not ok for other people to steal his music (though they claim they have the rights to the music and have not stolen it).
Furthermore, as can be seen by the following video which was a clip on MBD's latest album, MBD has made himself into the "spokesperson" for the frum music world in attacking the public for copying albums and downloading illegaly.
NOTE: I am not supporting illegal or anti-halacha copying of albums. But it is hypocritical for MBD to be making it into a big deal when he himself is guilty of copying people's music, and not giving them credit for it, let alone paying for it.
Actually, it's not from a film but from a Lawrence Welk Show special that aired in March 1958.
ReplyDeleteThe Wolf
it was always well known that yidden was copied from dgsingis kahn. (there are several other "jewish music" songs copied from them as well.)
ReplyDeletethe fact that it was copied from dhsingis kahn was even mentioned in the old shlock rock parody "yiddish")
It's all over the Jewish music scene now. Stealing songs from Coca Cola among other sources is common practice; I have to believe that people assume that we haven't heard the songs before or just don't care.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago when this phenomenon became apparent I stopped buying music from such artists and only support people who are truly innovative - Shlomo Katz, etc.
1) i was thinking what is the difference between him and groups (like the above-mentioned shlock rock) that sing non-jewish music with jewish lyrics. the difference is that latter is a form of parody, and everyone who listens to these songs knows very well what their origins are. (or is that too much of an assumption to think that most people who listen to this genre are familiar with non-jewish music?)
ReplyDelete2) my friend's brother told me that he had a shiur at gush on copying music. the rav said that halkhah does not recognize intellectual property. i asked what about dina de-malkhuta dina. the rav said that this only applies when the government actively enforces a law against everyone. later i wondered if i agree that halakhah does not recognize intellectual property, as one of the purposes of early haskamot in books was to serve as copyright protection.
3) in general i don't listen to jewish music. it just isn't good, for a number of reasons. including lack of originality. talking about ripping of songs (whether right or wrong) reminds me just how unoriginal jewish music is.
anonymous - that is true, but I love that video clip and I could not resist the urge to include it in the post.. :-)
ReplyDeletenatan - I agree with you. But I am curious - did you stop because you found them unoriginal and uninspiring or because you were upset with the fact that they used other people's music passing it off as their own?
I always have said that many of these singers (I will nto name names) are untalented and simply have nice voices. I particularly do not like the singers who use songs bought from other people as 99-100% of their albums. It is lack of talent and I know plenty of people with nice voices, so I buy very few of such cds. I do buy more from artists who write much of their own music.
ari - the difference is everybody knows, as you write. BTW, on that topic, Lenny Solomon of Shlock Rock once told me a long time ago that when he firststarted out he used to send letters to the artists whose music he wanted to use, asking permission to use their music. He said just about none of them ever responded. Though by law he did not need to because parody is protected by law. Then he stopped because nobody was responding anyway.
ReplyDelete2. I did not discuss the halachic aspects of intellectual property. I know there are various opinions and did not want to get into it here.. But for someone who speaks so much about not copying his music, to then find out that his music is copied, is intriguing, to say the least.
From MBD's wikipedia page:
ReplyDeleteThe Yiddish song on Solid MBD (1993) (with the chorus, "Vie gliklich iz der vus der shabbes hiet er") is an adaptation of "Close Every Door To Me", from the musical theater production "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber.
Here is the link to that song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McojYpF1t-0
-Zevy R.
There's some great music like this
ReplyDeletenochi-krohn-band
azamra
And this album
elyon