Forensic musicology in commercial popular music: ontologies and epistemologies
Available to watch live via our YouTube channel
Forensic musicology is the practice of analysing music to investigate whether a song is copied from a previous song. It is used in music copyright infringement disputes to establish the extent of plagiarism, and in film, radio and TV to ensure that new music is not too derivative of older music. Two main methods are used – musical comparison with prior art research, and audio sample authentication. In this session, Professor Bennett will provide an overview of the field, with live demonstrations of the techniques that Forensic Musicologists use to answer the often difficult and contentious question ‘how similar is too similar?’. The session will include examples from copyright infringement lawsuits in the United States, including the notable ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘Stairway To Heaven’ cases of recent years.
Date: 18 January 2023, 16:30 (Wednesday, 1st week, Hilary 2023)
Venue: Faculty of Music, St Aldate's OX1 1DB
Venue Details: Committee Room (and online on YouTube)
Speaker: Professor Joe Bennett (Berklee College, Boston)
Organising department: Faculty of Music
Organiser: Professor Jonathan Cross (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: events@music.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Oxford Seminar in Music Theory & Analysis (OSiMTA)
Booking required?: Not required
Booking url: https://music.web.ox.ac.uk/event/osimta-professor-joe-bennett-berklee-college-boston
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Georgia Davies