TDOS Summer Drafts?

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#31
Thanks for the nomination Bricklayer :) I'll head up the cover song draft, and can start the write-up/sign up thread in a bit.

My original thought was that each selection would include "ownership" of the original song and "ownership" of the selected cover on your island ipod, thus effectively getting 2 songs per pick. This would also stop drafting of the same song by different cover versions/bands. NoBonus suggested narrowing this to only the cover song selection in an earlier post. Any other suggestions on this front?
I think I'd lean towards NoBonus' interpretation. Still, I actually wouldn't mind "ownership" of the cover, such that nobody could draft another cover of the same song, but ownership of the original makes no sense. For instance, Michael Jackson's Thriller is a great song. Somebody, somewhere has probably done a crappy cover of it. If I draft the crappy cover, I get to also bring the original along with? That would lead to people drafting bad covers to get the original, and I think that's a bad idea. So I'm open to either locking down other covers of the same song (or not, either would work for me), but not to keeping the original.

Another thing to think about is that while the definition of "cover" seems clear, it's pretty murky. What qualifies? I can think of at least three potential pitfalls that probably ought to be addressed at the start:
1) Parody. Is a parody considered a cover? If not, rather than try to define parody, I'd probably just give Jespher final ruling on anything iffy.
2) One-to-one correspondence. Is a medley of covers legal? Is a mash-up version of two or more songs legal? And for that matter, at what point does adding original material to the song make it stop counting? I can think of a song off the top of my head that is about 2-3 minutes of cover and then maybe 10 minutes of instrumental developing off the cover blending into maybe 2-3 minutes of a completely new song. Guidelines for this would be good.
3) Third-party songwriters. When artist A writes and originally records a song, a subsequent recording from artist B is obviously a cover. But what if songwriter A writes the song, and then artist B releases the first version, and then artist C releases a second version? Is C's a cover? Up until even the early 1960s the "everybody gets a shot at it" mentality was still around, everybody's recording the same old standards, etc. What about traditional songs? Just some guidelines here for the cases that aren't cut-and-dried would be good.

In any case, just make sure there's a disclaimer that Jespher gets the final ruling!
 
#32
Good points Capt. Here's my two cents:

1) Cover's tend to use the same lyrics with a different tone. Lots of songs have the same general meter and chord progressions but that wouldn't make Can't Touch This a cover of Super Freak. I see a parody as completely original work, as the only borrowed content is instrumental/rhythm work. Parody lyrics are separate, and therefore, IMHO would not be "covers" per se.
2) Mixes/Medley's/Redux Hip-Hop blends are cover's and original releases by nature. Therefore there would have to be a rule clarifying their position before the draft begins. I'm open to opinionis on these, but inclined to omit them due to ambiguity.
3) As per the chonology of release, all recordings of traditional material would be a cover. The original content was published pre-recording via sheet music/live renditions/etc...Since that would open up a can of worms, I suggest only allowing selection of recorded covers, via a chronology of release rule. If there are multiple origins to the original, that would require case by case ruling by myself, and probably a third party board mod who would be unbiased.
 
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VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#33
If there are multiple origins to the original, that would require case by case ruling by myself, and probably a third party board mod who would be unbiased.
I would not be participating in a "cover" draft, but I can be available for arbiter duties if necessary. :)