Hi everyone,

Just a quick question to clear something up. I have been asked to put some music to poetry, this I have done using the Tyros 2. I intend to use the Tyros 2 as a pre production tool for many projects, however is it legal to use the Tyros 2 styles for songs that eventually will be under copyright? The person I have written the music for intends to copyright the song, and as the Tyros 2 style sounds great, is it OK to leave it, as is, or would I need to redo the backing?

Any help would be appreciated.

Interesting question. I think this has been discussed before.

When you bought the Tyros you bought the styles, didn't you. So they give you the exclusive right to use these styles and do whatever you want with them.

On the other hand, some styles are a replica of original songs. Like the Pink Panther style. I'd ask if Yamaha had paid to the copyright owners of the Pink Panther theme to use their song as a style. Could you use the same style for your copyrighted song.

Kind regards,
George

Essentially, while the styles themselves are copyrighted by Yamaha, the actual genre is not. To my knowledge, and I have searched extensively for topics on this subject, there are no copyrights on the actual styles of music, big band, jive, swing, etc.. Lots of bands perform big band numbers that mimic the style used by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, but I don't believe the Glenn Mill Orchestra is suing those other bands for copyright infringement.

It's a tough call, and a fine line, but I doubt that Yamaha will send the lawyers knocking on your door.

Good Luck,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

The parts that really define the Yamaha styles are the intros 2&3 and endings 2&3.

If you leave these out of your music you should have no trouble.

Ian

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Remember to leave good news alone.

Ian,

Thank you for the info. Fortunately, it concerns only one of my songs.

Well, I think one could preserve the chord progression and change the harmony fill & melody tracks with something else.

What about using intros from keyboards with 1 intro 2 variations and 1 ending? Am I allowed to use them in my copyrighted songs or not?

George

Personally, I feel that if an intro or ending is recognizable as one from a copyrighted song, then I would not use it.

There may be no repercussions if such recognizable intros and endings are used, but why take the chance?

...especially if the song becomes popular.

Ian



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Remember to leave good news alone.

So, basically the answer of the Stein67's question is, yes, we can use the styles but not the intros/endings because they are recogniseable.

Personally, I do modifications to the style itself to suit my songs better and don't use the factory intros and endings but write my own ones except for one bluegrass song where I need to come up with my own intro and fill.

Ian, thank you for enlightening on the subject. The answer was close to logic but it's always better to read it written by a Yamaha demonstrator.

Kind regards,
Geoge.

You can use any part of any Style in your original music. If you use a Style to cover a song you are in debt to the song writer not to Yamaha. The only restriction to Style usage is, you may not sell the styles.

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Yamaha Customer Support
YCASupport@yamaha.com
714.522.9000

Well...that settles that one...

Thanks Joe.

Ian

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Remember to leave good news alone.

Thanks a million for all the replies. I had no intention of using the intros or endings, but it is great to have the query cleared regarding the main style.

Cheers.

Just curious, Yamaha US1....... If I use a Style from Yamaha with a very recognizable Intro/Outro (there are quite a few) and I get sued by a writer/publishing company, will Yamaha defend me and assume legal costs?

Especially here in the US, where frivolous lawsuits by publishing companies are common (I think they use them to justify their retainers!)....