I accidentally composed a song that sounds like a famous song?

Question

About six months into learning guitar, I tried my hand at composing a song. Looked into some basic composing theory, picked a specific tempo, learned how to record and actually play the thing, and then two months later I "finished" the song, complete with lyrics and some non-standard flourishes. At the time I figured I was just putting some beginner chords together and testing out some basic theory.Then, after I played it for a couple people, they rightly remarked that it sounds exactly like the rhythm progression for Mary Jane's Last Dance with different lyrics. And when I listened to the two back-to-back, they were entirely right. This worries me for a couple reasons. Firstly, while Tom Petty never consciously entered my mind while I was composing, I'm a big fan of his and I'm familiar with MJLD. I never intended to plagiarize the song but I can't say I've never heard it, and it worries me that at any time I can accidentally tread on somebody else's work.Secondly, supposing I had released my composition without noticing how similar it was and somebody wanted to take legal action against me for plagiarism, I don't know how I would defend myself. I can explain my way through the song and try to justify my choices of chords and tone but there's no way I can tell them why I just chose an amp setting that "sounded good."Finally, work on the song has basically halted because running every flourish and idea through the lens of "is this REALLY my idea?" has thrown a kink in what's passing as my inventive process. There are only so many time signatures and so many chords I can use and it's not hard to find somewhere else somebody decided that an Em and a C chord sound good together.My question is: is there some kind of rule of thumb or mindset I can follow to try and prevent this from happening again?

Answer 1

I worked at the Library of Congress music division at one point in my career. I did not work at the copyright office though. But what I do remember is that the general rule is there shouldn’t be more than 5 sequential notes similar to another song. This precludes octaves as well. If it’s the exact same rhythm that’s definitely problematic. Your best bet is to access the copyright office site loc.gov. You don’t want another “who’s sorry now” or a “sarah” situation. Famous copyright suits. JP

Answer 2

Hi there! My name is Kira Bornemann and I am a professional composer. It might make you feel better to know your concern about “subconscious plagiarism” is very common. I once wrote a piece and then realized myself it sounded remarkably like the theme from Requiem for a Dream. It’s very nerve racking for someone with good intentions like yourself to accidentally write something that sounds similar to a famous piece of music. Just know that the chords and notes that are used in popular music are quite limited so it is actually very common to write something that sounds like another piece of music. If your music starts to really get in the public eye or is already popular, know that you have a community of people that will catch these similarities if you do not. To answer your question, I can’t think of a composing mindset to prevent subconscious plagiarism; that’s one reason why it’s a great idea to play your music for others, which you are already doing :). Hope this helps.

P.S. Fun fact—nobody can sue you over a rhythm (a drumbeat, say) because rhythm alone cannot be copyrighted!