All Musicians Are Thieves
Norihiko Hibino, composer for the Metal Gear Solid series, recently reported why the latest installment lacks the original theme music:
The truth is, Konami [had legal problems with] Russian composers who said we stole their music [...] They didn't [steal their music], actually. But Konami was too sensitive about the situation and just decided not to use that music in the game.
The Metal Gear Solid series theme music, composed by Tappi Iwase and released in 1998, is claimed to have plagiarized Georgy Sviridov's "Pushkin's Garland" which was released in 1979. The accusers, however, have clearly never heard of Pachelbel's Canon.
As a musician, and like other artists, I pride myself on originality. In fact, I do not and will not play covers. Originality is deeply embedded in my personality and especially in my heritage. I live in a punk-rock town, home to the likes of Blink-182, Unwritten Law, and Fenix TX for a short time, and I grew up down the street from Agent 51 and The Impossible 5. Dogwood played a concert practically next door.
The music and subculture of punk rock is about extolling the virtues of individualism. Rebelling against the status quo is part of the genome. Although I never adhered to the dress code, seeing the "dress like us" attitude as counter to the music, I think I did take up the call to arms, intellectually. I even named one of my companies "Heretic" in honor of everyone who has been censured, punished, or executed for expressing different perspectives. I'm an advocate of challenging conventions and looking at issues from as many angles as reasonable.
But let's be honest: all musicians are thieves. We steal bits and pieces of music from other artists whenever we compose. We even have established procedures, remixing and sampling, that facilitate this transfer of ideas. After hearing a new composition by a neighboring guitarist, I approached him with a similar track by Steve Vai. He was simultaneously amazed, honored, and frustrated. The guitarist returned to me days later with new insight: everything that is played today has been played before. The number of possible tunes is not limitless.
While an apparent independent invention of a musical pattern, I am inclined to assert that the guitarist simply experienced recurring inspiration. Musicians hear more music than most hardcore audiophiles do in a lifetime. We study, live, and breathe music. That's what we do. That's who we are. To assert that having experienced more than a lifetime of music has no permanent effect would be folly.
Pieces of each song and instrumental stay with us for a long time. Recurring inspiration is what happens when one of those pieces bubbles up to the surface. Calling our borrowings of music "inspiration" is what we do to rationalize how truly unoriginal we actually are. And, thankfully, as long as people are enjoying what we release and perform, we are rarely called out for our larcenies. I fear the day that "music patents" arise. An environment where puristic originality is legally mandated would be... uncomfortable.