The question is: where do you draw the line between influence and infringement? Here is a GREAT example of the gray area between these two concepts. The first clip is Red Hot Chilly Peppers "Dani California" and the second is Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane". The two introductions are different enough to not apply as an infringement, necessarily. However, somewhere between infringement and influence lies- RIP OFF. And even the most unsophisticated music listener can detect a rip off. Personally, the conflict is whether or not it is the music itself being borrowed from, or the general groove. Ultimately, claiming groove is really in the intuition of your listeners. And borrowers, evidently.






I unfortunately couldn't get the original Petty video up because Universal Music Group has disabled all embedding on all his content. Lame. Maybe they deserve to get ripped off.....