Powerman5000 Takes To Facebook To Complain About Similar Sounding Final Fantasy Song, Fans Rebut Them
from the your-fans-would-know dept
I imagine, as a musician, it must be common to come across other music that sounds somewhat similar to one's own. I would think that not all genres of music are created equal in this respect. Jazz, for instance, while sharing common elements across the genre, seems to have enough instruments and space within the music for unique expression that perhaps similarities occur less often or are less severe than, say, industrial rock, which seems to have some more rigid common core elements. How much similarity is there in songs from Ramstein and Nine Inch Nails, for instance, or in songs from Nine Inch Nails and Powerman5000? Or in songs from Powerman5000 and Final Fantasy XIV...wait, what?Fans of Powerman5000, a band that reached its popularity pinnacle years back with its hit song When Worlds Collide, may already be aware that the band took to its Facebook page to complain about a new boss battle song in Final Fantasy XIV.
Really? Got to say that the level of unimaginative theft that was used in creating this music for #finalfantasyXIV is...
Posted by Powerman5000 on Wednesday, February 24, 2016
The song that now appears in the game came via an update from Square Enix recently. That song, which you can see in the video above, is supposedly a "straight up rip off" of When Worlds Collide. See below if you're not familiar with the song.
Are they similar? Hell yes. But it seems to me that they're similar in the same way that When World's Collide is similar to any number of Nine Inch Nails songs. It's industrial rock of the same sort. In fact, I have a feeling that if the Final Fantasy song didn't include the throaty intro before the bridge, this probably never would have triggered a response. But what it most certainly is not is any kind of blatant note for note ripoff. It's not even really that close.
And, while I'm not a fan of the genre, the fans of Powerman5000 certainly are, and it seems a great many of them are trying to figure out what the hell the band is complaining about. Some snippets of comments left on their Facebook post:
"Sorry, but no. If you guys think that song is "a straight up ripoff" of your old 1999 song, then you've seriously got a slight case of some major brain damage from playing your own shitty music too loud. They sounds completely different."And that really is only a sampling; it goes on and on from there. And these are, again, people following Powerman5000's page. They are fans of the band and fans of the genre and in a perfect position to comment on the similarities of the songs, which most seem to indicate are, "meh, maybe the composer listened to you guys once or something, but it's not a rip off."
"Soken (the composer) loves metal. And if anything PM5K, you should be happy that he took inspiration from your song. It's not a ripoff, but there's influence there, and as a result of this influence, your music has now reached an MMO playerbase."
This post is basically saying every industrial metal song is the same ever. I bet I can find at least 3 Static-X and Rammstein songs that sound like When Worlds Collide. I don't need to point out that Worlds Collide also sounds like something Nine Inch Nails would have performed years prior."
Public shaming is a useful tool, much more so in many circumstances than going the legal route. And, to be clear, I have not seen anything to indicate that the band is preparing to go the legal route here. But the public shaming thing only works if the public, or at least your fans, agree with your premise.
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Filed Under: copies, exaggeration, fans, final fantasy, industrial music, music, powerman5000
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This must be old news
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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/283311-Sephirot-Theme-%28-Phase-2-%29-sound-famili ar?p=3589465&viewfull=1#post3589465
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Re: Not quite
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Thought 2: Why are they trying to gape NIN, poorly?
Thought 3: Wait, Powerman5000? Is that some kinda of penis pump?
Thought 4: "I've useshd thesh producsh before, and if the Powerman Fivethoshand really works, your shittin' on a goldmine Alixsh"
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Sux to be German
Or not...
"Unfortunately, this video is not available in your country because it could contain music, for which we could not agree on conditions of use with GEMA."
If you are German or have trouble watching the video then try this link:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfzlh_powerman-5000-when-worlds-collide_music
If that doesn't work try to google video search the song and make it known which links work in each country because geoblocking sux. If companies can access different countries ignoring boarders then people should be able to access content at the same level.
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Re: Sux to be German
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That's what happens
They summon Streisand in a seance at night
Hope their band, grows some fans, cause they need funds tonight
One hit wonders never pay rent on time.
End up homeless all they got is a dime.
Well that's what happens when a bands in decline
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Re: That's what happens
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Think about it, we are locking up 3 & 4 notes as the property of a singular artist who then get to collect rent from anyone else who happens to put those few notes in the same order.
How long before musicians have to hire a legal team to jiggle notes around to find arrangements that are noninfringing? See also: The reason names of new meds are so damn screwy
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Re:
I just heard this week a very good example. I didn't catch the name of the song but the act was "Five Seconds Of Summer". The song I heard had 24 bars that sounded familiar but it took me a few hours to realize why: those 24 bars were from Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf. Hopefully the songwriters and producers got permission, or at least Duran Duran and their management is cool with it.
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Re:
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"blurred lines" effect
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boss battle video?
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PM5K doesn't deserve all of this hate
Further, just because someone happens to follow some page on Facebook, that doesn't mean they are a fan. Who would consider anyone a fan of a band who would say this about them "you've seriously got a slight case of some major brain damage from playing your own shitty music too loud?" Really? Fans of PM5K consider their music shitty? Then I guess I'm not a fan.
I can hear distinct similarities to their one hit. I don't agree that it is a straight rip-off. But then, who can say how close one needs to be to achieve that? Perhaps they could have just said something about hey, this sounds like us a bit, and left it at that instead of complaining.
Finally, I would like to say that, yes, PM5K is still around. I don't think they were ever really big. Neither were Gravity Kills or Stabbing Westward, for example. They made some hits, but I've only seen them at smaller venues. This isn't pop music; NIN seems to be one of the anomalies in the genre.
Have a nice day!
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Re: PM5K doesn't deserve all of this hate
Those sound like microgenres...
Perhaps they could have just said something about hey, this sounds like us a bit, and left it at that instead of complaining.
Yeah, but... they didn't. If they had done that this wouldn't have been newsworthy, but the article is about what they actually did.
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Re: PM5K doesn't deserve all of this hate
I don't have a problem differentiating between Jay-Z, Common and De La Soul, but I'd never argue they weren't all hip-hop. Why do you have a problem with those bands all being the same genre just because you can tell the difference? Do you like any genres where all bands literally sound the same?
"Rammstein is more of a German Euro-dance Industrial Metal (loosely metal,really)"
If you're having to invent genres to describe a band, they're either insanely unique, or you're trying to make excuses. All are rock bands, all fit under the subgenres of "industrial" and "metal" to some degree. Trying to argue further subgenres is just being pedantic.
"Further, just because someone happens to follow some page on Facebook, that doesn't mean they are a fan"
This is true. Just as having someone as a "friend" doesn't mean you consider them a friend in terms of real life, so "liking" something just means you subscribe to their page, not that you're a fan. Why you would subscribe to a page dedicated to someone you don't like is up to the individual.
In reality, those pages are public, so I'd guess that the commenter hasn't liked the page, but responded when a friend or a group he is subscribed to shared the post.
"Finally, I would like to say that, yes, PM5K is still around"
Clearly, else we wouldn't be reading this crap.
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