A lawyer and a coder have created an algorithm to write every melody in western music and released it all free of copyright to expose the ludicrous nature of copyright laws. Damien Riehl (the lawyer) and Noah Rubin (the coder) stumbled upon the idea in a random conversation. It turned from “a thought experiment” to a potential defense of all things musical and artistic.

A melody is, by definition, simply a sequence of musical notes arranged to be sonically appealing. Logically speaking then, copyrighting a melody is a questionable concept on its own. Unfortunately, artists sue for copyright infringement over basic musical concepts surprisingly often – a  harsh reality to which performers such as Katy Perry and Sam Smith can attest.

This type of morally-questionable litigation prompted Riehl and Rubin to create their algorithm and highlight the ridiculousness of some music lawsuits. According to The Atlantic, the pair constructed a tool that would sequence over 68 billion melodies, saved it to a hard drive, copyrighted it, and published the files online. In effect, they’ve now produced 68 billion melodies that cannot be considered the property of any particular artist. They have plans to expand on the All the Music database and proceed to chords in the future.

Why The Algorithm Makes Sense

The entire concept only works because music is built on facts. In Damien Riehl’s TEDx Talk, he mentions that numbers are facts since quantities have existed since the dawn of time, and facts are rarely impacted by copyright. Similarly, he suggests, musical notes are also facts. The sound a piano makes when a key is pressed is just a noise triggered by objects coming into contact with one another. Mankind has labeled these noises as notes but we didn’t create them. Riehl argues, “So maybe if these numbers have existed since the beginning of time and we’re just plucking them out, maybe melodies are just math, which is just facts, which maybe are not copyrightable.”

Upon considering that western music involves only a few dozen instruments and sound profiles, it becomes apparent that music is quantifiable. It’s possible to assign a numeric value to each note on a piano, for instance, and then lay out a series of those numbers. In short, melodies can be generated by math, which is exactly what Riehl and Rubin’s algorithm accomplishes. There are certainly more than 68 billion possible melodies (consider that almost anything can become a musical instrument) but, when limited to one type of music, the possibilities suddenly become finite. The pair deduced that most popular melodies consist of about 8 notes so based on that, the software has generated every possible combination of 8-note, 12-beat melodies.

The potential flaw in using math and logic to create melodies is good melodies aren’t decided by raw logic. The artistry in making music comes from subjectively choosing appealing sounds. As a result, it’s hard to imagine All the Music being used as a legal defense in a copyright lawsuit. Somewhere in those 68 billion files lie great melodies some artist stumbled upon previously, so it can’t retroactively void those copyrights. Riehl has acknowledged the unlikelihood of the tool functioning as a viable legal defense and responded stating he would prefer for its existence to catalyze Congressional copyright reform. Regardless of whether that happens, it’s worth appreciating the amusing reality that there’s a good chance every popular North American song that has existed – or ever will – has already been made by math.

Next: How Spotify Predicts What Music You’ll Like

Source: The Atlantic