by admin | Jun 4, 2021 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting
The case against Childish Gambino is the latest in a run of copyright claims Article + interview with Joe Bennett. Words: Tom Wainwright. Originally published in The Economist, 15 May 2021. “You motherfuckers owe me!” raps Donald Glover, better known as... 
by Joe Bennett | May 22, 2021 | berklee, Eurovision, Forensic Musicology, music production, musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting
[update: the next day] So, the predictions were mostly reasonably close, although I missed Switzerland completely. Italy won (I predicted 4th), I got France right at 2nd place, and Iceland came 4th (predicted as 3rd). My predicted winner (Malta) actually came in at... by Joe Bennett | May 22, 2021 | berklee, Eurovision, Popular Music, Songwriting
[looking for the live-blog and song commentary?] It’s Eurovision-eve! Yes, the live musicology blog is back after it, and the contest itself, has been absent for a year. We didn’t waste time though: Netflix asked us to analyse all 259 finalists 2010-2019... ![Did Childish Gambino plagiarize in “This Is America”? [answer: no]](https://joebennett.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/This-is-America-CI-865x505-1.jpg)
by Joe Bennett | May 19, 2021 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting
Betteridge’s law famously states that “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no”. And so, in the spirit of good blogging and the avoidance of cheap clickbait, I have answered my own question in the title of this post.... 
by Joe Bennett | Jun 30, 2020 | Eurovision, Popular Music, Songwriting
Regular readers will know that I have been live-blogging the Eurovision Song Contest final since 2011. Every year I sit down in front of the TV, metronome and guitar in hand, and write live musical analysis of the songs in real time, then attempt to predict the winner... 
by Joe Bennett | Jan 23, 2020 | musicology, Songwriting
Article and interview by Frank Ward O’Malley (1875-1932)Originally published in ‘The American Magazine’, Volume 90, October 1920Transcribed by Joe Bennett from the Google Books version, January 2020 Irving Berlin c.1920 JB comment: This semester, I’m very pleased to... 
by Joe Bennett | Aug 20, 2019 | musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting, tidal
[JB note: This article was originally commissioned by TIDAL, and is part of a series – see links below. Parental advisory: adult themes in the lyrics.] Ariana Grande – 7 rings Mabel – Don’t Call Me Up Billie Eilish – Bad Guy Taylor Swift... 
by Joe Bennett | May 18, 2019 | Eurovision
[update – the day after] I correctly predicted the winner (Netherlands), but my second and third place predictions (Sweden and Australia) were a little further down the list: Sweden was 6th, Australia 9th. Not bad. Here’s an interactive infographic of the... 
by Joe Bennett | Apr 19, 2019 | Articles, music production, Popular Music, Songwriting, tidal
As a music theory geek, I love to get inside songs and figure out why we like them. There’s something beautiful about the ability of a mainstream hit to bring people together. And when the songwriter and singer is as extraordinary a talent as Ariana Grande, we can be... 
by Joe Bennett | Apr 3, 2019 | Association of Popular Music Education, berklee, Education, music education, Popular Music, Research
This post is taken from my foreword to The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education: Perspectives and Practices (Bloomsbury, 2019). Editors: Zack Moir, Bryan Powell, Gareth Dylan Smith. Used by permission. Popular Music Education. These three words, even though... 
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