by Joe Bennett | Mar 31, 2022 | Education, media, musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting
I was recently asked by WWE to analyse and transcribe five of their top ‘walk-on’ wrestler themes, and to comment on how WWE music themes are designed to reflect to the personas and character roles of each performer. Some consistent musical characteristics... ![Did Dua Lipa copy from Artikal Sound System? [no]](https://joebennett.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/735A653E-3FE6-448D-A477-3C80E3DA92C5.jpeg)
by Joe Bennett | Mar 5, 2022 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting
I was interviewed by Rolling Stone this week about the Dua Lipa complaint that was filed in LA on Wednesday. Yes I *know* these 6-beat fragments are incredibly similar, but similarity is not the same as copying. I maintain that this is probably a coincidence (whatever... by Joe Bennett | Feb 7, 2022 | musicology, Popular Music, Research, Songwriting
Earlier this year, I was commissioned to research the history of the BRIT Awards’ Song Of The Year, to celebrate 40 years from the first award (Tainted Love, Soft Cell, 1982) to the most recent (Watermelon Sugar, Harry Styles, 2021). We did a similar thing back in... 
by Joe Bennett | Oct 4, 2021 | fm, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Popular Music, Songwriting
As you might imagine, most of the work of a forensic musicologist takes place behind necessarily closed doors due to commercial sensitivities. Once in a while a project I’m working on makes it to a courtroom, and if the media writes about it, my involvement is... 
by admin | Sep 22, 2021 | Copyright, Forensic Musicology, musicology, Plagiarism, Popular Music, Songwriting
[JB note: I’m pleased to welcome my friend and colleague Will Bennett as a guest blogger. Will (no relation) is a PhD musicology researcher at Harvard, and also a valued member of the JBMS consultancy team. I asked him a couple of weeks ago what he thought of... ![Have you been hearing Bohemian Rhapsody ‘wrong’ all these years? [answer: probably]](https://joebennett.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-24-at-11.49.50-AM-1080x402.png)
by Joe Bennett | Jul 24, 2021 | Forensic Musicology, musicology, Popular Music, Research, Songwriting
You know that feeling when a song's intro seems to trip up your ear, so that when the band comes in it sounds like the timing's out? There are a few rock classics that play with our rhythmic ears in this way. When I first heard Led Zeppelin's Rock And Roll I thought... 
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.... 
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