History Main / SuspiciouslySimilarSong

Want to use a popular song for your soundtrack, with or without the original lyrics, but don't have the money to get the rights? You can always get some studio musician to record a suspiciously similar song -- an instrumental version of the tune with a note tweaked here and there, designed to sound as much like the original as possible while being different enough not to violate UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}}.

** SuspiciouslySimilarSong/Wario

So as to avoid Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike, note that apparent cases of this are often not intentional plagiarism, but accidental replication of a song the artist didn't consciously remember; or (especially for partial matches of just a few notes) the two artists may have simply had the same idea independently. Many cases of this are also simply a result of both songs using a very common chord progression, such as the TheFourChordsOfPop or the PachelbelsCanonProgression.

** ''[[SuspiciouslySimilarSong.Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry Shortcake]]''

Strangely enough, this sometimes happens with tunes which are clearly in the PublicDomain in at least some countries. Sometimes for the opposite reasons of public domain sounftrack -- so you could copyright the song.

Strangely enough, this sometimes happens with tunes which are clearly in the PublicDomain in at least some countries. Sometimes for the opposite reasons of public domain sountrack -- so you could copyright the song.

Strangely enough, this sometimes happens with tunes which are clearly in the PublicDomain in at least some countries.

-->-- '''Music/VanillaIce''', comparing his "Ice Ice Baby" to Music/{{Queen}}'s "Under Pressure"

Contrast with InTheStyleOf where the song is covered, in a style as far from the original as possible. When one song recycles the tune of another, it's ToTheTuneOf. In the music industry, this is called "{{sampling}}", and usually requires permission... but it ain't always given. Basically CaptainErsatz or {{expy}} for music pieces. Also contrast MusicalPastiche.

** ''SuspiciouslySimilarSong/{{Nintendo}}''

** [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong/ChildrensShow Children's TV]]

Note that if you're just [[ThemeTuneCameo reworking your own theme]], that doesn't count since it's ''your own'' copyright you would be violating. And nobody cares about that.

[[SerialNumbersFiledOff It's totally different]]."''

So as to avoid Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike, note that apparent cases of this are often not intentional plagiarism, but accidental replication of a song the artist didn't consciously remember; or (especially for partial matches of just a few notes) the two artists may have simply had the same idea independently.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong/{{Commercials}}