Posted
6/03/2004 06:36:00 PM
by Douglas
The price of silence.British composer Mike Batt found himself the subject of a plagiarism action for including the song, "A One Minute Silence," on an album for his classical rock band The Planets.
He was accused of copying it from a work by the late American composer John Cage, whose 1952 composition "4'33"" was totally silent.
On Monday, Batt settled the matter out of court by paying an undisclosed six-figure sum to the John Cage Trust.
I hope this is a joke. I bet the Cage Trust is really busy prosecuting all the live performance versions of 4'33 that happen every day. I think I just had one right now!
Before the start of the court case, Batt had said: "Has the world gone mad? I'm prepared to do time rather than pay out. We are talking as much as £100,000 in copyright.
"Mine is a much better silent piece. I have been able to say in one minute what Cage could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds."
I've heard a rumor that 4'33 became very popular in the 50s. People at diners would put as many nickels as they had on this record just so they could enjoy some silence with their meals. Eventually the record became quite scratched, and then entertained the patrons with cracks and hisses.
Which to this day is
still more enjoyable than anything by Justin Timberlake.
Labels: silence