Here’s a bit of a twist
So the latest musical scandal doesn’t involve plagiarized lyrics or unauthorized lip-synching. Instead, it’s a story of an American Idol contestant ripping off Live’s cover arrangement of Johnny Cash’s “Walk the Line.”
There’s a couple of reasons I’m interested in this. First, the uproar is good evidence that mainstream culture is developing ideas of how rearranging/restyling is an art form in itself (and one that needs to be protected). Second, it’s interesting that the viewing audience has a problem with someone using someone else’s style (despite the fact the latter didn’t write the song), but they’re not at all disturbed by the premise of the show itself: people singing others’ songs (and mimicking their styles!) week after week. Some social conventions evolve faster than others, eh?