Slashdot Mirror
Dictionaraoke - Fair-Use meets Karaoke
stu42j writes "NPR's On the Media today interview's David Dixon from Dictionaraoke.com where 'A group of fair-use artists have created songs using the spoken pronunciation guides of words in online dictionaries. The result is an entertaining blend of computerized music and monotone singing.'"
Considering most pop-music is fairly generic now anyways, I guess this'll do what mp3's didn't to the music industry:)
A much better project would be a neural network system that takes the entire works of Led Zeppelin and J.R.R. Tolkien as input, and provides us with some amazing new fantasy rock as output.
I have determined that every Led Zeppelin tune can be interpretted in terms of Tolkien's Middle Earth with little difficulty. Please post challenges here.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
here's the official list of mirrors
http://dictionaraoke.mirrors.gweep.net/
.cig - what you do after winning a good flame war
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious = Super+california+fragmentation+holistic+expiration +alien+doctor+ferocious?
Ceci n'est pas une sig
The result is an entertaining blend of computerized music and monotone singing.
Can you spot the word that doesn't belong?
I have been pwned because my
Oh yeah, I remember hearing one of their computerized, monotone songs a few years ago. They did get all the pronunciation right but they messed up on the grammar a bit. I think they called it "All Your Base."
Adidas To Bring Back Sneakernet
Since you won't break any copyright laws, or you can find it as mp3s. I will tell you who will, anyone you can't sing, is drunk, and is forced by so called friends to perform an act of karaoke!
^_^
Why not use freely available voice synthesis software (just search freshmeat.net and there's a couple different packages).
I've downloaded lyrics before and fed it into these things. Brittany Spears sung by a computer with an English accent is very funny after a couple beers...
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
The next logical step is to incorporate this into the hot new video game DDR (Dance Dance Revolution)...
I guess those who complain about all new music sounding the same will have a field day with this...
The thought of monotone lyrics made me think of redoing the complete catalog of music from a particular subset of musicians and call the results "Boy Blands" but I can't find MMMM-BOP in the dictionary.
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
Oh no, I'm suddenly inspired to make my own song since the site is:
Slash Dot Ted
NPR interested in monotone music? Somehow i'm not suprised.
Or does this sound like William Shatner "singing"?
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Sorry, I tried a song (at the mirror!) but the result comes nowhere near The Mighty Stephen Hawking.
Enjoy!
I'm surprised nobody's really picked up on this -- the radio interviewer even disregarded it ("Putting aside the politics, insert smarky comment here").
It does call into question the nature of copyright, once you break something down to its core elements. The reason why MIDI was used? Because it's a mathematical representation of a string of notes, rather than a copy of an actual copyrighted performance of those notes. The reason why dictionary samples were used instead of a better synthesizer? Well, think about this: are the sampled words copyrighted? The dictionary sites they were lifted from could claim copyright, but do they really own the rights to a sound bite of a proununciation of an english word? What if I recorded myself saying it? What if you take their recordings and make sentences, who owns the rights then, the composer/assembler or the dictionary or what?
I LOVE how jumbled the legal issues get surrounding this. Of course, I'm sure the RIAA will get them shut down ASAP to prove they own the right to every aspect of our culture, including our own commentary upon that culture.
The male computer voice, however, isn't capabable of producing the range required for most of the songs, though, so it switches to a female voice occasionally to hit the higher notes (i.e., on a word-by-word basis). It's actually quite comical to hear.
Of course, I'm sure the RIAA will get them shut down ASAP to prove they own the right to every aspect of our culture, including our own commentary upon that culture.
Only if those online dictionaries happen to be member organizations under the RIAA umbrella. As far as I know, they are not. The RIAA doesn't sue when someone steals a car, the RIAA doesn't sue when someone steals a loaf of bread, the RIAA doesn't sue when someone steals a copy of Microsoft Excel.
Will the dictionary companies sue? Only if they think this causes them damage. That could be a matter of corporate image [claiming the voice is a recognizable de facto trademark of a specific dictionary property], a matter of competitive advantage [claiming the compilation of words constitutes an alternative product employing their own patent-protected methods], or a matter of creative control [claiming the specific aggregation of pronunciations or the specific voice actor's performance is an artistic expression that others have no inherent right to copy]. I think each of these claims are weak in this case.
[
Actually, there are two copyrighted elements which need to be considered. The original sheet music which lists the notes that make up the song will have a copyright and separate performance right, which is probably violated by making a MIDI file and distributing it without consent ("reverse engineering" them from another performance won't exempt you). The original lyrics are also copyrighted and can't be reproduced for wide distribution (even as a vocal transformation) without consent.
www.lyrics.ch ran into this problem a few years back. They were shut down for a year or more as they sought permission from the various copyright holders and repackaged the lyrics in a "secure" format.
I don't think the legal issues are really all that jumbled. It's just a question of whether a parody of this form qualifies as a "fair use".
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
Soon the entire dictionary will be audio-copyright except for those oh so unpronouncable chemical compound names.
:-)
Imagine what Jack Valenti would do if they made clips with a film and video camera but put the words in the mouths of a picture of the MPAA moron, Jack Valenti and wass-her-name, the RIAA bitch.
That means that the RIAA will have to attack anybody who uses the word. Eventually, the owners of Dictionaraoke will be able to sue the RIAA for copyright violation on every press release they issue. (With any luck they'll shut up a few major world so-called-leaders. Its the rethoric of failure. We are spirits in the material world.)
The truth is that we only need 17 rules for living (10 commandments & seven basic human motivational vectors, uh, deadly sins,) and the rest is just so much totally unnecessary verbiage generated by immoral authoritarian, patenalistic, chauvinistic scum as a means of telling you "DONT DO THAT!" and "DO AS I SAY!(Pay no attention to the man behing the curtain who's raping your little brother at knife point,)" or worse, by humans who are just trying to justify their continued parasitic existence. (You may say I'm a dreamer. ell I'm not the only one. I hope someday you will join us, and the world can live as one.)
I hope they don't copyright the phrase 'FUCK YOU!"
HEY! George Carlin is in the extremely enviable position of being able to sue most of the world for abusing his copyright on the unauthorized use of the words "FUCK, SHIT, PISS, CUNT, MOTHER-FUCKER, COCK-SUCKER AND TITS" He could become richer than Bill Gates.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
First, computer-generated singing from MIDI files can be done better. Listen to Festival Singer, from the Oregon Graduate University of Science and Technology, which is in turn based on a speech system from the University of Edinburgh. It's still not that great, but progress is being made. They're approaching the garage-band level.
More components are needed to make computer-generated music more human-like. Some of that work has been done. The Media Lab system for Expressive Performance Extraction takes in a MIDI file and an audio recording of piano music, and builds a model of the performer's expression. This model can then be used with other MIDI files to mimic the specific pianist.
The next big step is to do that for singers.
The goal is to have a system where you put in a MIDI file, lyrics, performer and singer models, and push start. Out comes a performance that sounds like a good backup band.
Because the music industry likes to have the option to replace performers, copyright law doesn't prevent doing this on popular music. You only have to pay a modest statutory royalty to the original songwriter.
Once this works, it could make a real dent in the music industry. Performers could go the way of orators. People would still go to live performances, but we could dispense with much of the recorded music industry.
> I don't think the legal issues are really all
... well, it's not music; let's call it "expression".
> that jumbled. It's just a question of whether
> a parody of this form qualifies as a "fair use".
There's a built-in way of protecting this form of
If the recording artist sues, Dictionaraoke can threaten to submit each song as evidence during the trial, forcing the court to listen to each one. After about five or six of them, the prosecution will definitely move to dismiss the case!
The moral of the story is, if you insist on breaking the law, try to do it in a fashion as annoying as possible.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
.... WOMAN, YOOOO OOOO NEEEEEEED MEEE ...."
OHHHHHHHH
Or "Squeeze my lemon, till the juice runs down my leg
The way you squeeze my lemon, I'm going to fall right out of bed"
I would love to hear how these lyrics can be related to Tolkien.
... singing "Try a little tenderness." Otis had nothing to worry about.
The only thing that outdoes dictionaroke is E=MC Hawking which features Stephen Hawking's voice modulator in rap songs about physics. My favorite? Entropy.
Here's the lyrics:
Entropy Trash Talk Harm me with harmony. Doomsday, drop a load on 'em. Verse 1 Entropy, how can I explain it? I'll take it frame by frame it, to have you all jumping, shouting saying it. Let's just say that it's a measure of disorder, in a system that is closed, like with a border. It's sorta, like a, well a measurement of randomness, proposed in 1850 by a German, but wait I digress. "What the fuck is entropy?", I here the people still exclaiming, it seems I gotta start the explaining. You ever drop an egg and on the floor you see it break? You go and get a mop so you can clean up your mistake. But did you ever stop to ponder why we know it's true, if you drop a broken egg you will not get an egg that's new. That's entropy or E-N-T-R-O to the P to the Y, the reason why the sun will one day all burn out and die. Order from disorder is a scientific rarity, allow me to explain it with a little bit more clarity. Did I say rarity? I meant impossibility, at least in a closed system there will always be more entropy. That's entropy and I hope that you're all down with it, if you are here's your membership. Chorus You down with entropy? Yeah, you know me! (x3) Who's down with entropy? Every last homey! Verse 2 Defining entropy as disorder's not complete, 'cause disorder as a definition doesn't cover heat. So my first definition I would now like to withdraw, and offer one that fits thermodynamics second law. First we need to understand that entropy is energy, energy that can't be used to state it more specifically. In a closed system entropy always goes up, that's the second law, now you know what's up. You can't win, you can't break even, you can't leave the game, 'cause entropy will take it all 'though it seems a shame. The second law, as we now know, is quite clear to state, that entropy must increase and not dissipate. Creationists always try to use the second law, to disprove evolution, but their theory has a flaw. The second law is quite precise about where it applies, only in a closed system must the entropy count rise. The earth's not a closed system' it's powered by the sun, so fuck the damn creationists, Doomsday get my gun! That, in a nutshell, is what entropy's about, you're now down with a discount. Chorus Trash Talk Hit it! Doomsday, kick it in!
For other rock classics that are ripped from old blues guys, see Rhino's Blues Masters, Vol. 6: Blues Originals.
There is much better music that includes computer synth. When done right, it has a strange, compelling quality not unlike the opposite feeling of dehumanization. (Sorry, it's hard to describe.) "Deus ex machina" is the term I use for plastic that sounds vibrant.
Here we go, in order of how urgent it is that you hear it (fire your respective music stealing software up NOW!):
- Kid 606 - Catstep/My Kitten/Catnap Vatstep DSP Remix By Hrvatski (Search for "hrvatski catstep". Awesome drill n' bass fireworks sequence with a bouncy ragga synthetic MC who says "fey!" in a really high-pitched voice every verse. "we talking Cubase V S T, with the hyperprism mods /
make the kids go crazy you can see it in their nods" Must be heard to be believed.)
- El-P - Stepfather Factory (Off the new Definitive Jux compilation, this moving, conscientious, challenging rap about "stepfather factory", "so you purchase a paternal unit Class A Type 1 / the new addition to your living room space, watch it go
... in an effort to find an energy source our company's learned, the cheapest way to keep his battery running is with booze, plug it, give it a name, 'man of the house', ..." ends with the machine finally getting to speaking. I won't ruin it for you, it's chilling.)
- Cylob - Sex Machine (Demented, dark sex machine monologue/rap. "I have no emotions, I am just a machine / But I'm the hot - test lover there's ever been")
- Anything by MC Hawking (Stephen Hawking's hip-hop side project)
Support independent music!The original lyrics are also copyrighted and can't be reproduced for wide distribution (even as a vocal transformation) without consent.
Not exactly. A cover song can be publically performed with a simple ASCAP (or BMI or whatever) compulsary license. To be on the safe side, they should definately have an ASCAP license, that's not all that expensive. They still could run into problems because of the fact that they are allowing the songs to be downloaded. Technically, they should probably be paying Harry Fox (or someone similar) "7.1 cents per CD sold if the song is 5 minutes or under. Songs over 5 minutes cost slightly more, based on a rate of 1.35 cents per minute."