A good artist borrows stuff, a great artist steals it

[Howlgram]

A good artist borrows stuff, a great artists steals it

EDIT: quote was orginally by Stravinsky
and also in this article somepony shared with me http://www.austinkleon.com/2011/03/30/h ... y-told-me/
(here is an other article, interesting to read :3 http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/S ... BeOriginal )

And im really curious about what you guys think of it.
i dont really know what to think
i have always thought that for something to be good, it had to BE 100% ORIGINAL or otherwise it wouldnt count. I am kind of skeptic about this xD

anyways, i want to hear other ponies, not my confused self.
btw, ofcourse that original things can be incredibly awesome, but that is not the point.

EDIT: Where would be the line that separates stealing like an artist from plagiarizing?

[Drayde Wernick]

Nothing is 100% original. I think "originality" is just a measure of how well a person can use preexisting knowledge to put preexisting pieces together in a new and distinct way.

There is always some degree of familiarity in every song I listen to. Parts of one song will remind me of parts in another. I have never listened to a song and thought "Wow, I've never heard anything even remotely close to that at all, ever." People come up with good ideas, and I think other people should be allowed to use them for their own purposes.

[bartekko]

I know that article.

It is Impossible to be 100 % original, for one reason: Everything was made before, but it takes creativity, to change something, more or less intentionally. All the possible rhythms are there, more or less popular, and all possible note progressions were used, yet creativity hasn't ended:

take a very popular rhythm: 1/8 - 1/8 - 1/4 . then take a very popular note progression: C3 - C4 - C5 -C3 - C4 - C5 -C3 - C4 - C5 - C3 - C4 - C5 - C3 - C4 - C5 + C4

BLAW, you got something new, from two old things. or invert the progression: C5 - C4 - C3 ...

or the rhythm- 1/4 1/8 1/8.
this is a very uncreative way of changing to create, but it shows something: you can come up with something new by using old stuff
that's it
:D

[Dr_Dissonance]

That quote was orginally by Stravinsky...he was actually referring to using folk songs in his works, which has been blown out of context....
I think any of this COULD be true, but why would you want to be good, or great? Why not impeccable or godtier?
To achieve them, you make something completely new!

P.S. Stravinsky had a criminal record, and his crime was putting a seventh chord in an arrangement of the American national anthem! So yeah...

[Versilaryan]

Have you seen the documentary "Everything's a Remix"? It's the same idea. Everything's gotta branch from somewhere. I firmly believe that there's nothing truly original in the world. Everything new stems directly from something old -- the trick is to either find something old that nobody knows too much about, or combine several old things in combinations that people don't use too often. Something we consider "100%" original either stems from something really unknown, or hides its roots really well.

When people say to "steal like an artist", it doesn't mean to just lift passages or something. That's plagiarizing. The idea is to listen to everything critically so you can identify what other people do in order to do it yourself. When I listen to music and I hear something I really like, I analyze it, figure out why I really like it, and then work it into my own music. That's stealing like an artist.

[Tiaaaaa]

I'm really don't like the phrase 'steal like an artist' because of the images it brings to my own mind. I understand it and I know the reason for saying it that way but I still don't like it because I honestly don't believe that originality is a false idea. I usually don't like TV tropes, but I love this article because it sums up my own beliefs perfectly. It's not that originality doesn't exist it's just that, ironically, you have to be unoriginal in order to be original. It's not about stealing so much as knowing what to look for and how you can learn from it.

So, yes, an opinion on art from someone who has been making music for approximately a month. Take with a grain of salt.

[Howlgram]

ok, i think i kind of understand what you all are saying =)
but i still have one question

Where would be the line that separates stealing like an artist from plagiarizing?

Edit:

I'm really don't like the phrase 'steal like an artist' because of the images it brings to my own mind. I understand it and I know the reason for saying it that way but I still don't like it because I honestly don't believe that originality is a false idea. I usually don't like TV tropes, but I love this article because it sums up my own beliefs perfectly. It's not that originality doesn't exist it's just that, ironically, you have to be unoriginal in order to be original. It's not about stealing so much as knowing what to look for and how you can learn from it.

So, yes, an opinion on art from someone who has been making music for approximately a month. Take with a grain of salt.

I really liked that article, more than the other and everything :3
"I still don't like it because I honestly don't believe that originality is a false idea." and that is like seeing my thoughts on a mirror.

[ArtAttack]

I tend to steal really good chord progressions that I hear and make my own melodies. I'm also guilty of taking some wobble patterns from good 'ol Skrilley. But stealing is good, and, as Versilaryan said, EVERYTHING'S A REMIX!

[Mox]

I'm glad no one here started immediately complaining about the 1 5 6 4 progression and how overly used it is in popular music, and therefore modern music is trash.

That's the kind of conversations I get in real life.

[MYCUTIEMARKISAGUN]

Nas quote time!

"No idea's original, there's nothin new under the sun/
It's never what you do, but how it's done/"

My specialty is Hip-Hop, so.........yeah. The entire genre & subculture was BORN from, *ahem*, stealing James Brown drum breaks. But as they're fond of saying on FutureProducers, "IT'S NOT THE PLANE, ITS THE PILOT".

RZA took the Underdog theme and used it to create Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin To Fuck Wit. Seriously. Underdog theme. Youtube it. I'll wait.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the infamous and reviled Puff Daddy bullshit of looping 40 second long samples, changing nothing and adding nothing except some wind chimes maybe. (BTW, did you know that Diddy has never actually made a beat in his life and he's just been taking credit for The Hitmen's work all these years? Moral of the Story: Fuck Diddy.)