Using a tiny fraction of another song - and paying royalties

Because its not your burden to prove it. It’s the plaintiff’s burden to show you did have access. And no court is going to accept that simply because some time in your life you once stood next to a computer that you accessed any and every particular recording as a matter of law. It’s still the plaintiff’s burden to show you copied. There can be a balance tilted for a work that’s do widely known that its not believable that a songwriter had never heard it, but not every work that has ever been on iTunes is going to meet that standard and if you can dhow through a forensic analysis of your computer and iTunes account that X obscure work has never been played on it that’s gravy

Is possession of a song considered proof of listening to it?

(Just curious. Sometimes in the throes of consumerist passion, I buy entire albums when I only want a few songs. If I ever become a musical star, I want to know if I should delete the ones I never listened to.)

Actually, 'Chicken Shack’s “I’d Rather Go Blind” came out in 1969.

[Sorry… I just couldn’t resist that one]:slight_smile: