There is always a chance that something I composed inadvertently 'steps' on someone else's copyright. I think I have heard/listened to a significant amount of music in many genres, but occasionally I think, I may have 'heard' the melody/music before. There are many ways to address this issue. Here are at least three free ways to check:
1. Ask one or more friends if it sounds like anything else they heard. I once had a director that told me a cue I wrote sounded too much like "nadia's theme" and so I changed it. I have a friend, for example that writes music for theater and so when I have music that sound's stage-like, I have him give a listen.
2. Check the music with Shazam or other similar apps to see if they come up with a match. If so, take a listen to the match and judge for yourself.
3. Post the music on youtube and see if it get's flagged with a copyright claim. Consider it a temporary post just to check the copyright. After a few days you can delete it/take it down.
If nothing comes up, that does not mean you don't have a copyright issue, but it's a good start. There many other ways but I leave it to other here to describe what they do to check copyright.
It's always a tough one. These days, my mind has a habit of forgetting what I came upstairs for, yet remembering a jingle for a 50yr old British cereal commercial. I have been know to write something that sounds vaguely familiar, then find out it was me that composed it before.
We are still only using a small handful of notes, so ultimately it's bound to happen that something similar is already out there. It's also easy enough, should this happen, to make a few changes.
I think your tips would work well. I always run things past my wife, who has a tremendous musical memory for more current sounds.
I love this, thank you for sharing, Joel Irwin!
So good Joel. I guess asking online communities such as here or a FB group would also work, as well as asking a friend. There's also this search by melody engine (so cool!) which may be quite useful for checking if the pitches are the same as an existing piece http://www.peachnote.com/#!site=imslp.org&nt=singleNoteAffine&npq=*
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In this episode of "Score: The Podcast", someone asks a question like this. If you wish to listen, here is the link: (if it doesn't start from that point, you can jump to 18:05)
https://youtu.be/_anj3b8N3jE?t=1085