_we decided that the complex polyrhythms of African and Afro-Caribbean music didn’t rise to the level of copyrightability, while the melodic elements that European composers concerned themselves with did – which meant The Beatles could appropriate R&B, but that Black hip-hop artists couldn’t sample The Beatles).
This is not a parallel argument. The Beatles also could not sample R&B recordings, because they didn’t own the recordings. It has nothing to do with which written parts of a song are copyrightable – ALL parts of a sound recording are under copyright.
The point is valid in that arrangements, rhythms, etc, are not part of a song’s copyright for a songwriter, though the case of the Gaye estate vs. Pharell and Robin Thicke departed from that and is now a citable precedent.
