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... there are people in remote areas recording famous songs by renowned artists, passing them off as their own. Celine Dion is one example. Due to either ignorance or deceit, some good singers, some who win famous TV contests, record her songs as if they were their own, convincing local audiences that they have original work. They then share these videos on platforms like YouTube to earn a few cents. It’s a regrettable situation.

However, I'm also certain that it's time for us to discuss new copyright laws, and not invite YT and Spotify.

My predicament is that I understand mathematics quite well and recognize that musical possibilities are finite and quite limited. To make matters worse, we must wait 70 years after the death of an artist—often for someone forgotten—while their family continues to collect royalties. This outdated practice needs to end.

Why do I mention this? Because if we apply the permutation formula from mathematics P(n,r), we find that composing with just six musical notes for children’s songs—using four, three, two, or even one note per measure—yields very few combinations. Academics like myself have studied how similar folk melodies appear across cultures, such as an Austrian tune echoing in a Brazilian song or a French melody being repeated in India, all without prior contact. This is akin to the pentatonic scale, which was used in both China and India long before any discovery or communication took place. The mathematical formula used in statistics, P=(n,r), encapsulates this complexity.

For example, if we create a folk melody using only six notes (C, D, E, F, G, A), the permutations of just two notes within the same measure yield only 30 possible combinations. This suggests that these melodies have already been repeated worldwide, including in China. Expanding to combinations of four notes within the same measure—suitable for lulling a baby to sleep—gives us only 360 combinations, maths variations of the same combination. However, even these limited variations often result in the same melody. This is why we see so many lawsuits and DMCA requests on platforms like YouTube.

Given the premise of these melodic variations, we can only create a limited number of songs. Count the folk songs in your country, and you may be surprised. If you attempt to create a new one using these mathematically constrained permutations, most will not align with human auditory preferences—unless you aim to compose serial, dodecaphonic, or atonal music that would keep your baby awake. I criticize uninformed musicians who assert that music is boundless and that melodic and rhythmic possibilities are infinite. In reality, the limitations are stark, compounded by outdated legislation and musicians seeking to extract every penny from newcomers who can hardly afford legal battles.

Combining three identical elements creates a waltz in ternary meter, and introducing a rest on the second or third beat still results in a variation of a waltz. Many musical genres, when mixed with rests, sound similar. Fortunately, there is no copyright on musical genres or their evolving styles, such as Jazz, Cool Jazz, or variations of Bossa Nova.

Our auditory senses are so limited that when we seek to include pauses in our permutation formula, we arrive at P=(14,r). However, even after extensive combinations—research already conducted in Germany at various universities—we often find the results to be chaotic and unpleasant to the human ear, causing feelings of repulsion or boredom. Among the audible combinations, the waltz and its six variations using only quarter notes stand out. If we incorporate eighth notes, rests, and ties, we arrive at 12 audible possibilities, but these do not transform the waltz into a new style; they remain variations on the same idea.

Take the basic Rock pattern: quarter notes with just two eighth notes on the second beat. Musicians have played with this simple formula, mixing in rests and slurs to create syncopations and expand their variations. The introduction of dynamics, which shifts the accent throughout the syncopation, ultimately gives rise to new rhythmic designs we label as Rock styles. Nevertheless, these styles can still fit within a single drum book that teaches all the stylistic variations.

We are currently facing another global issue: copyright laws, which vary significantly from country to country. Ordinary people are receiving notices from individuals claiming copyright over songs created by AI.

We need an international congress to reconsider these issues and update the outdated rules surrounding music creation. Composing music today can be tedious, and some people abandon their creativity out of fear. We don’t need supercomputers to accomplish what can be achieved with a pencil. Our limitation lies not in understanding the mathematics of combinations and permutations, as the same figures can repeat multiple times, as seen in traditional waltzes. The true limitation is our biology. We experience sensations of hot and cold, light and dark, and all the nuances of a sunset—but ultimately, these are variations of the same fundamental experiences.