@Viss @molly0xfff there are two types of musical copyright. Recordings, and compositions. Even if the composition is silent, e.g. "4:33" by John Cage, there *is* a composition and it counts.
You would lose the argument that a 3 minute video is "4:33" though.
(but if someone releases a video that's exactly 4:33 long and is just silence, anyone with any sort of musical education would know that's a direct reference to Cage's work, and so would constitute a composition copyright violation)
@TheRealPomax @Viss @molly0xfff But 4′33″ isn’t just silence! For one thing, it’s divided into three movements, which performers must communicate somehow. At a deeper level, 4′33″ is about the *impossibility* of silence.
(Also, the usual score specified that 4′33″ may “last any length of time.” Any attempt to raise a copyright issue would run into the compulsory license for music recordings, for one thing.)