@JessTheUnstill

so it depends -very- strongly on genre what's acceptable to 'copy' vs do yourself - e.g. jazz, yeah, everyone plays the standards but -how- you play the tune and what you do with the improv matters.

Rock music has some tradition of covers, but each band is really supposed to be doing their own thing, especially around the performance aspect.

And then rap? if your rhymes aren't your own, that's a huge sin against the creative process. You don't use someone else's raps; it's very much Not Done.