I understand the controversy, especially in light of the recent Reddit bullshit. But I don’t think I understand the tech.

For the sake of it, let’s focus only on games that are paid for, installed on a system (or downloaded using Game Pass), and do not involve a multiplayer element. (Hollow Knight, Cuphead, etc)

Is there some ongoing resource use (on Unity’s end) when people download or play these games? Like, when I play Hollow Knight, my system isn’t connecting to Unity to use their servers to run the game on my home system, is it? When I download a game to my system, an I downloading the engine separately from the software, thereby using Unity’s servers?

As abhorrent as the Reddit API change was, at least they were charging for the ongoing consumption of some digital resource (Reddit data). Unless I’m misunderstanding something, this just seems more like trying to collect a residual after the fact.

Ii-V-I is already not eligible for copyright. That’s why a million contrafacts exist.

Lyrics, maybe. Lyrics are really the most copyrightable part of a song. Then melody after that.

Chord progressions are barely protectable, usually only in combination with a melody and lyrics.