Music Sampling Copyright Law:
What You Can And Can't Do.
When it comes to sampling a vinyl record, or any other music format, for the purpose of rearranging and producing an original composition you need to be very careful what you sample, how it is used, and how MUCH of the sample is used. I personally know some entertainment lawyers who will argue that there is no set "threshold" of time in which sampling a copyrighted material becomes an act of infringement. I, on the other hand to avoid any possibility of a future lawsuit, stick to my "two bar" rule: No more than two bars of continuous sampling from the original composition. If I end up sampling more than two bars of continuous track, I will equalize, modulate, pitch shift, and chop that sample up so much that it would be next to impossible to identify the original composition.
Side note: Did you know that there has never been a law suit regarding the sampling of a drum loop? It seems that sampling percussion is fine, but melody is not! Interesting.
Regardless, it is very important to know the fundamentals of Music Sampling Copyright Law. To begin, I will start off by listing important elements and factors consider when sampling another persons composition.
Licensing
To use any piece of music, whether it is a sample for a hip hop beat or an instrumental arrangement for your own album, television show, or video game you need to have permission from the owner of the sound recording, as well as the owner(s) of the original composition. This is referred to as licensing. Whether that license grants you exclusive or non-exclusive rights will ultimately determine what you can and can't do with the original works.
Copyright Infringement
This is pretty straight forward in essence - You have sampled someones music without their permission, they've found out, and now you have a possible class-action lawsuit on your hands for copyright infringement. The good thing with sampling in this day and age is that as an independent artist you have very little to worry about unless you are moving serious units, and have some serious money coming in. I usually stick with the 10,000 units sold mark as a mental threshold. Why would someone waste their time and money taking you to court when you haven't profited from using their compositions?
Sample Clearance
It has become a regular practice in the music industry of 2008 to take care of sample clearances right off the bat. There are some key companies called a "clearance house" in which the big league artists use to clear samples such as Sample Doctor and Diamond Time. A sample clearance arrangement usually works like this - The person seeking license will contact the artist's publishing company or manager, who will contact the clearance house and arrange the terms and exclusivity of the license. Typically this would involve the requester paying a flat fee or percentage of sales, as well as including accreditation in the liner notes of the album sleeve.
Side Note: Did you know that Polygram Records has an entire department which listens to recordings to try and identify unlicensed James Brown samples? I know! Truthfully though I'm not surprised as James Brown is the most sampled recording artist of all time.
To conclude, I think the evolution of sampling old vinyl records, especially referring to hip hop music, does more good then bad. I don't know a single music producer, beat maker, or fruity loops wizard who will sample an artist out of anything but sheer respect and admiration for the original recording and artist. This sole reason is why people began sampling records in the first place! They loved the original and wanted to have the same vibe and sounds. Whatever the case may be, if you are on the path to selling 20,000 records or downloads on Myspace and you have music which contains samples in it, do the right thing and get that music cleared and licensed properly. If you don't you might end up with James Brown's publisher at the door of your 2.5 million dollar home demanding 2.5 million for a sample you used on your first record 5 years prior. That would suck!
Long live vinyl!
MrBlue
www.mrbluereviews.com
www.myspace.com/basementtheory
What You Can And Can't Do.
I will try and keep this as simple as possible because Copyright Law and Music Sampling can be very, very confusing. I have been producing music for hip hop artists for over 8 years - and my style of production is primarily sample based due to my New York hip hop influence growing up.
When it comes to sampling a vinyl record, or any other music format, for the purpose of rearranging and producing an original composition you need to be very careful what you sample, how it is used, and how MUCH of the sample is used. I personally know some entertainment lawyers who will argue that there is no set "threshold" of time in which sampling a copyrighted material becomes an act of infringement. I, on the other hand to avoid any possibility of a future lawsuit, stick to my "two bar" rule: No more than two bars of continuous sampling from the original composition. If I end up sampling more than two bars of continuous track, I will equalize, modulate, pitch shift, and chop that sample up so much that it would be next to impossible to identify the original composition.
Side note: Did you know that there has never been a law suit regarding the sampling of a drum loop? It seems that sampling percussion is fine, but melody is not! Interesting.
Regardless, it is very important to know the fundamentals of Music Sampling Copyright Law. To begin, I will start off by listing important elements and factors consider when sampling another persons composition.
Licensing
To use any piece of music, whether it is a sample for a hip hop beat or an instrumental arrangement for your own album, television show, or video game you need to have permission from the owner of the sound recording, as well as the owner(s) of the original composition. This is referred to as licensing. Whether that license grants you exclusive or non-exclusive rights will ultimately determine what you can and can't do with the original works.
Copyright Infringement
This is pretty straight forward in essence - You have sampled someones music without their permission, they've found out, and now you have a possible class-action lawsuit on your hands for copyright infringement. The good thing with sampling in this day and age is that as an independent artist you have very little to worry about unless you are moving serious units, and have some serious money coming in. I usually stick with the 10,000 units sold mark as a mental threshold. Why would someone waste their time and money taking you to court when you haven't profited from using their compositions?
Sample Clearance
It has become a regular practice in the music industry of 2008 to take care of sample clearances right off the bat. There are some key companies called a "clearance house" in which the big league artists use to clear samples such as Sample Doctor and Diamond Time. A sample clearance arrangement usually works like this - The person seeking license will contact the artist's publishing company or manager, who will contact the clearance house and arrange the terms and exclusivity of the license. Typically this would involve the requester paying a flat fee or percentage of sales, as well as including accreditation in the liner notes of the album sleeve.
Side Note: Did you know that Polygram Records has an entire department which listens to recordings to try and identify unlicensed James Brown samples? I know! Truthfully though I'm not surprised as James Brown is the most sampled recording artist of all time.
To conclude, I think the evolution of sampling old vinyl records, especially referring to hip hop music, does more good then bad. I don't know a single music producer, beat maker, or fruity loops wizard who will sample an artist out of anything but sheer respect and admiration for the original recording and artist. This sole reason is why people began sampling records in the first place! They loved the original and wanted to have the same vibe and sounds. Whatever the case may be, if you are on the path to selling 20,000 records or downloads on Myspace and you have music which contains samples in it, do the right thing and get that music cleared and licensed properly. If you don't you might end up with James Brown's publisher at the door of your 2.5 million dollar home demanding 2.5 million for a sample you used on your first record 5 years prior. That would suck!
Long live vinyl!
MrBlue
www.mrbluereviews.com
www.myspace.com/basementtheory