tom, sammy and magnus

Copyright Law

By Sammi Issa, Tom Taylor and Magnus Andrew Mccusker Romo

How can you make and use samples ?

Saturday, 18 February 12

Samples, Break Beats and Riffs

The exact law on the subject of sampling is that no unauthorised element of another song should be used or copied in anyway, but the actuality of this in blurry and polar in cases.

There has been occassions whereby artists have paid dearly for sampling other artists work. The Verve lost 100% of the royalties for the use of a sample taken from a Rolling Stones song, ‘The Last Time’ , in their song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74




Creating a Sample...It seems that once again, technology advanced far quicker than the law could accommodate for, and in turn the law will flail. This is a sample of the massive attack song, ‘Tear Drop‘.


Breakbeats & Sampling in since the 80’s

Apparently the first use of sampling or breakbeats occurred in the late 1970’s. A technique based on using 2 turntables playing the same track, and the Dj would alternate from deck to deck repeating the beat section on each, 1 at a time.

Once digital editing had emerged in the 80’s, sampling was rife in music, and used in a lot of well known songs. Taken almost entirely from a funk and jazz repetoir, and maybe more accurately about 20 seemingly arbitrary 1960’s/1970’s songs, a whole sub-culture was created based on the mish-mashing of elements and the splicing and piecing together of bits of other songs.


Vanilla Ice was also penalised for the use of a sample taken from the David Bowie song ‘Under Pressure’, again, 100% of the royalties.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE&ob=av2e




Rap Music and RnB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MrQtOoQRpc




Cont...

Companies such as Zero G began producing and selling breakbeats taken from songs, some well known and well used, some not. This raises an interesting point: If Zero G should release the breakbeats without proper licensing from the artists of the original songs, but they were sold commercially and apparently legally, this would mean Zero G must have attained some sort of copyright for their product, and so there would technically be 2 separate copyrights on 1 piece of work.


How can you clear a Sample?

You must find who owns the copyright. If you sample the original sound recording you must ask the owner of it. The recording should tell you who owns it.

For example, EMI Music 2008C


Cont..

Your first point of call would be EMI. If you did not want to show your hand to soon you could get your lawyer to do it on a no name basis.


Cont


Since the development of digital format music and more recently computer based music editing, sampling has grown and evolved and dug its heals further and further in to the mainstream. With the added ease of computerised music composition and editing, a sample from a song can be manipulated, distorted and changed to a point of complete transformation. The sample may be so unidentifiable that trying to sue for it would be farcicle.

Is that a sample or not ?


The End


tom, sammy and magnus

Entertainment & Humor

breakbeats sampling

music editing

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