Fed say all samples MUST be paid for

[Plastik909]

Court Rules That All Musical Samples Must Be Paid For

09.08.2004 10:47 AM EDT
MTV News


When P. Diddy rapped in 1997 about taking "hits from the '80s," it didn't sound so crazy, because sampling had been an integral part of rap music for years.
On Tuesday, however, a federal appeals court found the process a bit less reasonable, ruling that artists must pay for every musical sample in their work.
The ruling says artists must pay for not only large samples of another artist's work, but also snippets — smaller notes, chords and beats that are not the artist's original composition — which had previously been legal, according to The Associated Press.
Three judges sitting on the panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said the same federal laws currently in place to halt music piracy will also apply to digital sampling, and explained, "If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you 'lift' or 'sample' something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative."
The case at the crux of this new ruling focuses on the 1990 NWA song "100 Miles and Runnin'." The track samples a three-note guitar riff from a 1975 Funkadelic track, "Get Off Your Ass and Jam." The sample, in which the pitch has been lowered, is only two seconds long but is looped to extend to 16 beats, and appears five times throughout the track.
The NWA song was included in the 1998 film "I Got the Hook Up," which starred Master P and was produced by his No Limit Films. The film company has argued that the sample was not protected by copyright law.
In 2002, a lower court said that though the Clinton riff was in fact entitled to copyright protection, the specific sample "did not rise to the level of legally cognizable appropriation," according to the AP. The appeals court opposed that decision, explaining that an artist who acknowledges that they made use of another artist's work may be liable, and sent the case back to the lower court.
"Get a license or do not sample," the court said Tuesday. "We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way."

—Alyssa Rashbaum

[TheLP]

Well, looks like P.Diddy's Career is over . But seriously I think sampling other peoples music is creative in some aspects. If you make a really old song, and kind of update it and make it sound new, that I think is kind of neat. But I can see why they think it takes no talent.

[groovytunes88]

While there are some songs that have gone a bit far, practically keeping the exact instrumentation, how can they say that a few notes are copyrighted? There are millions of songs that share the same chord progressions, beats, riffs, and even melodies. Hell, if this goes all the way mass produced generic pop music will be no more. Hey, wait a minute, maybe this isn't so bad...

[KingFish]

It's not really the "chord progression" or "beat" that's copywrited, it's more about mechanical ownership of the recordings that are being sampled.

The artist, producer, engineer, musicians, Studio, Mixer, mastering engineer, contributions to a recording is quite an investment by the end, to have even 1 bar of that final product used for free, really isn't right, all the way down the ladder.

I'd be pissed if I was the session bass player on Bowie / Mercury's "underpressure" and I wasn't comopensated mechanically for the loop that was used to create the "ice ice baby, Or Funky cold medina" or what ever tune that transpired from that loop several years ago.

I'm sure the engineer, producer, everyone who came together to inspire that recording, would feel a little pissed.

It's not really just about the chord changes, it's equally the performance / recording / production that make that recording identifiable, within 1 bar of playback.

[froyo]

Hello. Basically what the court is saying that for example with the Queen bassline sample that was used for Ice Ice Baby, it's OK for me to perform the same bassline and record it and use it in the song. It is not OK for me to sample the Queen version without paying the license.

In other words, it's OK to use musicians with chops who can copy the few notes, chord progressions, drum beats, etc., involved in a specific sample. It is not OK to sample someone else's recording without paying for it.

[superpenguin79]

Hello. Basically what the court is saying that for example with the Queen bassline sample that was used for Ice Ice Baby, it's OK for me to perform the same bassline and record it and use it in the song. It is not OK for me to sample the Queen version without paying the license.

In other words, it's OK to use musicians with chops who can copy the few notes, chord progressions, drum beats, etc., involved in a specific sample. It is not OK to sample someone else's recording without paying for it.

Hmm... yeah, I sort of read this that way too. Basically they are saying that if you hire your own session musicians or if you play it yourself and don't use the original composition that it is legal, but if you just rip it out of a pre-recorded song with a copyright it is illegal?

Lets just say that there are only so many notes in musical theory that you can come up with and play. Mind you that you can get pretty twisted with the sounds. Hmm... just kind of interesting. Personally I like to create my own samples anyways caus it is a lot more fun and creative if I am using samples at all, but there is nothing like just sitting down and recording tracks from start to finish and being damn proud of what you play too.

[Guit4Brains]

Basically they are saying that if you hire your own session musicians or if you play it yourself and don't use the original composition that it is legal, but if you just rip it out of a pre-recorded song with a copyright it is illegal?

I would think both would be illegal because there are two components to a copyright-one for the work itself and one for the sound recording.

[froyo]

Hello. It depends on the length of the sample itself. The Queen bassline for Ice Ice Baby apparently is OK. If someone else plays it. Otherwise, if you want to lift it off the Queen CD you have to pay for it. Same for drumbeats. If you get a drummer to pound it out you are cool. As a matter of fact, drumbeats are not covered under the copyright, so if you get somebody else to pound an entire drum track you are OK.

Lyrics and melodies are covered under the copyright. But samples are allowed of short snippets of a melody, chord progression, horn hit, etc. Two or three notes, that sort of thing.

If you get a musician to play it, you are cool. If you want to lift it from a James Brown CD or whatever, you have to pay a license.

[6969]

Interesting. Thanx Froyo. I didn't know this.

DJ

[Captain_Pants]

The Queen bassline for Ice Ice Baby

See, I always thought of it as more of a Bowie thing than a Queen thing...