Sampling and the law

[Giovanni]

I don't know if a specific international law exists about sampling.

I remember that in the 80s many hip hoppers and their labels were sued for stealing entire grooves (White lines by Grand Master Flash / Sugarhill vs Cavern by Liquid Liquid / 99 was perhaps the most famous case).

Today, almost everything include samples, often from more tracks.

Someone told me that you can sample up to 4 seconds of a song without legal problems.



Anyone knowinng the real story?

[BrunoRepublic]

On 2001-11-06 18:26, Giovanni wrote:

I don't know if a specific international law exists about sampling.

Sampling another record without permission is considered unauthorized duplication of copyrighted work, and falls under international copyright laws.

Someone told me that you can sample up to 4 seconds of a song without legal problems.

This is completely untrue.

Anyone knowinng the real story?

I don't know who started this 4-second nonsense, but any recognizable sample *of any length* in a song is grounds for a lawsuit if it hasn't been cleared.



Now that sampling is a part of mainstream music, a lot more publishers are willing to allow their works to be sampled -- provided that they are compensated, of course. Money talks! As I said before, unauthorized use of a sample is considered unauthorized duplication of copyrighted works, and is a great way for lawyers in the publishing business to make more money... So unless you're just putting out 500 copies on a white label that's never going to be heard outside of a couple of underground clubs, you make damn sure you get everything cleared. I'm pretty sure most record companies make artists sign contracts to the effect that everything they do is 100% original -- and the artist is on the hook if they get sued. I remember years ago reading about how De La Soul had to write down all the details of every single track that they sampled, and then had to wait for all the legal issues to be sorted out. If they couldn't get permission, they couldn't use it.



I would imagine the process is more streamlined now. I've heard of contracts where newly-signed artists can freely sample anything owned by their label, which can be a huge catalog in some cases. But even now there are still issues that crop up from time to time... like...



- Verve thought they had permission to sample a cover of a Rolling Stones song for their big hit "Bittersweet Symphony" -- however, they didn't get permission from the arranger who's version they lifted -- so they got nailed.



- Björk thought she had permission to sample a bleep from a Scanner record for her "Possibly Maybe" song. Scanner's label and publisher happily agreed -- without ever consulting Scanner, who objected. Although Björk was legally in the right, she had the song remixed without the sample when it was released as a single.