Rules on sampling other artists songs?

because it’s an aesthetic man. Depending on your point of view, it’s a politicised aesthetic (I don’t have an opinion about that anymore). I can see both sides but I’ve been using stolen stuff starting with tape loops, to samplers & up to now.

they might still bag you if you string a few notes together by chance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(song)#Copyright_lawsuit

Tune :wink:

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I also see both sides, but have decided for myself that asking for permission, if I want to make money out of it, is the only ethic way … IMO it’s not politicised it’s an ethical position. I also don’t go to the orchard of my neighbour and get some fruit without asking.

In the real world I can accept that a starving person would take away from me some food to survive, without asking or paying, and running away … but this is not applicable to the music industry.

I take a pragmatic approach. If the sample is mangled beyond recognition - well, you’ve made something new, so it’s ethically fine in my view, and you’re unlikely to be sued anyway. sock it to The Man.

if you’ve sampled the whole hook from a pop song - don’t be so lazy! and pay for your rip.

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Ah. But if the sample is mangled to something unrecognizeable from the original, then. Why use that sample in the first place, and why not just create something from scratch yourself?

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:+1: … exactly this :wink:

Can the fine be over 100% of the sampling benefit ?


a goldmine for right holders !! :slight_smile:

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I do this pretty often. It’s usually to get the vibe or certain tones from the track I’m sampling. I often pick samples that my favorite artists have used (FlyLo, Madlib, Knxwledge, etc) but to make it my own I either micro sample tiny parts or just straight up mangle the sample till it’s my own. I still get the tone/aesthetic I want, but it’s completely different than how others have done it before.

One thing I’ve noticed lately, which I am TOTALLY against even though I’m Pro-Sampling, is people selling sample packs with loops from sampled vinyl. You can tell they aren’t getting clearance for any/all of these, yet they consistently sell these packs. That is a total dick move in my mind.

It’s not only about the fine (which may or may not be over 100% depending on local laws), but there are other costs like lawyers (not only yours), court etc.pp., which may even be much higher than the fine itself.

The real winners financially are usually the lawyers.

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Go out and buy some sugar maybe?

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Timbre. There are certain timbres that I can’t produce with my own instruments. For example, the ambience of well-recorded chamber music. I might steal a few seconds of it and chop it up and twist it. The musical content is completely different. Fine in my book.

If anyone sampled me, I would be stoked. Wouldn’t expect any royalties unless they’d ripped off big chunks unchanged.

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Generating the atmosphere of chamber music should not be very difficult for most of us.

There are a couple of good sampled classical instruments out there, which are typical for this genre. It doesn’t even take one of those expensive orchestral pro samplers. The sheet music should be available for little money, or sometimes we can find royalty free midi-files. Having this, we can put this together in a DAW, do some mixing/mastering (mixing classical music is not as difficult or a sound engineering wizardry as some might think) and we end up with highly convincing stuff. We even have the freedom to change the content :wink:

This is how I feel. I hate the money/greed driven mindset. Sure if someone is blatantly stealing your stuff then pursue it but if its more a tribute/remix with a ton of there own input then id be cool with it.

Indeed !

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I agree in general.

But what is wrong to expect that somebody is asking for permission before acting? Granting permission is not always equal to asking for money. I know of some projects planning commercial tracks, where the permission was given for free.

IMO asking is paying due respect to the other creative person - not asking is at least acting rude.

BTW getting in contact to each other can generate nice conversation or even cooperation.

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Yeh defo that seems legit. Be good if artists were happy you were sampling their tracks. Usually its because you respect the original artists work as opposed to trying to steal.

Now, how do I contact Miley cyrus :wink:

For legal use of commercial tracks it takes two permissions. One of the copyright owner of the song and one of the copywrite owner of the recording.

This could be the management of M.C. and the producer of the track … TBH … it’s quite some research work and patience needed to succeed :wink:

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