Honor among Thieves
There's an interesting post today in DJ /rupture's blog (Mudd Up!) about a situation he's found himself in over rights to a sample. From the blog:
"Clearing tracks for my new mixtape, I asked one label (let's call em Label X) for permission, offering them the same conditions as everybody else. They refused. A few weeks later, digging in England I found a gorgeous LP released in 1987 on a label called... let's call it Label Y.
Turns out that the song I wanted to use from Label X contains several long samples (10 seconds or more) from this album on Label Y. In fact, these uncleared samples form the entire melody-line of the song, the crucial 'hook' that gives it its particular feel. They have not been flipped or chopped or otherwise rearranged. The song title references the LP they took the samples from. There's also a colonial element that I don't have time to delve into... Several friends of mine work with label Y. The company is independent, well-known, artistically interesting, and enjoys a reputation for fairness. Label X didn't ask Label Y for permission to use the sample. This is common in DJ culture of course -- sampling is acceptable theft and a form of homage and viral culture and fun -- but Label X was trying to assert legal control and squeeze profit using a track which they had stolen. I decided to contact Label X again.
Label X wrote me defending their theft ("We only run a press of 500 so its impossible to pay huge fees for samples."), then in the same breath, explained why they wanted to charge me a lot to use the same track -- which they can't legally control -- in my small-run CD mix!
"Clearing tracks for my new mixtape, I asked one label (let's call em Label X) for permission, offering them the same conditions as everybody else. They refused. A few weeks later, digging in England I found a gorgeous LP released in 1987 on a label called... let's call it Label Y.
Turns out that the song I wanted to use from Label X contains several long samples (10 seconds or more) from this album on Label Y. In fact, these uncleared samples form the entire melody-line of the song, the crucial 'hook' that gives it its particular feel. They have not been flipped or chopped or otherwise rearranged. The song title references the LP they took the samples from. There's also a colonial element that I don't have time to delve into... Several friends of mine work with label Y. The company is independent, well-known, artistically interesting, and enjoys a reputation for fairness. Label X didn't ask Label Y for permission to use the sample. This is common in DJ culture of course -- sampling is acceptable theft and a form of homage and viral culture and fun -- but Label X was trying to assert legal control and squeeze profit using a track which they had stolen. I decided to contact Label X again.
Label X wrote me defending their theft ("We only run a press of 500 so its impossible to pay huge fees for samples."), then in the same breath, explained why they wanted to charge me a lot to use the same track -- which they can't legally control -- in my small-run CD mix!