Sampling legality?

[Ex-Cyber]

Does anyone know of a good primer on the legal issues surrounding sampling in music? I'm particularly interested in the legality of sampling individual notes or chords for use in an unrelated composition, as opposed to wholesale lifting of sequences a la M.C. Hammer or Vanilla Ice. Unfortunately the texts I've found so far seem to make little if any distinction between the two, but I suspect that there is a basis for a legal difference.

[VB_User]

I make hiphop music using an MPC2000XL. I dont know if your familiar with that but basically i use records and sample parts of them then arrange them and basically make a beat from it. Ive read many topics on the mpc forums about these issues and there are mixed opinions. a lot of times it depends exactly what your sampling, who your sampling from, is it a recognizable sample. Theres many factors. If your using it for commericial use and you want to be safe youd probably want to have the sample cleared.

After reading what i just put in this post and what you said i dont know if it really helps at all but basically what im saying is that sometimes things can be sampled and youll be fine and sometimes you won't, it depends on several variables. If you are going to sample and are worried about it you can try to get the sample cleared or if your selling the composition that uses the sample the persons buying it can have it cleared.

Thats my 2 cents

[|darc|]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling

[jaredfogle]

The best thing to do is ignore all copyright law and distribute your music non-commercially.

It sure launched Danger Mouse into a great career.

[Ex-Cyber]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling

1) That's a disambiguation page.
2) The Wikipedia article on music sampling is one of the texts that doesn't really make a distinction; it appears to refer to instances of both individual instrument sounds and musical sequences as "a sample", which makes the various legal bits nearly useless for what I want to figure out.

The best thing to do is ignore all copyright law and distribute your music non-commercially.

I don't see how that clears up the issue. Non-commercial copying is not automatically non-infringing, and grabbing the "wrong" samples could still result in a pile of lawsuit threats and/or injunctions being shoved down your throat.

[|darc|]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling

1) That's a disambiguation page.

Oops, I read the sampling page and closed it without copying the link, and just rewrote it out instead of going to it again.

But really, I think that's the best you're going to do. If you're interested in any musical endeavors that involve sampling, it's time to get a lawyer, imo.

[djray]

The best thing to do is ignore all copyright law and distribute your music non-commercially.

It sure launched Danger Mouse into a great career.

booyakasha!

man that guy loves to sample library music! he's just a guy that loves music and suddenly he's well sought-after! wish that could happen to me!

[Specially Cork]

I don't see how that clears up the issue. Non-commercial copying is not automatically non-infringing, and grabbing the "wrong" samples could still result in a pile of lawsuit threats and/or injunctions being shoved down your throat.

It doesnt clear up the issue, but record companies are far more leniant with copyright infringement when they see that you aren't profiting from what you are doing.

Take a look at http://www.oceremix.org Every single song on that site is a potential copyright lawsuit, yet the site has been up and running for 7 years without a single complaint.

If you want this legal issue fully resolved you're going to need to pay for legal advice, and even they will almost certainly turn round and say it is illegal. So why not just do it anyway? You won't get sued out of the blue. The worst that will happen is you are asked to stop distributing something. Hardly a big deal is it?

[Ex-Cyber]

If you want this legal issue fully resolved you're going to need to pay for legal advice, and even they will almost certainly turn round and say it is illegal.

I'm interested primarily in the opinions of judges, not lawyers. Lawyers' opinions are just advice; judges' opinions are binding interpretations of the law.

So why not just do it anyway? You won't get sued out of the blue. The worst that will happen is you are asked to stop distributing something. Hardly a big deal is it?

It's not about me getting sued. Without getting into a big rant about alternative licensing models and such, I'll just say that the issue is bigger than that.

[Specially Cork]

It is quite clear that what you are asking for is beyond the reach of a Dreamcast Emulation message board. You're breaching copyright by sampling things without permission. Thats the meat of it. If you want Judge's opnions and decisions on specific interpretations of copyright law, you're still better off going to a lawyer as they are the people who would keep track of, and be able to provide such information.

[Thomas]

If you question the legality of it, best just to make your own (Wahtever it is, beat, music, etc.) and not sample it.

[az_bont]

I'm interested primarily in the opinions of judges, not lawyers. Lawyers' opinions are just advice; judges' opinions are binding interpretations of the law.

I'm sure any reasonably competant lawyer will give you an opinion based on the current state of the law - based on both statute and judicial precedent.

[IgotAquestion4U]

You're usually safe if you sell under 2000 copies. Seeing as that's well below the radar for "success."