One question that I see endlessly debated on various forums online is what exactly the law is in regards to sampling from movies, television, or other bands' music. The truth is, there are really two answers to this... the legal answer (boo! hiss!) and the practical answer.Legally, the dialogue, sound effects, and soundtrack of a television show or movie or the music on a CD is copyrighted whether it's released by a major studio or by your neighbor's kid. Technically speaking, any creative work is copyrighted by its creator the moment it comes into being. How long this copyright lasts depends on the laws in your country, but at some point, a works copyright expires and the work enters what is called "public domain". Public domain simply means that the copyright is no longer controlled by anyone and the work may be freely used by anyone for any purpose they choose. Note that most copyrights last for long enough that there are relatively few recordings around, especially in TV and film that are considered in the public domain.
Copyright can be complex, too. You could make a recording of any of Beethoven's works and not have to seek permission because all of Beethoven and his contemporaries works have long been in the public domain. However, if you took a sample from someone else's recording of the Beethoven piece, you'd need permission because the RECORDING of that performance is copyrighted even if the piece itself is in the public domain.
So from the sound of this, it kind of seems like you're screwed if you want to use something you sampled from someone else's work. But let's look at this issue practically. While using a sample like this without permission from the copyright holder is technically against the law, the odds of this becoming an issue for you are pretty miniscule. Generally speaking, a copyright holder is only going to sue you if they can hope to recover more than the legal costs they'd incur by suing you. So if you're just a hobbiest, or even a professional who sells less than 150,000 or so records, you can probably sample as you please. If you're in a position where you are a well-known artist or you think the song is going to be a blow-up hit (and let's be honest, it probably won't be, statistically speaking), then it's time to consider clearing the sample with the copyright holder or simply replacing the sample.
Listen, I'm not one to advocate anyone doing something illegal, but this is one of those cases where, unless you end up making a lot of money from a track using a sample of someone else's work, you can stop stressing and sample without fear of being taken to court. But be responsible about it. Don't sample giant sections of another band's songs and call it your own work (cough*daftpunk*cough). Be creative. Make the sample the seed for something new and different. Recontextualize and reconceptualize. But most importantly, stop worrying.
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This was something I have given much thought to myself, and ultimately decided simply not to sample any movie no matter how much I'd like to. Laws are changing every decade in such unpredictable and illogical ways, it seems... and auto-detection technology for identifying small clips of music is becoming increasing sophisticated... that I figure it's just a matter of time in the next decade become some company scans the majority of music on the internet and auto-identifies every sample in it algorithmically. It's not worth the hassle to me, I'll just leave movie samples out of my tracks. Movie samples seem to be getting less favored in the genre anyway these days. And I have no interest in sampling other bands. Thanks for posting about this issue though, it's definitely something I'm sure a lot of artists are concerned about.
I miss the days when every industrial track sampled half a dozen cheesey sci-fi films (Leeb, I'm looking at you)
What about when it comes to recreating things? I was recently wondering about quotations from other works musical or spoken.
For instance, I have often heard that the Sugarhill Gang rerecorded whatever the sample was for Rapper's Delight so that they didn't have to clear it. Does anyone know if that's true or if that held up?
Also, what about when an artist quotes the lyrics of another artist. I mean like 7 words, one line. It happens in rap a lot. In a South Park episode I watched recently, Cartman is watching Aliens and the little girl says, "They mostly come out at night, mostly." South Park definitely rerecorded that but for that one phrase would they have had to clear it? What if I wanted to record myself saying, "Get Up! Get on your feet!!"
-Tom N
how about sampling from porn?
C'mon Joey, you know porn is copywritten. It's the same as everything else.
How about the next time you bed a suicide girl, you have a mic going? Make Logic armed to record, put the display to sleep, but the computer completely active, and, when you get back to your place, press 'r.' Rroblem solved. ;-)
-Tom N
I will summarize here:
- Sampling anyone else's audio without their explicit, written permission is illegal. It doesn't matter how long or short the sample is, how recognizable or unrecognizable it is, or whether or not you're selling it. (Though obviously, short, radically transformed samples in music that no one's ever going to hear is unlikely to be prosecuted).
- If you sample a piece of MUSIC, not only do you have to worry about getting the rights of the SOUND RECORDING owner, depending on the length of the excerpt, you may also need to get clearance from the owner of the COMPOSITION rights (typically the music publisher). In this case, the standard is 7 or 8 notes.
- The rule of thumb is "any work created after 1921 is still covered by copyright." Works created before 1921 MIGHT be in the public domain. But probably isn't.
I STRONGLY DISAGREE with Tom's assertion that companies "probably won't go after you". It depends on the company and how aggressive they are about their IP. I guarantee if you drop some Disney samples on top of some porntronica, you're going to get a nastygram. They are obligated to protect their IP.
- "Fair Use" is frequently misunderstood and misapplied, especially by people who aren't copyright holders.
The Wikipedia article is reasonably thorough, but make sure to read the "Common misunderstandings" section closely.
- Regarding "quotes". As noted above, if you use someone else's exact composition, there's a standard limit (7-8 notes) of what's "OK" and what constitutes going beyond.
Artists have recently started to try to recreate samples rather than pay for use of the original master recording. While this lets them avoid the sound recording charges, they will still have to pay for the composition.
For quoting words, there's absolutely nothing stopping you from creating something that sounds exactly like a movie quote, but realize that you're still using someone else's intellectual property (the script). There are clear lines about what's OK and what isn't. "Get Up! Get on your feet!" - sure, fine. Reciting the entire "You are not a special snowflake" speech from Fight Club? Probably not so much.
- Porn is copyrighted material, too.
To summarize, A "sample" includes copyrights for audio recordings and music compositions. Compositions have a finite amount (7-8 notes) that is OK without permission or payment, but audio recordings have NO amount that is OK without permission or payment.
Quoting a composition (playing notes yourself) is OK if you keep under the limit noted above.
Anu - While it does depend on the company involved, it also depends on the company knowing you exist. If you're a hobbiest, a company discovering something like this is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Even if you're the average techno, house, electro, drum n' bass, or industrial musician, they'll never have heard of you unless one of your songs get featured on a movie sound track or otherwise garners a huge amount of attention somehow. Hell, I know some bands who had people report infringing samples they used and nothing came of it. Yes, it could happen. But the odds of it happening are about the same as winning the lottery. Even if a company did take exception to your use, you're likely to get a cease and desist order and so long as you comply, that's it.
Obviously, people should be aware there is risk involved, but you have to take into account the size of that risk. In this case, I don't think it's significant enough to worry about.
Also - if people are still worried about it, you might try avoiding sample sources that are well known anyway. If you sample some obscure independent film or an ethnic music recording from Turkey produced in 1994 and your song gets played, you are even less likely piss anyone off and might be doing the original artists a favor, anyway...
Unless you plan on promoting and/or telling people what you sampled, you're not doing anyone "a favor" by sampling their work and using their IP without permission.
Agreed with Anu on that point... no one is going to look at is as a favor and let you off the hook. Look at the obscure Amiga Tracker guy that Timbaland ripped off... he didn't seem too pleased. heh
I certainly don't mean to advocate sampling even obscure things without quoting sources...my point was merely to illustrate that IF one feels a need to sample other people's work, perhaps not sampling things that are likely to have any money to "lose" from it in the first place are the smartest route.
Joshua - I think actually the opposite might be true. With the exception of Disney, as Anu mention, most giant corporations are going to look at any potential revenue they could produce from it and figure its not worth the time or expense given the amounts of money they normally deal with. A struggling artist, however, might feel a LOT more protective of their IP, especially if they haven't generated a lot/any income from it. Truth be told, there's really no way of knowing who is going to pull out all the legal stops, so proceed with caution wherever you snag samples from...
Good point, Tom. I did think of that after posting and realized if I was in their shoes, and a sample bandit nicked off of me (not likely, but possible) and generated funds with it (which I haven't), I might be willing to take drastic action of SOME kind...legal or not ;)
This might be useful to some... Here is a list of films, which presumably anyone including musicians could sample from without concern: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_the_public_domain
So should I sample and put songs out on an album I think are really good? Even if companies came at me, wouldn't you get some recognition anyway? Thats all anybody is going for, for someone to hear your music, even if they are coming at you in a negative way, it was still good enough or reached some point to have to be dealt with...
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