The 1976 Copyright Act states that the owner of copyright has exclusive rights to reproduction, prepare derivative works, perform work publicly and distribution. Musical works is a form of art and expression that is covered under the copyright act.
While interning at Warner Music Group last year in their Television and Film Licensing department, there were many times when a client would ask for a certain song for a television show or a film, and we could not distribute it because of sampling and/or copyright issues. This was a prevalent issue in a certain genre of music, rap/hip hop. Sampling is one of the manifestations of the remix culture. Many hip-hop activists have argued that sampling has always been a part of hip hop. Taking someone else’s art, and creatively transforming and rearranging the sounds into something else. In the late 1980’s sampling was common; often, MCs sampled a snare or a kick drum, which helped them to create new music. When hip hop began to emerge, it was simple, two turntables and a microphone was all that was needed. But new technology creates new ethical and legal questions. Over time, improved sampling technology allowed artists to develop the rap/hip hop genre, giving them the ability to rearrange various beats and melodies.
While interning at Warner Music Group last year in their Television and Film Licensing department, there were many times when a client would ask for a certain song for a television show or a film, and we could not distribute it because of sampling and/or copyright issues. This was a prevalent issue in a certain genre of music, rap/hip hop. Sampling is one of the manifestations of the remix culture. Many hip-hop activists have argued that sampling has always been a part of hip hop. Taking someone else’s art, and creatively transforming and rearranging the sounds into something else. In the late 1980’s sampling was common; often, MCs sampled a snare or a kick drum, which helped them to create new music. When hip hop began to emerge, it was simple, two turntables and a microphone was all that was needed. But new technology creates new ethical and legal questions. Over time, improved sampling technology allowed artists to develop the rap/hip hop genre, giving them the ability to rearrange various beats and melodies.
Tarik Bradford, an employee at Universal Music Group, and my former supervisor at Warner Music Group, commented on sampling and the hip hop culture. "Samples are probably the biggest problem that comes up when anyone is trying to license Hip Hop. Most early Hip Hop from about 1980-1990 is filled with uncleared samples. Most people didn't start legally clearing samples until the early 90's so usually whenever we would license Hip Hop from the 80's we would have to do it on a quitclaim basis which basically means we don't know if their are illegal samples in the song but if so the company that we are licensing the music to is responsible for any lawsuits that may occur. Since most film companies and ad agencies don't want to take that chance a lot of Hip Hop from that era goes unlicensed. Even now when songs have legal samples it's still a pain for music supervisors because it's time consuming to track down all of the songwriters that might be in one song with 2 or 3 samples. Even today it's still by far the most difficult music to clear for licensing."
In the early 1990s Biz Markie, a rap artist under the Warner Bros. label, sampled music without permission and was successfully sued. In 1992 Biz Markie released his album, "I Need A Haircut." While the album received great reviews, his song "Alone Again," went under scrutiny for sampling a substantial portion of music from Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 1972 hit "Alone Again (Naturally)." This case is known as Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc. According to Benedict.com, Biz Markie initially tried to get a sample license from the copyright holder of "Alone Again (Naturally)," who was Gilbert O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan declined, but Biz Markie sampled his musical work anyway. As previously mentioned, sampling was common in the 1980s and early 1990s, and asking for permission to use someone else’s copyrighted work was rare. As a result, O’Sullivan sued Biz Markie for copyright infringement and their judge, Kevin Duffy, order an injunction against Biz Markie. This changed hip hop and the overall music industry because it was the one of the first cases to address the legality of the common practice of sampling. This case also required that any future music sampling was to be approved by the original copyright owners to avoid a lawsuit.
Click here to listen to "Alone Again" and "Alone Again (Naturally)"
Biz Markie and Gilbert O' Sullivan Sound Clips
In the early 1990s Biz Markie, a rap artist under the Warner Bros. label, sampled music without permission and was successfully sued. In 1992 Biz Markie released his album, "I Need A Haircut." While the album received great reviews, his song "Alone Again," went under scrutiny for sampling a substantial portion of music from Gilbert O’Sullivan’s 1972 hit "Alone Again (Naturally)." This case is known as Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc. According to Benedict.com, Biz Markie initially tried to get a sample license from the copyright holder of "Alone Again (Naturally)," who was Gilbert O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan declined, but Biz Markie sampled his musical work anyway. As previously mentioned, sampling was common in the 1980s and early 1990s, and asking for permission to use someone else’s copyrighted work was rare. As a result, O’Sullivan sued Biz Markie for copyright infringement and their judge, Kevin Duffy, order an injunction against Biz Markie. This changed hip hop and the overall music industry because it was the one of the first cases to address the legality of the common practice of sampling. This case also required that any future music sampling was to be approved by the original copyright owners to avoid a lawsuit.
Click here to listen to "Alone Again" and "Alone Again (Naturally)"
Biz Markie and Gilbert O' Sullivan Sound Clips
Since Gilbert O’Sullivan was the copyright holder of "Alone Again (Naturally)," he had the distribution and reproduction rights to the song, as well as the right to prepare derivative works. Therefore, the sampling of his song by Biz Markie, without Gilbert O’ Sullivan’s permission, is illegal.
One of the few defenses against the penalization for sampling and copyright infringement is Fair Use, which is based on the idea that certain unlicensed uses of copyrighted work are justifiable. These used include: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, and research. In addition there is currently a non-profit organization, Creative Commons which provides alternative copyright licensing such as some rights reserved (allows you to keep your copyright while allowing certain uses of your work), and no rights reserved (allows you to share your work). Creative Commons also offers six different licenses to choose from when publishing your work that differentiates by the guidelines to which you are allowing others to copy, distribute, share, display, or perform your work.
Today, the remix culture is more popular than ever, especially in rap/hip hop music. There is still a grey area in terms of defining the amount of seconds, words, or musical notes you can sample from another song without it being classified as stealing or copyright infringement. Some artists believe that sampling any amount of the song is copyright infringement, and others believe that it can be considered a violation of an artists’ copyright depending on the portion of the sample taken from the song.
Click here to check out some more popular sampled songs!
8 Most Over-Used Samples In Hip Hop History
Click here to check out some more popular sampled songs!
8 Most Over-Used Samples In Hip Hop History
