MTV: Court Rules That All Musical Samples Must Be Paid For
The ruling says artists must pay for not only large samples of another artist's work, but also snippets - smaller notes, chords and beats that are not the artist's original composition - which had previously been legal, according to The Associated Press.Three judges sitting on the panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said the same federal laws currently in place to halt music piracy will also apply to digital sampling, and explained, "If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you 'lift' or 'sample' something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the negative."
This, of course, means horrifying things for thousands of musicians everywhere.
The case at the crux of this new ruling focuses on the 1990 N.W.A song "100 Miles and Runnin'." The track samples a three-note guitar riff from a 1975 Funkadelic track, "Get Off Your Ass and Jam." The sample, in which the pitch has been lowered, is only two seconds long but is looped to extend to 16 beats and appears five times throughout the track.[...]
In 2002, a lower court said that although the Clinton riff was in fact entitled to copyright protection, the specific sample "did not rise to the level of legally cognizable appropriation," according to the AP. The appeals court opposed that decision, explaining that an artist who acknowledges that they made use of another artist's work may be liable, and sent the case back to the lower court.
"Get a license or do not sample," the court said Tuesday. "We do not see this as stifling creativity in any significant way."
The very act of forcing people to apply for a license stifles creativity primarily because it prevents an uncountable number of musicians from even bothering to make music. The very act of having to go through an approval process stifles creativity because a self-evidently important part of the music cannot be included unless a third party agrees to it.
How stupid do these judges think we are?
Unless this decision is overturned, I forsee a very significant shakeup in the music industry, particularly in electronic and hip-hop acts.
UPDATE 9/17/2004 4:51pm
Commenter "Bry" below offers a useful link: the geographic jurisdiction of the 6th Circuit Court: Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
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Good luck trying to write any music in any area under 6th court-jurisdiction from here on out.
The burden of proof on the musician to show that every chord/beat/note in her work is not represented as prior art in any other copyrighted work is so onerous as to be financially ruinous.
Posted by: Bry on September 17, 2004 03:15 PMIt seems to me that hip hop has always been created from the bottom up.the creative ability to take three or four things and fuse them together is art! from the beginning the suger hill gang flowed straight over [chics] good times,and the street kids were given a artform all there own.It seems to me that this is another way too bring hip hop to its knees.But not all hip hop and rap artist sample on EVERY SONG!!!!!See what a lot of people dont understand about hip hop/rap is that its all good to take a song that no longer in rotation,change it,add, subtract,mix,and bring ones own personal view points to the forfront.rap/hip hop is the voice some people would love 2 silence!hip hop will/rap all the way!!
Posted by: 2morrow on September 11, 2005 08:51 PMIt seems to me that hip hop has always been created from the bottom up.the creative ability to take three or four things and fuse them together is art! from the beginning the suger hill gang flowed straight over [chics] good times,and the street kids were given a artform all there own.It seems to me that this is another way too bring hip hop to its knees.But not all hip hop and rap artist sample on EVERY SONG!!!!!See what a lot of people dont understand about hip hop/rap is that its all good to take a song that no longer in rotation,change it,add, subtract,mix,and bring ones own personal view points to the forfront.rap/hip hop is the voice some people would love 2 silence!hip hop will/rap all the way!!
Posted by: 2morrow on September 11, 2005 08:53 PM