I was wondering if anyone knows about the legalites of sampling these days. What is permissible and what is not?

Let's just say for example, I'm producing a track and I intend to have it test pressed and hopefully geared for mass distribution some day. In midst of production, I want to sample something off a record or CD of copyrighted music. I'll assume that I should be able to get away with sampling a bass note, snare hit or bass drum....a few miliseconds. What about 4 beats or an entire bar? At what point does it become an infringement of copyright laws?

V.

basically if the artist hears it and recognizes it (or someone from the label) you could get screwed, but they usually don't even pay attention to anything that gets less than 5000 copies pressed. most of the drum breaks you hear in older hip hop and old school hardcore, as well as in jungle, are just sampled from old funk/soul songs, the most notable being

the winstons - amen brother

i believe it's an old gospel song that they covered, with an awesome breakdown in the middle. speed it up to around 160-180 and you have the stereotypical jungle sound. slower and you have NWA. there's a whole catalogue of drum breaks that people use without fear... i guess the original artists aren't around anymore, or are just under a rock. that or there might be a copyright loophole.

From what i know on the subject, if the said sample plays a major part in a production then it is infringment, and a certain percentage, if not all of the profits from a tune is due to the original artist....Most clearance deals are usually offered in a one time "buy-out" of the sample, or a deal is worked to gain certain percentage of profits from the tune.....This is if you ask for permission first, if you didn't then this plays a major role in fucking you for ripping someone else's song....But as Milo stated above, if your'e not selling a shitload of records then u probably dont have much to worry about, but if your record Hits any airplay or charts well ......This is why electronic music gets by with sampling, Dance music doesn't have widespread commercial money making success (in a sense) so its worthless to nit pick over little samples, and alot of people chop, tweak, effect or whatever to their samples making them hardly recognizable if recognizable at all

But what ive heard some people do to avoid this is simply put 'For Promotional Use Only' or 'Not For Individual Sale' on their records, yet they still sell them ha!.....

stealing peoples samples is wack.
any producer makes his own samples

I disagree, everybody samples in one form or another, I guaruntee u alot of music u might think is 100% original has samples up in it, if your'e sayin sampling is wack, then ur saying hip-hop, as well as dance music is wack cuz thats a major part of our music like it or not.....If I take a drum sound off a keyboard, or a piano note for that matter - its still a sample, to get technical-....its become an art form like it or not, but i will agree the respects in which some people do it can be wack-

You can be sued for just using one ingle note from a track if the artist recognises it, if in doubt don't sample it ;)


The Law Regarding Sampling
By Michael McCready
Attorney at Law

Sampling is the use of portions of prior recordings which
are incorporated into a new
composition. Sampling has become an integral part of many genres of music today. When you sample someone's song without
permission, it is an instant copyright violation. It is the
unauthorized use of copyrighted material owned by another.
Sampling without permission violates two copyrights-the sound recording copyright (usually owned by the record company) and the
copyright in the song itself (usually owned by the songwriter or
the publishing company).

If you want to use a sample legally, you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner. The copyright owner is usually a publishing company or
record label. Remember that you must obtain permission from
both the owner of the sound recording and the copyright owner of
the underlying musical work. The fee for a license to use a
sample can vary tremendously. The fee will depend on how much of
the sample you intend to use (a quarter second is a minor use;
five seconds, a major use), the music you intend to sample (a
Madonna chorus will cost more than an obscure drum beat), and the
intended use of the sample in your song (it is more costly to
build your entire song around the sample than to give it only minor attention).

There are two different ways to pay for a license. First,
you can pay a flat fee for the
usage. A buy-out fee can range from $250 to $10,000 on a major
label. Most fees fall
between $1,000 and $2,000. The other way to pay for the license
is a percentage of the mechanical royalty rate. The mechanical royalty rate is the
amount a person pays to the
copyright owner to make a mechanical reproduction (copy) of the song. A license which is a percentage of the mechanical royalty
rate is generally between ½ ¢ and 3¢ per record pressed.
Everything is negotiable and it is not unusual to get a license
for free, if you ask.

If all of this sounds confusing, there's hope. There are businesses devoted entirely to
securing and negotiating clearances for samples. These firms charge less than an
entertainment attorney would charge and are generally more
knowledgeable about the going rates for uses.

If you use samples without obtaining the proper clearance
licenses, you have to be
aware of the penalties. A copyright infringer is liable for
"statutory damages" that generally run from $500 to $20,000 for a
single act of copyright infringement. If the court determines
there has been wilful infringement, damages can run as high as
$100,000. The copyright owner can also get a court to issue an
injunction forcing you to cease violating the copyright owner's rights. The court can also force you to recall all your albums
and destroy them.

There is also a rumor going around that you can use four
notes of any song under the
"fair use" doctrine. There is no "four note" rule in the
copyright law. One note from a
sound recording is a copyright violation. Saturday Night Live
was sued for using the jingle, "I Love New York" which is only
four notes. The test for infringement is whether the sample is
"substantially similar" to the original. Remember, a judge or
jury is the one who determines this and these people may be much
less receptive to your music than your fans. My point is you
cannot rely on fair use as a defense.

Sampling can also have tremendous consequences if you have a
record contract. Most record contracts have provisions called
"Warranties", "Indemnifications" and
"Representations". These provisions constitute a promise that
you created all the music on your album and an agreement to reimburse the label if it is sued. These same provisions are
included in all contracts throughout the entertainment
distribution chain. The record company has them with the artist,
the distributors with the record company, the record stores with
the distributors, and so on. Well, all these warranties point
back at the artist who is responsible to everyone else!
Therefore, if you violate someone else's copyright, you will be
paying all the bills of your record company, distributor and any
stores which incur expenses as a result of your infringement.
This can run into serious money as you can imagine. You will
also be in breach of your record contract. Read your record
contract carefully before using any samples.