Re: sampling rights

[Doug Wyatt <doug@sonosphere.com>]

At 4:41 PM -0500 2/4/98, Edward_Chang@mail.amsinc.com wrote:
>   I'm currently putting together some material for a CD (self-financed, 
>of
>   course - what kinda nut would wanna...)  and some of it uses tape loop
>   samples of pre-existing material (as well as turntables) like George
>   Winston, Bing Crosby, The Story of Little Red Riding Hood...  Those of
>   you who have seen my live performances know what I'm talking about.  
>It's
>   pretty fast and fleeting, more of a "transient noise" than a theme for 
>a
>   piece  and I would think I shouldn't have to pay royalties or anything,
>   but...  Does anyone know what Christian Marclay/John Oswald/Otomo
>   Yoshihide/(hell John Cage for that matter) does.  Oswald samples 
>probably
>   around 200 songs on his Plunderphonics record and I'm wondering if he
>   might've done anything more than just putting it out.
>
>   I did talk to one CD guy and he said as long as your work doesn't eat
>   into the market of the person you are sampling, they probably won't sue
>   you.  Sounds reasonable.  Any idea loop-mates?


I'm in the same position.  I've sampled some snippets from commercial
sources and now I'm faced with signing a document asserting to the CD
manufacturer that I haven't violated anyone's copyrights.

>From what little I've read, it boils down to how recognizable your samples
are.  If, by having taken such a small sample (less than half a second or a
second), or by having transmogrified it so extensively, that the sample is
not recognizable as having been derived from the original, I wouldn't worry
about it.

On the other hand, if it is blatantly obvious to anyone who hears your
music that you lifted a sample from someplace in particular, it would seem
advisable to get the permission of the recording's copyright owner.  And if
your sample is large enough, you might have to pay a mechanical license fee
to the composition's owner.

I have several blatant samples for which I was fortunate enough to get
permission because the owners are nice individuals and not large
corporations.  And I have a few much less blatant samples which are owned
by large corporations, but are unlikely to be recognizable.  With these
I'll take my chances (and not tempt fate by crediting them!).

This might not be too directly relevant to your situation or it might be.
$0.02.

Doug


---
Doug Wyatt                     Sonosphere - music and music software
doug@sonosphere.com            http://www.sonosphere.com/