Re: (OT) Copyright in a Sampled World...

["Stephen P. Goodman" <spgoodman@earthlight.net>]

> On Fri, 17 Aug 2001 09:40:42 +0100, "Stephen P. Goodman"
> <spgoodman@earthlight.net> wrote:
>
> >If one is going to use one or a "great number of samples" I don't think
it
> >makes a bit of difference, if permission hasn't been gotten, or payment
is
> >avoided - especially if the artist who created the work or works needs
the
> >money.  And who doesn't?
>
> The usual rate for sample usage is currently around 7.5 cents per copy.
> With an average of fifty samples in a track, that's $3.75 per track and
> $75 on a 20-track CD. Then you add in the cost of production and
> packaging, and it gets up to about $85. Shipping and handling will kick
> it up to $90, and I still haven't made a dime. But who the hell is going
> to buy a $90 CD?!
>
> Clearance is almost impossible. Contacting several hundred artists for
> permission to use the samples without payment will get a bunch of "FUCK
> YOU, PAY ME!" responses, and the songs are either damaged beyond
> salvation or have to be released unauthorised.
>
> Now, credit, we still have a problem. At three lines per sample and two
> columns per CD insert page, we only get about 10 samples credited per
> page. The sample credits alone take up 100 pages!
>
> Unfortunately, I can think of no good solution to this. Your thoughts
> would be welcomed.

That's the way it is.  Artists are individuals, and deserve credit at 
least.
I think it's kind of like this:

I used to collect ashtrays.  Really, not steal them but buy them if at all
necessary.  What I'd do first is - let's say I'm in a restaurant - ask the
waiter or head waiter how much their ashtray is.  I've never had anyone ask
for money.  They're so delighted that someone asked them instead of just
stealing it, that they just give it to you.  Only one exception ever
happened to this rule:

I had dinner at Caesar's Palace once before driving back from Las Vegas
(Comdex).  While at dinner I noticed the obvious ashtray with logo/etc.  I
decided to do the same routine on the cashier where one paid, and older 
lady
who sported a beehive hairdo.  She looked up at me a bit puzzled, and said,

"Just take one, honey.  They all do!"

This is of course an exception to the rule.

> >I didn't confine my comment to giving credit as you can see.  In many
ways
> >one can see that the Big 5 have learned amongst other things from the
> >Napster situation, how far they can go in the stealing of others' work.
>
> Sorry! I thought that was just part of your .sig block, not a specific
> comment on the message. It's certainly an important enough issue that
> you'd want to raise consciousness on it, and a lot of people drop those
> things in their .sigs :)
>
> >Present result being the stripping of ID Tags from MP3 files uploaded to
> >mp3.com - which could be a precedent for future efforts against artists
to
> >come.
>
> I *never* liked or worked with MP3.com -- they just rubbed me the wrong
> way from day one. I'll handle my own distribution, thank you, and if I
> have to work a little harder to get an audience I don't care. We all got
> along fine without them up till now, didn't we?
>
>
>
>