How much and what music can I "appropriate" for my own compositions?
October 15, 2013 11:23 AM Subscribe
When Puffy Whatever uses e.g. Kashmir as a background for his own rap, or Kanye uses Ray Charles' music in Gold Digger, do they pay them?
What are the guidelines about this, if I want to make some raps with pre-existing background music and put them on YouTube?
Why isn't it like buying the rights to use a song in your movie? (Or is it?) Do you at least have to ask permission?
Further reading:
Relevant court cases:
Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films
The Atlantic: How Copyright Law Hurts Music, from Chuck D to Girl Talk
Billboard: For Promotional Use Only?
Sound On Sound's Guide to Sample Clearance
SPIN: Is Sampling Dying?
posted by mykescipark at 11:41 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Relevant court cases:
Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films
The Atlantic: How Copyright Law Hurts Music, from Chuck D to Girl Talk
Billboard: For Promotional Use Only?
Sound On Sound's Guide to Sample Clearance
SPIN: Is Sampling Dying?
posted by mykescipark at 11:41 AM on October 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
How legit do you want to be? Many rappers release individual tracks or series of tracks on "mixtapes" that feature uncleared samples. Some of these tracks are posted directly to YouTube by the artists, or ripped from mixtapes by fans and posted that way. It's the stuff you buy from iTunes or Amazon from real labels that gets all the clearances.
To make things tricky, some notable riffs and drums have been re-created in studios to side-step (some of) the legal complexities around sampling. Puff Daddy's "Come with Me" features a re-created riff of "Kashmir", not a sampling of the original recording (at least according to the current Wikipedia page for "Come with Me").
posted by filthy light thief at 11:47 AM on October 15, 2013
To make things tricky, some notable riffs and drums have been re-created in studios to side-step (some of) the legal complexities around sampling. Puff Daddy's "Come with Me" features a re-created riff of "Kashmir", not a sampling of the original recording (at least according to the current Wikipedia page for "Come with Me").
posted by filthy light thief at 11:47 AM on October 15, 2013
Response by poster: Funny, filthy light thief -- When I went to Come With Me, my first thought was that it didn't sound like the original.
Thanks, all, for pointing me in the right directions.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:57 AM on October 15, 2013
Thanks, all, for pointing me in the right directions.
posted by DMelanogaster at 11:57 AM on October 15, 2013
How legit do you want to be? Many rappers release individual tracks or series of tracks on "mixtapes" that feature uncleared samples. Some of these tracks are posted directly to YouTube by the artists, or ripped from mixtapes by fans and posted that way. It's the stuff you buy from iTunes or Amazon from real labels that gets all the clearances.
Legal thinking has since caught up to mixtapes. Check the article linked above.
Legal thinking has since caught up to mixtapes. Check the article linked above.
"A mixtape is a commercial for an artist," says Manatt, Phelps & Phillips music attorney Daniel Stuart, who has negotiated dozens of infringement cases pertaining to commercial records and free mixtapes. "There are two commercial benefits: the direct benefits, which are the dollars collected, and the indirect benefits. If you benefit from increased brand awareness, there could be a plausible argument that there could be indirect commercial damages from that kind of use."posted by mykescipark at 12:31 PM on October 15, 2013
Yeah you definitely have to get clearance. In fact if you can't get clearance or it's out of your price range, there are companies like Replay Heaven that specialize in re-creating samples.
posted by radioamy at 1:34 PM on October 15, 2013
posted by radioamy at 1:34 PM on October 15, 2013
Legal thinking has since caught up to mixtapes.
... from the lawyers who represent the original (sampled) artists, and those artists themselves. I agree it's not the free-for-all it used to be, and that (local) mega rappers (everyone mentioned in that link was either famous or internet famous) can't slide by on "promo only" any more, but the internet is still a pretty wild place. If you're a new artist, you can still get by without clearances. This doesn't mean you're legally allowed to do so, it means you aren't yet popular enough to bother someone to get their lawyers involved.
(And Mac Miller cleared the air with Lord Finesse, apparently without further legal wrangling, and was approved to use the track)
Yes, it is best to use a beat that you have permission to use, and you could even come go some agreement with the original artist(s) if they're in the realm of mortals, but if you're just rapping on YouTube, have fun. If it gets pulled for copyright infringement, it gets pulled and you lost out. If you really liked that beat, have someone re-create it, like radioamy pointed out.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:37 PM on October 15, 2013
... from the lawyers who represent the original (sampled) artists, and those artists themselves. I agree it's not the free-for-all it used to be, and that (local) mega rappers (everyone mentioned in that link was either famous or internet famous) can't slide by on "promo only" any more, but the internet is still a pretty wild place. If you're a new artist, you can still get by without clearances. This doesn't mean you're legally allowed to do so, it means you aren't yet popular enough to bother someone to get their lawyers involved.
(And Mac Miller cleared the air with Lord Finesse, apparently without further legal wrangling, and was approved to use the track)
Yes, it is best to use a beat that you have permission to use, and you could even come go some agreement with the original artist(s) if they're in the realm of mortals, but if you're just rapping on YouTube, have fun. If it gets pulled for copyright infringement, it gets pulled and you lost out. If you really liked that beat, have someone re-create it, like radioamy pointed out.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:37 PM on October 15, 2013
Response by poster: Follow-up question: do I need to get rights to play a cover version of a song in a video I make? Like a person who sings and plays a Beatlles song within a fictional movie?
posted by DMelanogaster at 9:39 AM on October 19, 2013
posted by DMelanogaster at 9:39 AM on October 19, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by contraption at 11:27 AM on October 15, 2013