Especially in genres like hip-hop, where listening to an album is practically impossible without encountering it, sampling in music has become a necessary component nowadays. For example, works like Eminem’s “Stan” show how creatively sampling may produce new music by reusing bits from past tracks.
Still, legally the sampling creative process is complicated. If a producer or artist wants to avoid legal hotlines, they must be aware of these nuances.
With great knowledge of helping both local and foreign clients, we at Am Badar & Am Badar provide competent assistance on all aspects of music copyright and sampling.
Read our linked article, Music Copyright Laws: Performing Rights and How to Register, to increase your knowledge. More than that, you can also check the insight and services page, or contact the team.
What is Sampling in Music?
Simply put, music sampling allows one to create a fresh work of music from a portion of an existing recording. This method has lately become very popular, particularly in genres like techno and hip-hop.
Usually transforming the original work into something entirely distinct, sampling allows musicians to borrow a little bit from another song and use it in their own work. For example, one can modify the pitch, speed, or other sample characteristics, or work with a drumbeat, a vocal phrase, a tune from an old song, looping, splicing, and more, creatively.
One well-known instance of sampling in music is seen in Disclosure’s song “When a Fire Starts to Burn”, which lends their music a unique quality by using a portion from an inspirational speech.
Sampling can also call for either big, obvious sections of a song, such as a chorus, or little undetectable bits, such as a single drum hit. While some musicians would want to honor the original sample perfectly, others would greatly change it till it became something quite distinct. Sampling is so flexible and interesting because of this creativity.
Interestingly, sampling may exist outside of music. New songs may have borrowed sounds from TV shows, movies, and even daily sounds caught in the surroundings. This increases the spectrum of options available to musicians so they might creatively explore and test unusual sound combinations.
Types of Music Sampling Techniques
Understanding and applying sampling in music helps artists develop already-existing sounds to produce fresh, unique music appealing to listeners. There are several techniques artists use when sampling:
- Looping: A technique of repeated sampling that produces a continuous sound.
- Splicing: Cutting and arranging bits to generate a fresh rhythm or tune.
- Pitch Shifting: Changing pitch to suit a new song’s key.
- Time Stretching: Changing speed without altering its pitch.
- Chopping: Rearranging a sampling into smaller pieces.
Every method can create different sounds, but they also present some difficulties, especially in relation to copyright. Two also rather well-applied sampling in music techniques are:
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Sampling with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
Using a DAW like Ableton, musicians can sample ’in the box’, or within their computer’s digital environment. One of the strong tools to use is Ableton’s “Warp”, which changes the tempo of a sample without changing its pitch.
This capacity determines whether one may synchronize samples with several tracks or alter the tempo of a composition.
DAWs also include “Simpler” and “Sampler” plugins. “Simpler” enables users to work with one sample at a time and is beginner-friendly; and “Sampler” convincingly replicates acoustic instruments and handles more challenging sampling tasks.
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Hardware Sampling
For a more tactile and hands-on approach, hardware samplers offer a unique experience. Companies including Akai, Roland, and Teenage Engineering sell hardware samplers in a range of budgets.
These devices offer direct sample manipulation using physical knobs and buttons, therefore simplifying the workflow compared to software-based sampling.
Because of its immediacy and ability to create on-demand modifications to samples, which so enhances creative exploration and live presentations, many manufacturers favor hardware samplers.
Understanding Copyright and Sampling in Music
In music, copyright and sampling are intimately linked and affect the development and distribution of artists’ works. Original works can use bits of already-existing songs or recordings to make up samplings.
Though it is not as straightforward as it sounds at first, copyright law protects every music and recording. So, you must ask permission from the original copyright owners to use their works as sampling in music.
Legal sampling songs, for instance, require authorization from the songwriter as well as the owner of the original song—usually a record company in the music business. This procedure guarantees appropriate recompense for all those engaged in producing the original music.
On the other hand, unlawful sampling can result in copyright infringement, which would have legal repercussions including either heavy penalties or ordered stop-distribution of your song.
The Legal Route to Sampling in Music
Using a sample legally requires an artist to get permission from the sound recording’s copyright holders as well as the composers’ copyright holders. Usually, this entails working licenses under the record label and music publisher.
Avoiding legal problems depends on the approach, which could be demanding and difficult. The usual legal routes are as follows:
- Identifying the rights holders. But this could be difficult if one is using older recordings where ownership might have passed many hands.
- Negotiating licenses, including calculating the sample cost, which will vary significantly based on original work popularity and sample size.
- Drafting agreements to make sure that all legal agreements cover all possible future problems.
Alternatives to Sample Use Clearance
For artists that find the clearance process to be overly time-consuming or costly, here are some other ways to speed the legal process, including:
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Using Royalty-Free Samples
These are approved samples sold for usage without additional clearance. Extensive royalty-free sample collections abound on several websites.
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Using Paid Sampling Services
For a fee, platforms, websites, or tools like Tracklib offer pre-cleared samples lawfully used in new recordings.
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Creating Original Samples
Recording their own sounds grants artists their own complete rights. This can cover vocals, recording equipment, and even ambient sounds from the surroundings.
Although negotiating the legal backdrop of music sampling could be difficult, you should guard your artistic production and prevent expensive legal disputes. Our expertise at Am Badar & Am Badar is copyright law; so we can help you with all elements of music sampling, including agreement writing and license buying.
See the Copyright Service page for further details on our offers. Contact us or visit our services page for more help with sampling in music.
We also advise reading further of our copyright-related contents on our insights page: “Government Regulation Number 56 of 2021 Concerning the Management of Song and/or Music Copyright Royalties” and “Everything You Need to Know about Music Copyright”.
References
- https://blog.andertons.co.uk/learn/what-is-sampling-in-music
- https://www.centralmusicinstitute.com/blog/what-is-sampling-in-music
- https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/06/article_0006.html
- https://www.cohnlg.com/music-sampling-copyright-law-whats-legal/
Reviewed by Nabil Argya Yusuf