Features

Drumless Loops Defined “Drumless loops” marks a minimalist, deceptively simplistic style, sound, and aesthetic of beatmaking that also emerges in this period. Typically with this style, sound, and aesthetic — the seeds for which appear to…

While copyright owners hold an exclusive monopoly over their works, copyright law maintains that this exclusive monopoly is limited. This limitation manifests in two critical ways. First, authors (creators) are granted exclusive control…

De minimis — which is short for the Latin maxim de minimis non curat lex: “the law cares not for small things” or “the law does not concern itself with trifles” — is a legal doctrine that refers to trivial matters that are not worthy of…

If you copy an entire article from an online publication and save it to a Word file for your reference, is it copyright infringement? No, it isn’t. The mere act of copying something is not inherently infringement. To further clarify this…

Early funk from obscure, little-known band from Long Island, New York offers a great education on the relationship between the drum patterns of modern beatmaking and that of those found in early funk music.

“The Framers of the Constitution were excellent social psychologists.” Their premier foresight was about the balance of power, the establishing of checks and balances, so that democracy could prevail and a monarchy could never take hold.…

With regards to sampling, the Constitution already protects our right to the freedom of speech. The public is also shielded from what is legally known as prior restraint. According to the definition by Cornell Law School’s Legal Institute,…

You’re in the lab making a new beat.  You’re nodding your head to it. The beat is dope — almost, you think. You just have to add one more thing. Hold up, wait a minute! Before you add that “next thing,” always consider whether or not…

Whether it’s a beat that’s built around multiple micro-chops or a 2-bar loop, what’s always in play is a beatmaker’s (producer’s) ear for music. In Chapter 9 of my book ‘The Art of Sampling: The Sampling Tradition of Hip Hop/Rap Music and…

After reading this article "The Dangers of Lazy Sampling for Producers" by Sample Hunt, I was compelled to write a corrective. You see, Sample Hunt uses the moniker “lazy sampling” to essentially describe any sampling that’s not intricate.…