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Opinion
Original editorial opinion about music sampling, copyright law, creative culture, and more.
Why A Compulsory License for Digital Samples of Sound Recordings Is A Bad Idea
“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.…
The Music Industry’s Policy On Sample Clearance Is Prior Restraint, and the RIAA Must End It
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,…
All Sampling Is Creative: A Critique of the “Lazy Sampling” Misnomer
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.…
The Sample Clearance “Tax” and the Primary Beneficiaries of the Sample Clearance System
The following is an excerpt from 'The Art of Sampling: The Sampling Tradition of Hip Hop/Rap Music and Copyright Law, 3rd Edition' by Amir Said.
When the music industry first took notice of sampling, their burning question had to…
On “Genius” and the Notion That Art Happens Without Work
Both Michelangelo and Mozart are recognized today as geniuses, just as they were recognized as geniuses in their own the time. One parallel among these two geniuses is how self-aware they were about the “work” that went into the “mastery”…
How Black Music Saved the Music Industry; and How the Music Industry’s Culture of Robbery…
“𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐑𝐚𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 ‘𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐈 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬,’ 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 ‘𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬’” (Variety)
If you’ve ever worked in any industry, then you did business in the *music industry*, you know it’s one of the worst…
MusicStudy: Talking Heads – “Once In A Lifetime;” Rhythms In Motion
When I first heard the Talking Heads classic “Once In A Lifetime” (1981), I immediately knew that it would have a profound effect on me musically (and culturally). Although at that time I’d only had some minimal familiarity with African…
The Function of Fair Use: An Excerpt from the Book The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition, which I’m currently running a Kickstarter campaign for. If after reading you have learned anything from this article and you would like to learn much…
Was It Fair Use? Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – “Road To The Riches” (prod. by Marley…
Released in 1989 as the title track of the album of the same name, “Road To The Riches,” produced by Marley Marl, features a sample of Billy Joel’s “Stiletto” (1979). Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and Marley Marl were never sued for copyright…
Kanye West Flipped “Strange Fruit” for “Blood On The Leaves;” And There’s Nothing Wrong With That
First, it was “Blood on the Leaves.” Outrage from everywhere for how Kanye West used a sample of Nina Simone’s heart-wrenching rendition of “Strange Fruit,” a 1939 song about lynching written by teacher Abel Meeropol and first popularized…