Be cool and answer my ?'s about clearing samples

[thisDude]

I've heard lots of different things about using samples like: 1) You can't copyright a beat, only music 2) If it's old enough, you can use it 3) Public Speeches, as part of public domain, are usable Can anyone clarify? What about elements or properties of a sound? Graphic artists sometimes use OPP (other people's pictures) to get pixel data to play with (like using one channel of image "A" to mask an adjustment layer of image "B") and the general rule is that if your image isn't easily recognizable as the original, you can use it. Does the same go for audio samples? Or is there some set definition of what constitutes a necessary amount of altering to become a "new" sound, thus, YOUR property? Is it totally subjective? Any links with specifics of what you can get away with for musicians?

[Mr Darling]

I'm not all that cool so I don't know if I should reply to this... But this is my take on the subject : Any recording belongs to someone, ie any instant of sound you lift from a vinyl or a cd or whatever is copyrighted. That said if what you STEAL is not easily recodnizeable you might get by and not get to court, but you'll still be stealing. Just my 0,002$ :D

[Franknputer]

You're about there. The copyright issues mainly lie in the recordings, not the content. True, you can't copyright bits of music. But by sampling, you are taking bits from someone else's recording - and therein lies the infringement.

[Wewus432]

This is very confusing subject , so I'm going to attempt to simplify it. There are three main types of rights protected by copyright: [list=1] [*]Song Writing/Publishing Rights-This is copyright on the piece of music itself. It I took your song and represented it as my own that would be a violation of this copyright [*]Mechanical Rights-This copyright is usually owned by the record company that owns the physical recording of the piece of music and prohibits unauthorized copies. If I took your new Pantera CD and burned a copy on my computer that is technically a violation of the Mechanical Rights copyright. This is where the laws on sampling come in. If you use any portion, no matter how small of another recording you must get sample clearance from the owner of the recording, but if you've really mangled the sound how would anybody know. [*]Performance rights-This is generally playing of the music on the radio and in public and the fees are collected by ASCAP or BMI and distributed to the copyright holders [/list] The current copyright on works of art is, the artist life, plus 50 years, so something would have to be fairly old to have entered the public domain. I think that a speech would be considered protected by this right. This is a real simplification of things but might shed a little light on the subject.

[KenElevenShadows]

[quote]Originally posted by thisDude: [b]I've heard lots of different things about using samples like: 1) You can't copyright a beat, only music 2) If it's old enough, you can use it 3) Public Speeches, as part of public domain, are usable [/b][/quote]I am not an expert on this, so take everything with a grain of salt. However, I'm not too much of a dingleberry, either! Since we're talking about samples here: 1.) If you are talking about lifting a beat from an existing CD or LP (or 8-track), well, no, sorry, you can't do that without permission. Most recordings have SR (Sound Recording) copyrights. You're completely out of luck there unless you obtain permission. 2.) If the copyright has expired, yes, I suppose you can lift something from it, but you aren't going to find too many of those...you'll have better luck with sheet music, but try sampling that! 3.) I seriously doubt that all public speeches are in the public domain, and would be shocked if this were true. If you are talking about a speech that someone has made on the Congressional floor, I have heard before that this is public domain and may be duplicated, but there are some caveats with this (and again, i have not researched this -- I am repeating what others have told me and do not know if these are facts). One caveat is that if you have lifted this from a TV or radio broadcast without permission from the broadcaster, you may be skating on thin ice. How they would ever prove it is another story entirely. Another is that if you have lifted the Congressional speech from an old LP or CD without permission of the record company that put it out, you're also skating on thin ice. That said, I've used one Congressional speech, completely intact, on one of my songs in the past many years ago, and have never had a problem with this so far. Now, that may mean that I've been lucky. Who knows? ------------------------ There's two really simple ways to use samples. The first way - and perhaps one of the most creative ways - is to use a sample from an existing CD and then mangle it, process it, change it, alter it so much that it is unrecognizable. No one would ever touch you - how would they ever recognize it, especially if it is completely decontextualized and layered? The other simplest way to use a sample from an existing CD is to simply obtain permission. Ah, now wasn't that easy?