I know the samples used in say the vengeance packs (single shots) are royalty free, but does that mean you can do whatever you want with them? Ie release them as a commercial product for say nerve? I made a lot of really cool drum kits but some have single shot samples from other commercial packs. Should I just forget about releasing a kit pack and just export the loops?

 

Well, what does your license agreement say?

 

First of all I would advesie you to read the licensing agreements of the sample packs you used. In almost all cases they say, that one is only allowed to use the samples in derivative musical works, which means you have to create a unique track with it. A lot of licensing agreements from sample companies explicitly state further that you are not allowed to re-sell or re-pack the samples and use them as your own. So from a legal point of view, you can`t use these samples and sell them. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who don`t care about that, I recently found a pack that contained the exact samples from another pack and as you might have heared, Cymatics (a new sample company, that do a lot of marketing and have a lot of success) had a lot of copied samples and presets in their packs (even from Native Instruments Damange and from VirutalRiots sample packs!).
So you can do it, you can probably get away with it, but if you want to be safe, create your own samples or get samples you are allowed to use commercially.

 

Yeah, it is legal. I hear lots of samples from Vengeance packs in most of the popular songs.

 

As said before, you can use it in original songs, but not in sample packs you are going to sell.

 

what if you modify them via pitch, filter, transient, other effects?

thanks for the info-- will search for free or make my own, cheers

 

than, they are not the same samples any more, I guess

 

this is so satisfying to read, dunno why...

 

You can use the samples in those libraries in your music BUT you have either manipulate them (mangling, pitch shifting, destruction etc.) or use them as building blocks in your own arrangement.
In short: Make them your own.

As for re-selling: Under no circumstances can you repack them in unchanged condition in a library and re-sell them.
In short: if the creator of the original Library can identify the samples, then you can't sell those.

 

Then they are subject to copyright law and licencing terms regarding "derivative works."

 

Yep, thats the idea of sample packs. :P

 

Unfortunately, he also does the same thing himself.

If you have ever watched his live streams you can clearly see he uses a lot of cracked stuff and a bunch of samples (Really! a lot of them) from labels such as Vengeance, Vandalism, Prime Loops, etc.
Ironically he doesn't even rename them so you can see Magnetrixx/Syndicate at the end of sample folders.

 

Last edited: May 15, 2016

Depends,if you use them on your external drive then its legal,because technically you were working OTB,at least thats what Kanye told me.

 

don't worry the sample police is on there way

 

Okay, I didn`t notice that. But I think at a certain stage (when you play gigs you get money and sell albums that rank quite high in the charts) you should be able to buy this stuff. But this is another topic.

I think a lot of people don`t care about using pirated software and samples, because most of these music production companies / developers just don`t have the money and the manpower to press charges. And even if they would, I am pretty sure their image would be destroyed within a few weeks and every so called "producer" would start a shirt storm against them (although they would just do what is normal and their legal right - I mean what would you say if somebody steals your car and uses it infront of you. And everybody..."naahh this is okay, he needs that car, he has no money...").
Back to the topic - if you want to be safe, create your own samples, or if you can`t live without using 3rd party samples alter them as much as you can.

 

License usually say no to reselling their product. You pay to use their sounds in YOUR music. Not paying for the rights to sell someone else's sounds.

However................ Most the sample packs I hear seem to be just recycling other sample packs' sounds. Usually altered, layered, mixed, mastered and such till they sound different enough to call their own. Which happens a lot so no one can tell were the original is from. But take hip hop packs, like most the snares and hi hats are practically the same other than a little mixing and mastering. They get away with it because it isn't really possible to connect it to the original sample.

I advise against selling it on though. But I personally have mixed feelings about all of this. I think if the sound is altered enough that it sounds different, I wouldn't really mind. Or sold for non profit/free.

 

Kinda gray area where I live, I wonder if developers will sue you across the border. A "license agreement" won't help, anything what is in there that's against Dutch law makes the "license agreement" "invalid" as a whole.


For sampled music it also depends on where you want to sell it, My country is inside the EU.
But has it's own set of laws. here you don't necessary need authorization for "Derivative works" beforehand,
but that does not mean you don't need to Pay.
Negotiating a price will surely put you in a disadvantage if done afterwards, and I don't know of the giant settlements that might took place behind the scenes.

but this are my 2 cents.

 

Apologies i misread the thread....

 

Some of the first Vengeance sample packs were full with stolen samples from other commercial sample packs.
Other Vengeance sample packs had samples cutted from commercial songs.
So...