Hi everyone, I don't know if this is the appropriate place to post this topic

I'm new to this website and it seems like a good active community with people who know what they are talking about.
I am doing a research module in my college course and i'm looking into the ethics of sampling and the issues with it.

I was just wondering what is your view on this topic? do you use samples in your songs or do you oppose it the idea?

I appreciate you taking the time to answer and help.

Thanks.

 

If we talk ethics, and I'm doing my own music, and there are things I can't do myself... I would prefer to use samples.

But if it is something that I can play myself, I would definitely do it myself.

It's a fine line between taste and ethics, not to mention if you are doing it for commercial purposes or not.

When I released CDs in the past, if I used a line from a movie or a famous speech, I'd always quote it. In fact, that is a very sensitive subject depending on copyright.

Aaaanyway, my two cents.

Bedtime for me.

 

Hi CaveManPro,

In the old days i used samples a lot. (i am a Hip Hop artist)
I have never let ethics stop me.
I often wondered if i would get caught. But nothing happened.
Maybe it's because people don't care. Or the artists and or record companies never checked.

A big part of making Hip Hop is crate digging, looking for old records to sample.
I did that a lot, i've got almost every Hip Hop classic sample featured on "Ultimate Breaks and Beats".
But i also have a big collection of really obscure records.

Whenever i discussed it with other beat creators they'd always say, you will only get caught if your album goes big.
And by that time you'll have enough money to buy the samples or settle a court case.

Now to be honest, i was one of the few people who was afraid of getting caught. I imagined myself in a court room with James Brown, my absolute hero.
How could he ever look me in the eye after i stole his beat.
No seriously it mattered to me. But i didn't let it stop me.

I started seeing my taking of a sample as a sign of respect towards that artist. And for the most part that is true.
All musicians steel from another, maybe just chords or a melodie. But is that any less worse than me taking a sample?

So in short, i struggled with the ethics.
I decided a while ago not to use samples in anything that makes money.
But i would still do it for my own pleasure. It's a Hip Hop thing i guess.

Thats my honest answer. Hope it helps you

 

Hi everybody

in advance sorry for my bad english i'm french

For me sampling is the essence of Hip Hop i mean ... Samplin is the things that make hip hop alive

Any Rap Album From new To Old school have sample like :

Jay - Z Picasso Baby

Big Sean - Nothing Can't Stoppin You "That song Samplin Pharrell" WoooW

Kendrick Lamar Use A lot of drum breaks and samples

ETC...

If Artist Stop Samplin for the ethics some legend like dj premier pete rock dj hi-tek j dilla will fade to black

and me as a members of the culture i've learn a lot with recreate what they did and make my own now

this is why i don't care about ethics because in music specially hip hop : what we learn from the past is a holy gift for the future !!!

Keep Sampling !!!!!

 

There are no ethics...sounds are just vibrations travelling through the air...grab them and use them how you will

 

As long as you are creative with the chop, i think sampling is ethically fine and have no problem with it. In some cases where the sampled is overused or is from a relatively new track, i find it a bit annoying if it is too easy to discern where it is from (again, only if its not used creatively). I personally think you should let a new song have its say (popularity & economy wise) before sampling it; this is just my personal way of paying respect. Even in this case, i only sample recent songs if i have altered them greatly.

 

Are you talking about ethics or copyright?, I agree with all of the above and I think acknowledging using samples from other sources is great. Unfortunately, what fecks this ideal up are the copyright thugs, and that makes it a completely different subject.

 

when sampling started going strong we are talking about 30 years ago now but in the mid to late 80's RnB groups were so against Sampling and were suing hip hop artists but then they noticed that people started to buy there old songs again they realized that Sampling was making there Music/Song Relevant again and Making them as artists Relevant again so they started to in-brace Sampling of there Music and Got Pay for Music that they did years ago So Now if Some one is Going To Use a Sample/Part of a Song you have to Get a ( Sample Clearance )

 

soon or later we go to see the old tribes reclaiming this royalties, just wait a bit!!


serius: i take samples, loops etc. to see how it's done, far example i take nature, dark, synth and beats and try to due something similar in matter of quality. but what i really use is quotes from movies or speech from well know persons.

if its moral to use them? lets see, i found out that this last years all rock, pop, hiphop, metal, psy, drumbass etc, sounded the same from me, except some underground stuff. by mean underground i mean not well knowed by the masses. but i think we here all know this part.

for me using the quotes is moral and very cuz this quotes are in all sites very explicit to all read, so if it is for read and nothing happens why not in a music! :dancing:

well sorry for the bad/missed/typo/spelled eng. lang. not my native.

 

Depends what you mean by sample.

I never took a whole loop of a song except for remix purpose (and claimed as)

I can pick a one or two sound from a record usually some perc beats or some noises. But it'll be modified usually.
And I'll try to choose something unusual (old jazz record, obscure indie rock, ...)

I use a lot of royalty free one shot, but they will be modified too.

Other than that, I'll use some synths... and make my own samples.

I tried clearing samples of a vocal song I made... The label sent me to the major, the major never got back to me. (I was willing to pay and stuff) but nah... I have a pretty cool song I can never use.


For the ethic :
- Prodigy : claim to use TONS of uncleared samples, they get so messed up, the song sampled get un-recognizable and I think it's ok. It's illegal, but there's an ethic. Samples as instrument.
- Kanye West's , Daft Punk's, or David Guetta : use some whole measures of some older famous tune. Would the song work without it? Guetta's Work Hard hook is Alice Deejay's hit... It's legal, but i wouldn't have noticed the song without this bit.
Samples as hooks
- Hip hop back then getting popular; and the whole backing using uncleared samples : unethical and illegal , it's normal they got sued*, it doesn't happen so much anymore i think.

*it's a bit hypocritical though... you'd get sued if you used a bit of Presley but he never got in trouble for ripping some older blues songs...

 

Hi Everyone

First of all thank you for all your replies I really do appreciate it and it will help me with my assignment.

I agree with what most of you say and me as a mainky hip hop artists I do think samples are the backbone of most hip hop songs and like Blister said I see it as a homage to the artists I sample. I use my samples as another instrument in my track, most people base the whole songs on a sample but I like to use it as just like the bass or guitar/piano etc. What I think is lazy is chopping a sample and then adding some basic drum beat at the background and calling that your own song, most of the job is done and all the producer did is sequence a drum beat in 5 min. I agree with using samples but only if they are used right.


Anyway thanks everone for helping and replying!

 

Okay lyric8 my friend, so how did they receive their money?

Did they follow me on all those flea markets where i buy these old records?
Or maybe they bugged my room to see and hear what samples i take. Cos they aint buying my album to see and check.


As far as i know artists only receive money when the rights to a sample are bought. And that doesn't happen that much.
Maybe Jay-Z pays for his. But i know thousands of not so well known rappers do not.

Not trying to be mean but to boldly state that they got payed is just nonsense.
It's exactly the kind of talk people use to ease their own conscience.