Court rules sampling may violate music laws

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: September 8, 2004 1:17:52 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: FW: Court rules sampling may violate music laws


http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/04/08/57135362.shtml? 
Element_ID=
57135362


Court rules sampling may violate music laws

By JOHN GEROME
Associated Press

NASHVILLE — A federal appeals court ruling yesterday means that rap  
artists
would have to pay for every musical sample included in their work — even
minor, unrecognizable snippets of music.

Lower courts had already ruled that artists must pay when they sample
another artist's work. But it has been legal to use musical snippets — a
note here, a chord there — as long as it wasn't identifiable.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals  
in
Cincinnati gets rid of that distinction. The court said federal laws  
aimed
at stopping piracy of recordings applies to digital sampling.

''If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you 'lift' or  
'sample'
something less than the whole? Our answer to that question is in the
negative,'' the court said.

''Get a license or do not sample. We do not see this as stifling  
creativity
in any significant way.''

The case deals with protection of the sound recording, as opposed to the
protection of the composition itself. It is one of at least 800 lawsuits
filed in Nashville over lifting snippets of music from older recordings  
for
new music.

The argument was over the NWA song 100 Miles and Runnin', which samples  
a
three-note guitar riff from Get Off Your A.. and Jam by '70s funk-master
George Clinton and Funkadelic.

In the two-second sample, the guitar pitch has been lowered, and the  
copied
piece was ''looped'' and extended to 16 beats. The sample appears five  
times
in the new song.

The NWA song was included in the 1998 movie I Got the Hook Up, starring
Master P and produced by his movie company, No Limit Films.

No Limit Films has argued that the sample was not protected by  
copyright law
because it was not ''original'' and because the sample was legally
insubstantial.

Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, which claim to own the  
copyrights
for Get Off Your A.. and Jam, appealed the lower court's summary  
judgment
ruling in favor of No Limit Films.

http://www.tennessean.com/business/archives/04/08/57135362.shtml? 
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