1. MUSIC SAMPLING: BEST
PRACTICES, BETTER
BALANCE
By Yardan Muhammad

2. Is Music Sampling Still
Stealing?
 Sampling without permission of the copyright
owner is copyright infringement and illegal.
 Sampling has opened up vast palates of
sound to innovative artists who are able to
harness its potential.
 Sampling has increased in popularity and
acceptance in the mainstream.
 It has become an alternative to traditional
music composition

3. Panning for balance
 Artists work extremely hard to create original
art and deserve, ethically and legally, to profit
from the creation and use of their work.
 Copyright laws guarantee certain exclusive
rights to authors and artists.
 These rights include the exclusive right to
sound recordings which practically makes all
forms of sampling an infringing use.

4. Call to Action
 It is our responsibility, as artists, to fight to protect the
ownership of our work and ensure that we can continue to
produce creative works for the benefit of the public good
while reserving the power to profit from our labors.
 This responsibility entails voicing our opinions and concerns
with lawmakers in order to ensure that legislation is not
unduly restrictive.
 It also entails collaboration and cooperation with other artists
so that collectively we make beneficial strides towards striking
a balance between promoting creativity and innovation, with
fair compensation and control of our work.
 I propose that artists collectively engage in discussion to
establish a Best Practices for Music Sampling.

5. Sampling
 Sampling technology allows us to remix,
modify and transform segments of the works
of others into completely new and creative
works, opening up almost limitless possibilities
in art and innovation.
 If you use any segment of a recording, without
permission, it is infringement under the law. This needs
to be revised to take into consideration the fact that
these sounds can be greatly modified and repurposed
in extremely creative ways which is in line with the
original intention of copyright law of promoting the
progress of the arts.

6. Why a “Best Practices for Music
Sampling”?
 “Best Practices” provide standards of agreed
upon conduct that essentially serve to provide
self-regulation within an industry
 This could enhance integrity and ethics while
providing clarity and boundaries to the art of
sampling
 It would involve the input of music analysts,
academics, artists and musicology experts to
determine more appropriate thresholds for
infringing and non-infringing usages.

7. Best Practices for Music
Sampling
 Other benefits include the opportunity to educate
artists on the implications of musical borrowing,
how to avoid infringement and costly litigation,
and maintaining integrity and ethical behavior
within the music industry.
 Artist input and general consensus will allow for a
more comprehensive, fair and updated copyright
landscape
 After several revisions and further development,
the Best Practices manual can be used as a guide
to establish and revise the current copyright
scheme.

8. Current copyright law is inadequate
 The system currently in place did not
anticipate or properly account for the
capabilities that are now available in music
composition via “sample-mangling.”
 Fair Use provisions are not sufficiently
predictable enough to establish a hard-line
boundary. There is no real formula to go by,
only a weighing of several factors which are
non-exclusive; some factors may weigh
heavier than others.

9. Copyright Law:
 Article I, Section 8, Clause 8
 The Congress shall have the power to...promote
the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by
securing for limited Times to Authors and
Inventors the Exclusive Right to their respective
Writings and Discoveries.

10. Defenses:
 Fair Use
 Purpose or character of use(Is it for commercial,
educational, or journalistic purposes?)
 Nature of the copied work (is it creative fiction, or
fact-based, which may belong in the public
domain?)
 Extent of the use (was it just a small snippet? Or
a longer key passage? Was it transformative or
outright sampling?)
 Effect on the market for the original (does the new
work supplant the market of the original?)

11. Defenses:
 De minimis – basically, the extent of the use of
the sample is negligible or too general or
insignificant to warrant protection.

12. Call to Action:
 Get in touch with your local legislators when new legislation is being
proposed in order to submit comments and briefs so that your voices and
opinions are heard. The law is a tool that should serve the purposes of the
people involved.
 Get involved with or establish committees to help begin the process of
developing a best practices guide. Through collaboration and self-
regulation, we are opening the doors to communication and getting closer
to finding middle ground.
 Sample responsibly!
 Give credit or attribution when the sample is easily recognizable. Get in contact
with the copyright owner or get permission to be fair to other artists.
 I’m sure you can appreciate the hard work they put into their craft, just as you do
 Use alternative licensing schemes such as Creative Commons which
provide the ability for expanded and less restrictive uses of the protected
piece.
 Keep the discussion alive! Help others become aware of the issue and stay
abreast of further developments so that people don’t turn a blind eye to a
growing problem. Once the ball gets rolling, you want it going in the right
direction!