![]() MIA used a sample of Quincy Jones’ Sanford and Son theme song on her track “ URAQT.” She gave it away on her Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape without any problem. ![]() This is why Dr Dre had to hire studio musicians to replay all his P-Funk samples on his albums in the 90s. Also, be aware that even if an artist is cool with you sampling them, it doesn’t matter if they don’t own their own master recordings (which most artists don’t.) George Clinton loves it when people sample P-Funk records because it introduces his music to young audiences, but his masters are owned by a group of humorless lawyers in Connecticut, and they charge very steep fees. Prince never did either, though his estate seems to be loosening up now that he’s passed. The Eagles famously never license samples. You should also be aware that there are a few copyright holders who will never license a sample for any reason. If you are less prominent (and controversial) than Kanye, and you’re trying to sample someone who’s less iconic, it will be quite a bit cheaper. A music supervisor told me that Kanye West probably had to pay at least $100,000 to sample Nina Simone on his song “Famous.” But that’s an extreme situation. The specific dollar amounts will vary, and these deals are usually confidential, so it is hard to know in advance how much money it will cost you. ![]() That said, if you’re going to sample something very famous or popular, it can get expensive. Occasionally, people will even let you have the sample for free. It’s just a matter of negotiating something that makes sense for everyone involved. Here’s the thing: most rights holders are eager to license samples because it’s money in their pockets. At that point, you will have to replace the sample or withdraw the track from circulation. ![]() So you or your label might decide that it doesn’t make sense to go through with the clearance. Depending on who you sampled and how well-resourced they are, this might be a big up-front payment or a major percentage of your publishing. The clearance might take the form of a one-time fee, a percentage of royalties/publishing, or both. I do not recommend trying to do this on your own. You or your label can use a sample clearance service, or hire an entertainment lawyer. At that point, you will absolutely have to negotiate a sample clearance, both with the songwriter(s) and the owner(s) of the master recording (usually not the same people). If your track does blow up, and you want to release it on a major label, or license it for a TV show or movie, or otherwise make real money from it, then the situation changes. The chief copyright attorney for a major publisher told me that they don’t go after random people on the internet, because there’s no upside, and it attracts negative publicity. Entertainment lawyers cost money, and the copyright holders have better things to do than go after indie artists who aren’t profiting off their samples. It is very unlikely that doing it will get you into any trouble. But posting tracks with uncleared samples is “illegal” the way jaywalking is illegal. Understand that you are not allowed to use samples without permission, even if you are giving away the track for free, and even if you give credit and say you aren’t intending to infringe anyone’s copyrights. My advice is to go ahead and post tracks with uncleared samples, even though doing so is technically illegal. But I’m married to a lawyer, and have spoken to various music industry people and done a lot of reading on this. I am not a lawyer, just a guy who studies hip-hop academically.
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