The Art of Clearing A Sample: Deciding If It’s Worth It and How To Actually Do It.
Hip hop and samples go hand in hand, for better or worse. We have seen samples become the core element in some of the greatest records ever. We have also seen samples hinder the release of a record because the copyright owners refuse to offer clearance. That's the paradox when deciding to use a sample. It’s a cost/benefit analysis every time. Is the upfront fee and publishing/royalty you’re giving up worth using the sample? Additionally, if you are a producer using a sample on an instrumental, just know that this will likely affect your payout and publishing split. Regardless, always be transparent to the artists and labels involved if you have used a sample as litigation in copyright suits involving a sample could lead to years of battle and millions in expenses.
Sampling is rooted in understanding the copyright associated with music. There are two distinct copyrights in each song. There is the sound recording (master)copyright which is the recorded version of a song. Then there is the composition copyright which is the underlying melody, beat and lyrics of a song. For further clarity, the composition copyright consists of the music and lyrics and the sound recording copyright is the performed and recorded version of the underlying music and lyrics.
The way this plays out in the real word is fairly simple. The best way to distinguish the two parts are separating what parties own what.
Who owns the sound recording?
Without an agreement, a songwriter, producer, artist and any other contributor to a sound recording would jointly own the copyright in the sound recording. The most relevant scenario for an artist operating at the major label level, is ownership of the sound recording (master) is granted to the major label.
Who owns the composition?
This is a bit trickier. Likely several people own and/or control the rights to a song’s composition. Imagine a scenario where there are two producers and three songwriters. Hypothetically speaking, each producer and songwriter could have a different entity administering their copyright in the song.
Why is it crucial to understand who owns or controls what?
