So everyone does it, and it's not like you haven't heard it in thousands of tunes that are being sold... there is still a little voice in the back of my head that wonders about the actual potential issues - just hoping someone on the board that has real world experience...ill.Gates et al using hip hop hooks in their tunes could shed some light.

I've heard any number of answers from 'so long as it's under 3 seconds' to 'unless you are making millions no-one gives a shit'.

I just found the illest hook for a track but I'm trying to contain my excitement until I know for sure I can use it...

as i understand it, they can only sue you for the mechanical royality rate (?), some pittance like 8.5 cents per infraction (# of times your song was sold). Its been a few years since the music biz classes so i could be wrong on the specifics. But basically unless you're making a killing it'll cost them more to sue you then they'd be entitled to collect. And in the process you'll get your name on MTV, CNN and wherever else. Think Grey Album. Technically they'd have a case and would win, but they've got bigger problems to deal w and going after you will most likely make you more famous and your illegal work more in demand so they tend to ignore it. thats the labels anyway. the artists really can't get mad... u can't get much more hip-hop then resampling someone else's music into a new creation.

Be original, record your cat

Thanks for the info S.P.E.C.T.R.E , exactly what I needed to know.... now back to my Terminator X cuts....





I tried to get my dog to do some bad ass barking but it just sat there looking stupid....

S.P.E.C.T.R.E pretty much hit the nail on the head. On another note certain companies really don't like their shit being sampled, like Disney. they must have an active team of ppl who seek and destroy producers sampling Disney shit. Had a freind who released a couple tracks sampling old songs an like a week later he was notified by their lawyers to stop selling them. this guy is super small time i mean almost no fan base. wut did he do u ask, made an entire Disney album and gave it away.

Disney i evil neways, fuck them and their shitty new movies.

The mechanical royalty rate has nothing to do with it. The latter should be paid as soon you do a mixtape, post a track on your blog or play the song on your TV or radio channel (it all depends on the royalties collecting agency of your country, I'm not sure about the US details).

You on the other hand are just stealing talent (no offence, but this is how it probably looks like from the rappers perspective). And this is clearly illegal in most countries. If the rapper doesn't want to work with you and finds out about your song using his (or worse: his label's or publisher's) lyrics, voice and recording technique you can be sure to get sued by a few thousand $ just for promoting it. A lawyer will crush you in this case, you have absolutely no excuse. Be very careful here.

It doesn't matter how long the sample is or how much you really sold and spread around the world. You MUST ask for permission (don't you expect the same thing if a rapper records an album with your tracks?).

BTW, no serious label and distro on earth will ever accept and release such music, it's too dangerous.


Oh yeah and generally, BE ORIGINAL! (2)

It's so easy to find good vocalists nowadays. Or at least ask the people you're sampling from, most are very open for experiments.

OK... so take Samples track Drop Bombs out on Daly City - pretty heavy sampling of hip hop on that... did he use some guy he knows or was it taken from somewhere else?

Samples, wanna let us know....?

Not to speak in turn for Samples, but typically it's not cool to call people out on the samples they use, Big Brother is in fact watching.

Sorry... my bad. Ignore that request then and I'll just let the label decide if it wants to use it or not.

No worries, I acutally just used 2 obscure acapellas from pretty much rappers that aren't really big or in the game. It mostly depends on the label, some label heads really don't like it when you sample anything, other labels are all for it. Pretty much up to you, there's even some rappers that will let you put out anything sampling there stuff (KRS one i think)

^^^

big up to KRS then lol im bout to sample some shit

. On topic though i was under the impression that as long as you arent making money off of it then its okay to let people download songs that use samples from other works?????? AM i hugely mistaken?

Yeah man, you are.

Unless it's under a creative commons license most of the time you'll find that it's even illegal to play songs outloud in public places, believe it or not.

Ironic how many rappers will call foul if you sample them yet they happily use other peoples music for their instrumental tracks.

Fuck it, I'm gonna use it... after I render it completely unrecognisable... for me it's more about the tone than what they actually say.

I guess it all comes down to local laws. I guess such things are not such an issue when operating from russia