Do the top artists pay for the samples they use??

Dodger Man · Post by **Dodger Man** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:11 pm

hey all.

I recently made a tune using some reggae samples and have no idea where they came from... i just found a sample pack on the net

...

My question is, would i be able to release this track? I know that people like Skream and Caspa, Rusko all use a lot of samples. Whether it be from Snatch or any unknown reggae artist, do they ever pay for the use, do their record companies pay? How to i find out if the samples i used are public domain or not.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

darkmatteruk · Post by **darkmatteruk** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:20 pm

top artists will no doubt be recording thier own vocals with people in studio, they arent going to want to use stuff everyone else has access to. whats the point in that, nothing would ever be original would it?

mandark · Post by **mandark** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:26 pm

That hardly answered his question. A lot of Caspa and Rusko stuff samples from movies and cartoons, and some of the reggae vocals sound sampled as well. I'm curious about this too, anyone got any insight?

darkmatteruk · Post by **darkmatteruk** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:33 pm

i dont know the answer, thats why i couldnt say. ill add my 2 cents worth, for what its worth

drokkr · Post by **drokkr** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:37 pm

their record companies would have to pay for a sample to be released.
the cost would then depend on the actual sample itself be it music, film or television.

mandark · Post by **mandark** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:39 pm

What if it's really obscure, or sampled frequently? An extreme example would be the amen break, or the hundreds of other breaks used in all forms of breakbeat music. Does anyone ever get royalties for those? And what about microsamples? How long does a sample need to be for you to have to pay to use it? Don' know if anyone can answer all of that

but any insight is appreciated.

Dodger Man · Post by **Dodger Man** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:41 pm

but Can the major dubstep labels afford to pay for samples from things like snatch? I dont know how much it would cost but im sure its not cheap and the dubstep scene is not rich!

.

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:42 pm

I seriously doubt in a genre as small as dubstep people are getting samples cleared

maybe after the tune is a smash hit and only after they get served with a cease & dessist order

spencertron · Post by **spencertron** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:02 pm

alot of released (signed) dubstep tunes (from headhunter, bar9, Eskmo, kidnappa, 16bit...probably not the biggest names but big to me)i've heard have samples from sample packs shared on here and DOA, these are from films and tunes of yesteryear.

i don't think anybody is worried about the legalitys

abZ · Post by **abZ** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:24 pm

I agree with the last two posts here ^

Some samples in dubstep may get cleared but not most of them. Don't be so naive. The cost to clear one little sample is most likely more than the label is going to profit from the song. From what I gather, if you are busted they can sue you for up to half of the profits. It really wouldn't be worth going through court for that amount or even the full profits. The worst that is going to happen is you get a cease and desist liek FSTZ says or maybe Method Man pays you a visit to your house and settles it street style lol.

Personally I am a fan of recycling audio and encourage you not sweat it. Unless you are releasing the tune yourself it isn't your problem anyway. Just please be creative with those samples.

jackieboi · Post by **jackieboi** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:43 pm

nah man sampling gets used faaaaaaar too much in dance music for every tune to get completely cleared.

I think if i tune gets big, like charts big, then it might get a bit more looked into by the bigwigs but the costs of pulling up every dance label for sample clearance would far outweigh the royalties they got back from it.

Could be wrong but it just seems far too much bother seeing as sampling quotes/films/other hard as fuck sounding things is used so frequently with dance tunes.

abZ · Post by **abZ** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:13 am

jackieboi wrote:nah man sampling gets used faaaaaaar too much in dance music for every tune to get completely cleared.

I think if i tune gets big, like charts big, then it might get a bit more looked into by the bigwigs but the costs of pulling up every dance label for sample clearance would far outweigh the royalties they got back from it.

Could be wrong but it just seems far too much bother seeing as sampling quotes/films/other hard as fuck sounding things is used so frequently with dance tunes.

Yeah but if a new Star Wars flick or some like shit comes out you know everyone and their grandpa is going to sample it. There is TONS of shit that hasn't been touched but you have to be slightly more clever than opening up a free sample pack and throwing it on your tune.

autopsy · Post by **autopsy** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:14 am

What if it's really obscure, or sampled frequently? An extreme example would be the amen break, or the hundreds of other breaks used in all forms of breakbeat music. Does anyone ever get royalties for those?

i doubt the drummer from the winstons has ever seen a penny from anyone whos sampled the amen!

teqh · Post by **teqh** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:41 am

for more information on what can happen email de la soul

AFL · Post by **AFL** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:49 am

You would only have to pay if you were called out on using a sample that wasn't cleared. The odds of that happening in Dubstep at this point are pretty slim, but if you release it and they catch you in the future your tune could get pulled.

the great void · Post by **the great void** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:34 am

like the people are saying, they dont clear any of those samples, esp the vocals and stuff no one clears those samples in any strain of underground dance. Even for music, look at Japan by Plastician, the whole melody is from The House Of Flying Daggers soundtrack (a chinese film with chinese music, so the tune should acutlaly be called China but there u go hey), I would be willing to bet any amount of cash that sample wasnt cleared, and its from a current film, you can go and buy that soundtrack in a shop still. No one cares, underground dance music is such a small fish, I think the chinese are more worried about people downloading their film off the net than some dude selling a few thousand vinyls to an underground market, its not actually effecting their profits at all, theyre not buying his tune instead of the soundtrack, I seriously doubt theyre even aware of it or ever will be.

serox · Post by **serox** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 10:30 am

You got to have more money than sense if you have to buy samples.

danoldboy · Post by **danoldboy** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:08 am

Skream posted in his Skreamizm 5 thread that he couldn't get the vocal sample cleared for "love don't come easily" so it won't be appearing on it, so from that he obviously tries to clear his samples (at least on his higher profile releases). Coki had the same problem with clearing the vocal on "Burnin'" so it never saw a proper release.

White labels are the way around this.

Also depends on what sample pack the vocal came from. Most sample packs are sold as royalty free so you can use them in commercial releases so I'd check the details on that. You'll need to buy it legitimately first though if you haven't already.

manray · Post by **manray** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:18 am

Very little gets cleared.

Basically if it's a bait sample that you need to get cleared then it's long.

timxfight · Post by **timxfight** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:31 am

i'm sure if the song will be playing in mtv, you may have problems with that, but we're talking about a underground scene, so i don't think that will be a big deal.

Do the top artists pay for the samples they use??

Do the top artists pay for the samples they use??

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