Can the owner of a song prevent me from sampling it?

M

Mightyreal

New member
Let's say the owner of a song demands $10.000 for clearing a sample. I don't have that money, but I use it anyway in my song. My song contains only one sample and I say that the owner of the sampled song is the only author of my song, so he gets all the royalties. Can he still prevent me from using the sample?

A guy from a rock band told me that back in the day lesser known groups would cover hits by famous groups and when they put it out as a single they always had a b-side song which was written by them, so they would get 50 % of the royalties for the b-side and the original artist would get 50 % for the covered song. If I use a sample from a song I can say the whole song is a cover so the original artist gets all the royalties and I don't have to ask them, if I can use the sample, right?
 
Yes they can. Some ppl will refuse samples just because they dislike the newer song. For example All Falls Down by Kanye West. Its a Lauryn Hill sample. She didn't like it rejected the original so he ken lewis and syleena johnson remade the sample.

---------- Post added at 04:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 AM ----------

I should have read the whole question first. No to the 2nd half. The issue with sampling is that the copyright protects the recording not the notes used when it comes to sample clearance. Doing a cover is a lot cheaper and still requires payment but not nearly as much. There are legal terms involved that I forget but basically its best to clear a sample properly if u have a fear like this but chances are if you are on FP asking these questions then sample clearance should be the last thing on your mind. You are not in the spot light enough to worry about being sued.
 
absolutely. They have the rights to their content and if they do not want you taking their sound, you'll have trouble :-)
 
They cannot prevent you from doing anything. However the owner of the copyright (SONG) does decide whether to give you permission to use the sample or not.
 
As X said, they can't "stop" you, but they can sue you for every penny you have and even money you don't. That's like saying "can the law stop me from robbing a bank?", No, people rob banks all the time, but they are BREAKING THE LAW AND CAN BE PUNISHED SEVERELY IF CAUGHT.

If you don't wanna lose everything you worked for, you'll come to an agreement with the original owner of the song. If you don't respect their terms, you're no better than a rapper who would take your beat and use it without paying you. Just sayin.
 
What I've understood from my many law classes though is that even though you use a sample, as long as you don't profit from it they can't sue you. Cause they can only sue you from the money you made off of it. Either in royalties or even in some cases, get all the money and then some.

But if you haven't made any money off of it, they can only sue you for a percentage of what you made from it. So if you made nothing, they can sue you for a percentage of nothing, which is nothing.

At the end of the day though, I guess they could also make the case of defamation, but that's stretching it and as others have said, if you're asking here, you're not in the spotlight enough and nobody cares whether you sample them or not. As a matter of fact, I highly doubt Al Green, Shirley Basset or a member of the Jackson family will ever find out that i sampled any of their tracks any time soon...

If they do and they do decide to sue me. Well please do! I'd love the publicity!!!!
 
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