Sample Clearance

Syderbomb

New member
I know about getting samples cleared and stuff like that but I was wondering Say I have a sampled beat thats not cleared and I wanna sell it. If I tell the artist that it is NOT cleared BUT he/she still wants it could they use the beat for demos and live proformances with out getting it cleared. Plus note I would provied all the info on the sample and let the artist know about copywrites and how to go about getting things cleared.
 
The producer doesnt have to clear the sample, its up the artist and/or label. And I think you can use a sampled beat for demos or indie releases as long as it doesnt sell more than 10,000 copies.
 
Pay no attention to what Syxx said - seriously......

If you don't clear your own samples, you can't gain any meaningful protection from copyright. If your copyright protection is not enforceable, someone in the industry is going to screw you. And 10,000 copies? WTF did he get that number? There is no 'magic number' for how many copies you will sell before you get sued. If you steal music, the copyright holder can f**K you up whether you sell 10 copies or 10,000. The more you sell, the more money they will get in the end, but you have still violated their copyright protection.

There are two morals to this story.....

1. If you don't have a clue, don't just guess.
2. Don't trust anyone on here - some of us wouldn't know our assholes from our elbows.
 
No one will sue until you've made enough money to actually claim on yr taxes. You can be served a cease and desist letter at any time. I've gotten one (from a videogame company, incidentally) and just ignored it. They don't really have a lot of recourse, there's no finance to claim, and provided yr sample doesn't a) defame the original artist or b) somehow make it unneccessary to buy the original (as in, you sampled the whole song) or c) you willfully tried to confuse consumers into thinking yr product was the original, they really can't do anything more than scare you. There ARE damages ($150,000 a sample! Yikes!) and fines, but these are almost NEVER levied, as most records are either pulled, or agreements with artists are met. This is a link EVERYONE who samples should see. It's for University of Texas students, but it is completely accurate and incredibly useful. Memorize it!

http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm#top

There's a lot difference between infringement, willful infringement, fair use, and *good faith fair use* <---- that's the one samplists want to fall under. It all has to do with yr knowledge of copyright law.

But specifically, I don't think you as the producer have much to worry about. You're probably just selling the beat outright, correct? No points or anything? You only clear it if it's being released, and the artist is the one releasing it, right? It's the performing artist's responsibility to clear samples, most record labels won't even do it for their own roster.
 
Ghowell said:
Pay no attention to what Syxx said - seriously......

If you don't clear your own samples, you can't gain any meaningful protection from copyright. If your copyright protection is not enforceable, someone in the industry is going to screw you. And 10,000 copies? WTF did he get that number? There is no 'magic number' for how many copies you will sell before you get sued. If you steal music, the copyright holder can f**K you up whether you sell 10 copies or 10,000. The more you sell, the more money they will get in the end, but you have still violated their copyright protection.

There are two morals to this story.....

1. If you don't have a clue, don't just guess.
2. Don't trust anyone on here - some of us wouldn't know our assholes from our elbows.

I know my ******* from my knee, does that count??

And I got 10k from a guy whos actually a rapper. I figured him being a rapper and having to worry about samples on his beats would know the number. And my friend knows everything about music despite not being in the business and he told me producers have to clear samples.
 
Damn thats mess up how some labels would do dat...

I guess it's not fair to say 'most' record labels. I just know that it happens. Especially at indie labels, where they just throw a block of money at a band and tell them to get an album recorded. Not to imply that they don't care about sample clearance, they just don't deal with it much. I'm sure in dealings involving major labels, when the original artists want considerably more money upfront and royalties, the labels probably work that stuff out.
 
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