Using samples on a mixtape?

XerobX

New member
Hey so i have made a few sample beats for myself kinda wanna do it like j.cole who made his own beats and worked to get better while he was in college, anyways would it be illegal to use them for a free mixtape on like datpiff? I know its a basic question that I should probably know already but i just wanna make sure. Thanks in advance.
 
this gets asked every other week

the basic answer takes two paths:

1) do what you want no-one is going to sue you unless you're making money; which is essentially a variation on it is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission (more on that in a moment)

2) clear everything to avoid future damage to financial and personal health, what I call the "it is easier (and cheaper) to ask for permission than it is to ask for forgiveness" method of business (more on that in a moment)

I advocate the second path

I do this because otherwise you may end up paying a huge price down the road top get the permissions you want to continue to be a success.

A simple clearance doesn't take long to do and can be handled by a clearing house, licensing group for the most part. the costs may seem exorbitant to beginners but are a true reflection of the music's true value to the owners of the recording or publishing rights.

Even if you reinterpret (interpolate) an existing track to circumvent the inability to obtain a license to use the recording, you may still be liable to license a use of the song it is associated with, depending on how iconic/recognisable the backing track is: this type of license however is simply a cover license, similar to what you do to release a song written by someone else on your own album/ep/whatever

on the forgiveness vs permission front

forgiveness assumes that the owners of the rights are willing to allow you to continue to make money from using their intellectual property. History does not support this position; most cases show that the owners may refuse permission or take partial or complete ownership of the recordings you have made and still insist on damages, actual and punitive

obtaining permission up front insulates you from such grab and run tactics and ensures that your revenue stream is legitimate
 
this gets asked every other week

the basic answer takes two paths:

1) do what you want no-one is going to sue you unless you're making money; which is essentially a variation on it is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission (more on that in a moment)

2) clear everything to avoid future damage to financial and personal health, what I call the "it is easier (and cheaper) to ask for permission than it is to ask for forgiveness" method of business (more on that in a moment)

I advocate the second path

I do this because otherwise you may end up paying a huge price down the road top get the permissions you want to continue to be a success.

A simple clearance doesn't take long to do and can be handled by a clearing house, licensing group for the most part. the costs may seem exorbitant to beginners but are a true reflection of the music's true value to the owners of the recording or publishing rights.

Even if you reinterpret (interpolate) an existing track to circumvent the inability to obtain a license to use the recording, you may still be liable to license a use of the song it is associated with, depending on how iconic/recognisable the backing track is: this type of license however is simply a cover license, similar to what you do to release a song written by someone else on your own album/ep/whatever

on the forgiveness vs permission front

forgiveness assumes that the owners of the rights are willing to allow you to continue to make money from using their intellectual property. History does not support this position; most cases show that the owners may refuse permission or take partial or complete ownership of the recordings you have made and still insist on damages, actual and punitive

obtaining permission up front insulates you from such grab and run tactics and ensures that your revenue stream is legitimate

ok cool. i will not be using my samples for money anyways. just strictly promotion
 
i strongly advocate path 1. Part of the game is not getting caught, to flip the sample so hard or find a sample thats so rare that no one is gonna know. Path 2 makes makes music making into to much of a buisniess and sucks the fun out of it. I would only worry about sample clearence if u become really big
 
i strongly advocate path 1. Part of the game is not getting caught, to flip the sample so hard or find a sample thats so rare that no one is gonna know. Path 2 makes makes music making into to much of a buisniess and sucks the fun out of it. I would only worry about sample clearence if u become really big

Taboo answer, but.......I totally agree!
 
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