Art of Music Sampling

THE ART OF SAMPLINGAndrew Chando Yu

@aychando

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion (sample) of one sound

recording and reusing it as an instrument or a sound recording in a

different song or piece.

WHAT IS SAMPLING?

"Sampling is lacking in creativity"

vs

"Sampling has been innovative and revolutionary"

1960s – experimental musicians and musique

concrete, electroacoustic

1970s – Hip Hop and scratch DJs

Mid-1970s – Electronic music and disco

HISTORY

Tchaikovsky

1812 Overture (1880)

La Marseillaise 1792God Save the Tsar! 1833At the Gate, at My Gate - Traditional Folk 1854O Lord, Save Thy People (Hymn) 1863

Loops Variety of short samples of beats strung together;

a repeating section of sound material

Musical instrument Sampling of a sound

TYPES

6 second drum solo 1969 by "G. C." Colemann

"Amen, Brother” The Winstons

Used in:Hip hop, breakbeat hardcore, hardcore techno and breakcore, jungle, D&B, TV

advertisement.

“AMEN BREAK”

No royalties

Plagiarism

Flattering

An area of contention from a legal perspective

LEGAL ISSUES

1956 “The Flying Saucer” by Buchanan and Goodman

Sampled 18 chart hits from 1955-56

Sampled Orwelle’s “War of the Worlds” broadcast

Agreement reached to share royalties from records sold

Campbell vs. Acuff-Rose, 1994(Roy Orbison v. 2 Live Crew)

SUPREME COURT CASE

The court ruled that any financial gain 2 Live Crew received from their version did not infringe upon Acuff-Rose because the two songs were targeted

at very different audiences.

2 Live Crew's use of copyrighted material was protected under the fair use doctrine, as parody,

even though it was released commercially

Samples are fair use (a legal doctrine in the USA)

International sampling is governed by agreements such as the Berne Convention for the Protection of

Literary and Artistic Works and the WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms

Treaties Implementation Act

REGULATION

BLURRED LINES CASE

Marvin Gaye “Got to Give It Up” (1977)Robin Thicke “Blurred Lines” (2013)

Creative

Homage

Tribute

Respect

Flattery

Unoriginal

Theft

Infringement

IllegalPlagiarism

allusion

git checkout -b

"The highest form of flattery is imitation”

“Good artists copy. Great artists steal”

Let’s hear some examples!

Edwin Birdsong “Coca cola bottle baby” (1975)

Daft Punk “Harder Better Faster”(2001)

Kanye West “Stronger” (2007)

Delegation “You and I” (1979)Triple X (XXX) “Feel The Same” (1999)

Maya Jane Coles “What They Say” (2010)Drake, Nicki, Tunechi “Truffle Butter” (2015)

Blind Faith (1969) Traffic

Stevie Winwood “Valerie” (1982)DJ Falcon “Call On Me” (2004) Eric Prydz “Call on Me” (2004)

A PERSONAL FAVORITE

Whitney Houston “I Have Nothing” (1992)

chopped, sped-up, and reversed three different ways

Drake “Tuscan Leather” (2013)

Questions? Comments?

Avicii “Levels” (2010)

Pretty Lights “Finally Moving” (2008)

Etta James “Something’s got a hold of me” (1962)

Avicii “Levels” (2010)

Pretty Lights “Finally Moving” (2008)

Etta James “Something’s got a hold of me” (1962)

Brenda Russell “Piano In the Dark” (1988) Bingo Players “Cry” (2011)

Flo Rida “Cry” (2013)