Re: digital sampling

On 3/14/2000, Bill Henslee <william.henslee[_at_]pepperdine.edu> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, Larry Helfer <larry.helfer[_at_]lls.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know of an example of digital sampling (i.e. the copying
> > and splicing of a few seconds of a preexisting sound recording) into
> > a new musical work/sound recording where both the sampled song and
> > the new work are available for purchase? I know that Biz Markie
> > sampled Alone Again Naturally in his song "Alone Again" in his album
> > "I Need a Haircut". However, an injunction was issued, see Grand
> > Upright Music v. Warner Bros.Records 780 F.Supp. 182, and the song
> > is no longer available on the album.
>
> Ice, Ice, Baby by Vanilla Ice and Under Pressure by David Bowie
> and Queen. I'm sure there are a lot more, but that one is the
> most famous one.

Actually I believe the most (in)famous tunes are the ones that made SCOTUS do the copyright jig, those being Pretty Woman by the 2 Live Crew and the original song of the same name by Roy Orbison. Of course that may not be what you call sampling.

Almost every song by Dr. Dre and the west coast sound group of early gangsta rap sampled Parliament and the Funkadelics. The east coast sound is heavier into James Brown. James is the king of sampling without compensation. The first person to do him real justice was MC Hammer and you can get a number of Hammer records and here JB all over them. After James and George Clinton's pfunk sound the third heaviest sampled artist may just be Bob James. A Tribe Called Quest and others of that rap genre tend toward the jazz artists for sampling. You can find plenty of sampling by artist like U2, David Byrne, Iggy Pop and other rock stars too. Sampling didn't start with hip hop. In fact there's a 70's case which is a sort of precursor to it all that deals with beats and sounds replicated in the predigital age.

Darryl C. Wilson, Professor of Law
Stetson University College of Law
1401 61st Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33707
ph(727)562-7882/fx(727)347-3738
email: wilson[_at_]hermes.law.stetson.edu Received on Wed Mar 15 2000 - 17:10:58 GMT