All You Need To Know About Samples...

Question: I have a song with a sample in the beat. What do I need to do to get it cleared?

Clearing a sample can be an easy or difficult task depending on the parties with whom you have to deal. Know that if you don’t get the clearance, you CANNOT use the sample, nor can you release the song containing the sample! In some cases you may have 4-5 owners of one song and if ONE owner says “No”, then that’s it! When answering the questions below it’s under the assumption that we are talking about sampling in terms of taking a piece of another song and including it in your song, NOT singing someone else’s song in its entirety (i.e., Cover songs).

Define what sample clearing is and what constitutes the need for clearance (Please make mention of public domain).

Many records containing samples of other recordings require a license (i.e., permission) from both the owner of the sound recording and the owner of the underlying composition. The process of doing this is referred to as “sample clearing”. An example of this would be if you were to sample an LL Cool J song. You would probably have to get permission from Def Jam as well as Todd Smith’s publishing company and any other writer’s who may have helped write the song being sampled.

Why should I bother with clearing samples? What are the legal ramifications of not clearing samples?

Failure to get a license could result in copyright infringement lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the stealing of another person’s property! If a person sues you for copyright infringement, they could get a judgment against you to: 1) stop you from releasing any album using their song, 2) force you to destroy any record containing the sample, and 3) pay them monetary damages up to $150,000 PER INFRINGEMENT plus Attorney fees!!!!

Who is responsible for clearing samples, the artist or the producer of the track?

This depends on the contract between the artist and producer. It’s usually the producer’s responsibility unless the artist consents to clearing the sample. However, under a court of law, they’ll hold ALL parties responsible regardless of whose responsibility it was to clear the sample!!!

How do I go about clearing a sample?

You hire an attorney or person who’s knowledgeable about getting a license to use the particular recording.

Where does the money go?

The money goes to who ever are the owners of the song. This could include the songwriters, the music publishers, and the recording labels based up their percentage of ownership. I’ve seen songs that were owned by 4-5 different people, but 2 of the persons owned about 70-80 percent of the song.

When should I worry about sample clearances?

The moment that you sample someone else’s record, UNLESS it’s what we call is public domain material. In the case of public domain material, you don’t need anyone’s permission!!!