Sample vocals from older songs allowed?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wucao
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No I don't believe you can.. Not without permission from the copyright owner...
 
wucao said:
Hi

Due to this source (Avicii's Levels sample of Etta James's Something's Got a Hold on Me | WhoSampled), I know that Avicii sampled the vocal of Etta James for his track Levels.

But is that allowed? Can I just sample the vocals from an older track and put it in mine?
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Some may find the link below interesting, beware, this is reference to the UK, different regulations will apply in other geographical areas.
Copyright license's do expire in certain circumstances.
https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/using/photocopying/copydur/
 
summary - it depends on how old the source recording is:

more than 50 years old then it is no longer deemed to be in copyright, however beware of this figure as different countries say different things about how long copyright exists

also the format of the recording determines the date from which copyright commences.

Issuing the recording on vinyl is a different copyright date to that of of the issuing on tape (reel-to-reel/8-track/cassette) is different to issuing the recording on cd is different to issuing the recording in mp3 or other digital format. Publication in each medium provides a new start date for copyright in those recordings.

so you could possibly use the Etta James recordings if they were made and published before 1964.

this of course means that the if you can find an original pressing of Please, Please Me or any earlier recordings made by the Beatles that the material is fair game, in the UK at least
 
UK, check out the duration of rights in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988, again be warned, the act is notoriously slow at keeping up to date with changes in legislation. You may want to try the intellectual property office link below.
https://www.gov.uk/intellectual-property/copyright
 
the active portion relating to sound recordings

How long copyright in sound recordings lasts

The length of term of copyright in a sound recording depends on whether or not it has been published (released) or has been communicated to the public (for example, played on the radio)
if a recording is not published or communicated to the public, copyright lasts for 50 years from when the recording was made
if a recording is published within 50 years of when it was made, copyright lasts for 70 years from the year it was first published
if a recording is not published within 50 years of when it was made, but it is communicated to the public, copyright lasts for 70 years from the year it was first communicated to the public
if a recording is first communicated to the public within 50 years of when it was made and is then published at a later date (but within 70 years of its first communication to the public), copyright lasts for 70 years from the year it was first published
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i.e. in spite of saying that a sound recording can only be copyrighted for 50 years in the first summary, it turns out that it can be active for up to 190 years
- as long as it was broadcast within the initial 50 years from when the recording was made, and then published within 70 years of that initial broadcast date a further 70 years of copyright subsists in the recording
-- broadcast on the last day of the 50 years from when the recording was made, publish on the last day of the 70 year period to publish, get another 70 years of publishing = 190 years less 2 days
- so the Beatles recordings are safe for another 28 years at this stage

a short truth table for the above sentences

Durationbroadcast within 50 years of being madepublished within 50 years of being madepublished within 70 years of being first broadcast
50 yearsNONO-
70 years from the date of first broadcastYESNO-
70 years from date of publicationNOYES-
120-190 yearsYES-YES

what cannot be changed though, a new 70 years is not given when publishing in each new medium separately - the first publication is when the 70 years starts, as there is not a new recording of the material simply a translation from one medium to another
 
Not all the Beatles recordings are safe, Bandcoach, quite right the releases are safe for now; however, the un-released recordings in the vaults will become public domain 50 years after recording, obviously, unless they are released before-hand.
You may find the article below interesting
Beatles for sale: copyright laws force Apple to release 59 tracks | Music | The Guardian

Copyright law can be a mine field of technicality, maybe best left to legal experts.:)

In theory it could be legally possible to use recordings by Etta James pre-1964 as long as those recordings have not been pre-released? subject to the appropriate regions legislation.
 
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Basically it's like this wucao, if you do it for free, the chances of the companies trying to sue you is way lower if you didn't [example] ask square enix if you could sample their games lol.
And plus, since so many people like to remix, companies not gonna do you anything unless of course you make money from sampling them, that's a given.
One example is beastie boys lawsuit. So if you are not a hobbyist, and you intend on doing this as a job you will have to do business things like sample clearance.
The companies don't really care if you sample or remix them for fun. But if that fanmade stuff gets past a certain threshold they can possibly do something
 
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KonKossKang said:
And plus, since so many people like to remix, companies not gonna do you anything unless of course you make money from sampling them, that's a given.
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when it comes to music business and the law nothing is a given: some companies will wait until you are making money from exploiting their intellectual property rights, others will slap you with a cease and desist order the moment they become aware of your misuse of their property, others will sue you for everything you currently own and anything you may earn in the future

do you really want to roll the dice with those sorts of odds stacked against you: 3 in 4 scenarios end with you losing money/property to compensate for your appropriation of someone else's intellectual property: rigged game against you
 
bandcoach said:
when it comes to music business and the law nothing is a given: some companies will wait until you are making money from exploiting their intellectual property rights, others will slap you with a cease and desist order the moment they become aware of your misuse of their property, others will sue you for everything you currently own and anything you may earn in the future

do you really want to roll the dice with those sorts of odds stacked against you: 3 in 4 scenarios end with you losing money/property to compensate for your appropriation of someone else's intellectual property: rigged game against you
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I'm fully aware that if capcom, square enix namco find out they have every right to do so. But man, that's what got me interested in all of this in the first place.
4 years ago I found out you can chop up your favorite videogame audio and do little remixes of anime and stuff. Although i use s1/reason, if it wasn't for learning that fl studio existed from bmkiki I wouldn't have gotten interested in the first place :/
Simply put, sampling pulled me into this hobby, then I learned all this extra stuff and came across everything by chance.

But the chances of that happening anyways are very very low so I continue to remix games, anime do alittle synthesis here and there regardless.
 
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KonKossKang said:
I'm fully aware that if capcom, square enix namco find out they have every right to do so. But man, that's what got me interested in all of this in the first place.
4 years ago I found out you can chop up your favorite videogame audio and do little remixes of anime and stuff. Although i use s1/reason, if it wasn't for learning that fl studio existed from bmkiki I wouldn't have gotten interested in the first place :/
Simply put, sampling pulled me into this hobby, then I learned all this extra stuff and came across everything by chance.

But the chances of that happening anyways are very very low so I continue to remix games, anime do alittle synthesis here and there regardless.
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You and a thousand others KonKossKang, be careful, it'll bite you in the ass once your rich and famous. ;)
 
Lmfao nah, this fun but not everyone's cut out for that. The stuff on the radio is just not what interests my curiosity, and plus I'm into some pretty weird hobbies to boot :/
However, I would very much like to work on machines and such in the future. Handmade processors?Never hear of things like that.
Why sound does this and why, how synths are capable of imitation and creation of audio etc.

Long story short my attention span is all over the place. I do not have what it takes for that lol.
[However I do ride behind riffraff and lilB, I honestly like those instrumentals they come up with]
 
KonKossKang said:
Lmfao nah, this fun but not everyone's cut out for that. The stuff on the radio is just not what interests my curiosity, and plus I'm into some pretty weird hobbies to boot :/
However, I would very much like to work on machines and such in the future. Handmade processors?Never hear of things like that.
Why sound does this and why, how synths are capable of imitation and creation of audio etc.

Long story short my attention span is all over the place. I do not have what it takes for that lol.
[However I do ride behind riffraff and lilB, I honestly like those instrumentals they come up with]
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Sounds complicated and possibly a little expensive to produce processors by hand. I Worked for Japanese company Hitachi, electronic control units to regulate petrol consumption and airflow, they were assembled by maschines on a production line, cheap overheads and ultra efficient work flow, huge price mark-ups and masses of profit.

You shouldn't be down on your attention span, want something enough, you'll get there one way or another, especially in the music industry, where people can be swayed into just about anything, with the passing of new technologies success becomes more attainable with each new idea.
 
But that's the thing though. I have not one main interest :/
Simply some gamer who came across a huge hobby, and in the process learned things he had no idea was even a thing.
My interests became interests from external means, such as listening to older beatmakers who did well...audio for media I enjoy.Champloo sound designers etc you get the picture.
Maybe we have different views of this, but the reasons I have to doing this is due to it entertaining me. I enjoy this, but...dude.
I do this stuff when I don't feel like working.
 
KonKossKang said:
But that's the thing though. I have not one main interest :/
Simply some gamer who came across a huge hobby, and in the process learned things he had no idea was even a thing.
My interests became interests from external means, such as listening to older beatmakers who did well...audio for media I enjoy.Champloo sound designers etc you get the picture.
Maybe we have different views of this, but the reasons I have to doing this is due to it entertaining me. I enjoy this, but...dude.
I do this stuff when I don't feel like working.
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Nothing wrong with the reason behind what you do, I'm not familiar with Champloo soundtracks, but it's nice to see someone drawing inspiration from outside of mainstream. I'm looking to create that elusive 'perfect' album, a journey of discovery that keeps me hungry and occupied, if I'm learning - I'm improving, if I'm improving - I'm evolving.
Mountains of cash shouldn't be the measure of my success, time be the judge; people still enjoying my music 100 years after my death, a kind of music immortality should stand as fitting testimony to success, it's my personal belief and my main goal as a composer.
 
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I need not worry bout them titles, if I feel like listening to mainstreams or undergrounds I do so regardless.
That similar process where you're just building stuff and over time it gets stronger or bigger or more structured in some way, that's what got me.
"Leveling" "Growing" bleh. Rambling aside, gl on the goal.
 
Beastie boys lawsuit
joyce hatto
that cuckabaroo song scandal thing
and lupe fiasco around my way song beef with pete rock

researched all those, sucks for them lol. That's another flaw with sampling right there, if you do blow up then you'll need to worry about companies with lawsuits. If I ever get in trouble for sampling [kingdom hearts 2] 40+ times in the future though, still worth it xD well, depending on how square feels about the situation of course.
 
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