Using audio samples in songs, what are the leagalities?

[quadrajet]

Hello everyone,
I was interested in using some audio sound clips in one of my songs of stupid things politicians have said in the last few years. Is it okay to do this or do you have to get permission from the moron being quoted?

Thanks in advance!

[Rock Star 87]

if that's all u want to use, i would say go 4 it. anything that is said by a public figure is public domain. some things are copyrighted, like the i have a dream speech by Martin Luther King, but not every speech by every politician. my advice is to check in the copyright office's website and do a search for that politician. see what they have done that's copyrighted or not.

[quadrajet]

Thanks for the reply.
Sounds good to me, I'll be sure to tell Rummy you said it's okay to use his famous "there are known knowns, unknown knowns, things we know that we don't know...etc." speech!

[Kore]

Woah, wait. You don't have to apply for a Copyright. A Copyright is not applied for like Trademarks (TM) and Patents. If I write a song in my basement, it's copyrighted by law, whether or not I go through any actions. Now, proving I wrote it is a different story.

If I design a circuit board for a guitar stompbox, it's considered art, and is copyrighted. No applications, etc. It's a very touchy subject, I know. Now, political speeches are probably fairly safe, but sampling other peoples' drum beats, music, etc. is not a legal thing to do withou permission; although I've heard that if you don't make money off of a recording you do in which you "borrow" samples, it might be okay (not sure about that).

My advice is not to take my advice, but do a little googling and stuff to find out hte legalities of it. It depends on what country you're in, and other factors.

RULE OF THUMB: DON'T TAKE LEGAL ADVICE FORUM GOERS' WITHOUT A SECOND OPINION, ESPECIALLY NOT MINE.

[lykwydchykyn]

Being a CIVIL and not a CRIMINAL issue, copyright gets complicated. Anyone can sue you for it any time they want. Whether they'll win, whether it's worth the trouble, how much money they'll get, etc. is all up in the air, really.

The reality is, you probably won't get sued. But you probably could.

[philboyd studge]

Steer clear of major political speeches for they'll often have a registered copyright by the people that wrote them. Not to worry though, politicians say plenty stupid things and usually their best quotes are what they made up on the spot.

[quadrajet]

I think the "known knowns and unknown knowns" drivel was probably rehearsed but was not part of a speech - then again who knows (bad pun, sorry)

[Aaron Cheney]

There's a difference between copyrighting a song or speech and copyrighting a sound recording or performance of it..... two different copyright forms and two different copyrights.

For example, I might write a song and own the copyright to the song itself. No one can record of version of my song without my permission. Then if Garth Brooks gets my permission and puts it on his new album he can copyrighthis audio performance of it. Then if Tim McGraw does a version of it in his next album, he can copyright his audio performance of it. If you sample a piece of Tim's recording, Tim has a claim but Garth does not, and vice verca. But the real question we're looking at in this analogy as it relates to your original question is wether I would have a claim if someone sampled either version.

In this example, I don't have a copyright protecting any recorded work, only one protecting the song itself. I honestly don't know the answer here. My guess would be that if the sample you lifted has any lyrcs or musical lines that make it identifiable as my song, I would. If, on the other hand, you just lifted a snare hit or a bass line, I would not. (Only Tim would, since it was his copyrighted recording.)

Recordings of public speeches might be different. Those recording may fall under public domain, and a copyright may just be to prevent plagarism.

Hmmm... it's an interesting conundrum.

A

[Layla Nahar]

hmm recordings of speeches may be public domain. A freind who uses a lot of samples believes that radio broadcasts can be used without the risk of being sued. Its really hard to find good guidelines on this, especially because we use common law, so its always evolving. I know I'd like to be more informed, because at some point I'll probably be facing the same issues as you. Kind of a pain, we have to be part time law students as well as artists...

ps: the term "fair use" gets thrown about a lot - important for universities and teaching. Wonder how using it in a piece of music figures in...

[BentRabbit]

I guess the main question is:

Where are you getting the original recording to sample FROM ? A. Cheny was correct when he said that original recorded works have two mediums... the work itself and the recording...

Once the work is put into tangible form (i.e. written on paper or recorded to tape/CD) you have a copyright of your work. All that means is: You made it, it's yours.
Registering the work with the copyright.gov gives you a legal leg if needed...

So... are you getting the recording from a newscast? Did you record it? You might run into problems if you're taking something that one of the major news outfits created... The folks who recorded it might raise a stink...

In all likelyhood, you can probably sample the bits you're wanting and nothing will ever come of it... But better safe than sorry....

Here's a little thing I found relating to using a Presidential speech that pretty much sums it up:

http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=209660

Good luck!

[MadAudio]

If you have a copy of "Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention" then just take a look and see what is says there. FZ used a ton of clips from the PMRC hearings.