Selling Beats with Uncleared Samples!!

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bknot1

bknot1

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here is a good post on how much it could run you to clear a sample from another site

Re: Selling Beats With Uncleared Samples
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Actually, clearing a sample isn't that difficult. You can usually look online to get the contact info for the label. then just call their legal dept.

I produced a song for some cats that used the "She's Strange" beat by Cameo. It was the first 8 bars of the song so it was really noticeable to anybody who had heard the original.

Anyway, I did a google search for the label and within about 5 minutes, I found out that Universal owned the rights. So I called the legal dept at Universal and talked to somebody.

She told me to type out the lyrics of the song and send a cd with the original Cameo song and the new version that i had produced.

After about a week, they sent me a contract that basically said I needed to give them $4,500 up-front and share 50% of the publishing and copyright. I showed the contract to a lawyer and he said it was a pretty standard contract.
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Yeah.. The process as sorta become routine nowadays... Good post dog...
 
Wow man... I gotta stay away from sampling. There is NO WAY I will be able to afford figures like that :(
 
I do it to learn the skill.. Plus it's a trip flipping a sample..... :D
 
Not a bad thing to learn the skill...sometimes some nice tracks can be made with flipping a sample (and knowing when and where to do it in good taste). I just can't stand so called beat makers who only stick to samples and use it to carry half of their beat and then say "check out this beat I made"
 
Fieva said:
Not a bad thing to learn the skill...sometimes some nice tracks can be made with flipping a sample (and knowing when and where to do it in good taste). I just can't stand so called beat makers who only stick to samples and use it to carry half of their beat and then say "check out this beat I made"
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Agreed.. I usually rate the producer on the obscurity of the sample, too... I've been developing an ear for slicing-candidates... That's usually how I flip 'em these days... Sounds cooler.. Harder to get caught... More thought required.. :D
 
Pardon my ingnorance but what exactly would flippin a sample be? can some one explain it?
 
freshlysqueezed said:
Pardon my ingnorance but what exactly would flippin a sample be? can some one explain it?
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It basically means using a sample in a creative way... Honestly.. It's more complicated than that....

If you hear a song that samples... hmm... the Annie Soundtrack

And you say.. I know where that came from.. I can do something different than 45 King did...

And you do....

Then you've flipped a sample...

Of course... I dunno if I'm right... Hip Hop culture thrives on these oddities.. :D
 
peritus said:
It basically means using a sample in a creative way... Honestly.. It's more complicated than that....

If you hear a song that samples... hmm... the Annie Soundtrack

And you say.. I know where that came from.. I can do something different than 45 King did...

And you do....

Then you've flipped a sample...

Of course... I dunno if I'm right... Hip Hop culture thrives on these oddities.. :D
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I was using it in a general sense... For example...

I go to the thrift store and buy a random record that looks good for 50 cents...

I go home.. Sample it.. Get 50 Cent to flow over it...

I've sampled.... not flipped a sample...

It's semantics, really... Either way... people will pick up on what ya mean...
 
so by flippin a sample you mean taking a sample that someone already used and makin it your own, like lets say i sample the same song as someone but use it differently throughout the song?
 
freshlysqueezed said:
so by flippin a sample you mean taking a sample that someone already used and makin it your own, like lets say i sample the same song as someone but use it differently throughout the song?
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Yeah... but it depends on who ur talking to... Some people.... myself included... use it as an unbrella term.... :o
 
peritus said:
Yeah... but it depends on who ur talking to... Some people.... myself included... use it as an unbrella term.... :o
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Here's a quote from some random page I found when doing a search for it..

"Digging itself is an art. You can just go in a record store, grab a vinyl and make a beat. But, it takes more to take your time and listen to the record and think about how to flip the sample. I could hear an ill ass loop that someone else has already sampled, but you have to figure out ways around just looping it (even though I'll admit that sometimes I'll take a loop and pretty much just leave it and throw drums over it and call it a banger). Lately, I have been going against my instincts when sampling. I'll sample something completely odd and mess with it by tuning it or adding certain effects, time stretching and even using an old sample I've used before to layer over it and make it sound better. "
 
You can loss a lot of money if you don't get it.. But that's for big labels. Truth Hurts got sued for about $500,000 for not clearing an indian sample from a song. I know artists who just contacted a label and stated that they were using a sample in their project. It wasn't a big money project. The label sent a letter stating it was OK to use the sample in the current project. But, if the sells of the CD start making big money, you would have to do publishing and pay.

But, look at this. If you make very little,and don't sell more then 2000 copies. Paying $4,000 for clearance with 50% publishing is not realistic. It's easy for a big label to pay that $4,000 fee cause they go platinum. Just be creative when sampling. Like said, just use a sample to add to a beat, not make a whole beat from a sample.

Also remember there is a second limit in sampling until you have to get sample clearance. Years ago it used to be about 5 seconds. I think it may have changed over the years. I have to look into that.

Here's a good link:
http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_clear/
http://www.hopkinsmusicgroup.com/sample.html
 
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i thought there wasnt a limit for sample clearance and that you had to it from the SR copyright holder no matter what.
 
That's why I need to check the updated issue on this. Back when I was in school, there was a second limit before you had to pay and get clearance for a sample. I do remember hearing on the news that labels were trying to make you pay for any amount of a sample used. I guess that law has come into play. Good post to polish my education on this...
 
Sorry if this sounds offensive, but the whole sampling thing seems kind of lazy or something to me. Yeah, I know you can play around and make some cool new sound from it and that's its been done 100 times over, but still. I know it's usually hip hop or whatever people call it, but... I just feel if I had written a new song, I wouldn't have as much pride in it knowing parts of it are "samples." Just my 2cents. And yeah, I'm not much for hiphop, so I am biased.
 
You're right about the new "any length of sample" thing. I remember Chuck D was real mad about that and said that it would be impossible to make the PE classic albums in modern times because of the sample costs.
 
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