Is Sampling Dying?

Countless lawsuits over the past ten years have proven that music catalogs' owners spend substantial resources researching and litigating against unauthorized use of their music -- a process sometimes referred to as "trolling" or "sample chasing." Bridgeport Music, a publishing company that owns the rights to the music of such groups as Parliament/ Funkadelic and the Ohio Players, has filed hundreds of copyright infringement suits. While about half of these cases were either dismissed or settled, Bridgeport scored two important victories in the past few years. In a 2004 case that focused on N.W.A's use of a Parliament guitar sample, a judge mandated that the use of any unauthorized sample, no matter how obscured the source material, can be considered copyright infringement. And in 2006, Bridgeport and Westbound Records won $4.2 million in damages after a court ruled to stop all sales of Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die album because it contained an unauthorized sample of the Ohio Players' "Singing in the Morning."

Some majors do appear to be embracing unauthorized sampling. Take Gregg Gillis (a.k.a. Girl Talk), whose latest album, Feed the animals, contains more than 300 uncleared samples. "We've had no issues on a copyright level so far," says Gillis, who began selling his album in June as a pay-what-you-wish download. "People from major labels have been interested in having me collaborate [on remixes]. I think they're starting to realize, 'Why fight when we can work with it and make something cool?' "

RZA believes sampling needs to be regulated, starting with standardized fees and government oversight. Producers often have to give 50 to 100 percent of any publishing revenue to the original artist they're sampling. RZA would like to see a new system where the publishing is equally split between the new producer and original artist, and in which session players from the initial recording even get paid again. "All this publishing was taken away from the artists," he says, "and that kind of raped the hip- hop industry." But not everyone in the industry shares his opinion.

"Not all samples are equal," says Monica Corton, a vice president at Next Decade Entertainment. Corton, whose company represents catalogs from soul and R&B artists like Millie Jackson and Joe Simon, has licensed samples to Young Jeezy, Redman, and Pharoahe Monch. "Some people put the sampled work so out front that it dominates the song," she says, "while others use a small portion that is not as evident."

But according to Carr, dwindling profits across the industry have label executives searching for ways to maximize existing revenue sources. "Some of the majors have realized if they want to collect money on smaller things, they need to quote smaller figures [for samples]," she says. Lots of artists want to be honest about what they're sampling, "but they can't afford it."

But until some sort of universal decision is made, more and more hip-hop artists will likely go the Kanye route and continue to blur the lines of traditional hip-hop by relying on electronic production. "Right now, without sampling in hip-hop," RZA says, "it's really a soggy-ass form of music."