KVR Audio

dover666 · Post by **dover666** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:25 am

serious question here... where can you sample from, who do you contact? whats the deal... i'm not talking about sampling from songs - just audio from films. what's the deal? is there a law defining what length a sample can be, how it's used... i'm in the U.S., so, um yeah, help?

Mr. Tunes · Post by **Mr. Tunes** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:22 am

damn good question i've been wondering this for a while myself. I think for sampling normal music recordings you approach the Harry Fox Agency in the US http://www.harryfox.com and you pay them certain fees for sampling a mechanical and ASCAP/BMI for the performance part.

But I don't think they handle film soundtracks at all, so i've been sort of confused about this.

alienmachine · Post by **alienmachine** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:41 am

Yeah, good question. I always wondered how Skinny Puppy managed this. Anybody..?

John Vulich · Post by **John Vulich** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:54 am

I think that bands like Skinny Puppy and Frontline Assembly are enough under the radar to get away with it.

dover666, unless you think that you will get a lot of radio airplay, with your tracks, I wouldn't worry about it. If you get signed by some label, then maybe you should have them help you out with the necessary clearance issues.

Mr. Tunes · Post by **Mr. Tunes** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:57 am

John Vulich wrote:dover666, unless you think that you will get a lot of radio airplay, with your tracks, I wouldn't worry about it. If you get signed by some label, then maybe you should have them help you out with the necessary clearance issues.

I think a lot of distribution services would care though right? They don't want to be distributing music with illegal content in it.

John Vulich · Post by **John Vulich** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:01 am

Mr. Tunes wrote:
John Vulich wrote:dover666, unless you think that you will get a lot of radio airplay, with your tracks, I wouldn't worry about it. If you get signed by some label, then maybe you should have them help you out with the necessary clearance issues.
I think a lot of distribution services would care though right? They don't want to be distributing music with illegal content in it.

Yeah, but they should be able to guide their artists down the right path, don't you think?

jack [psychicmodulation] · Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:10 am

From what I understand, there have been hardly any suits or anything for a musician using film samples, probably because the two are totally different forms of media and the film industry just dont see it as something that would hurt their sales. But sampling from other music is always a big

Also, if you're not a mainstream artist, nobody's gonna waste their time taking it to court, even if they were somehow to stumble upon your track and notice the sample, which is probably processed and doesnt sound much like the original.

But there is always the rare case, so I guess it's all about taking chances. It's illegal, but your unlikely to get busted for it, kind of like smoking a joint on the streets of British Columbia, from what I hear at least.

Anyway, I say we rally congress to pass a bill to legalize film sampling

That's unlikely...

Mr. Tunes · Post by **Mr. Tunes** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:31 am

John Vulich wrote:
Mr. Tunes wrote:
John Vulich wrote:dover666, unless you think that you will get a lot of radio airplay, with your tracks, I wouldn't worry about it. If you get signed by some label, then maybe you should have them help you out with the necessary clearance issues.
I think a lot of distribution services would care though right? They don't want to be distributing music with illegal content in it.
Yeah, but they should be able to guide their artists down the right path, don't you think?

Yes I think so too, but I was sort of referring to the smaller distribution networks that most of us would use such as CD Baby which would probably tell you they'd rather not be a part of it rather than helping you get it cleared.

Jack R: I think the Film industry would still care in many ways since it's just as much an infringement and nowadays the labels and film companies have similar ownership, so they probably share legal teams too. In general it's totally true that if your tune isn't super-popular they would probably just give a cease and desist order before anything serious.

I'm curious about the answer to this question though cause I've read in various places that in certain ways the big artists actually want you to cover their songs and sample them legitimately cause for one it brings them more revenue and two it boosts their egos a bit to have a new generation of artists continuing their work. So I think agencies such as Harry Fox make it easier for you to do this by having to pay a cut of each song you sell. Now i'm wondering if this is the case for film samples(as I mention above).

Kingston · Post by **Kingston** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:45 am

I wouldn't mind a good article on this subject if someone happens to have one handy.

Mr. Tunes · Post by **Mr. Tunes** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:58 am

Kingston wrote:I wouldn't mind a good article on this subject if someone happens to have one handy.

Sorry do you mean on the subject of sampling films? Or sampling and artist rights in general(Music Publishing?). A few months ago I read a bit of the Plain and Simple Guide to Music Publishing and that helped me learn what the differences are between Mechanicals and Performing Rights. Now i'm reading Music Money and Success: The Insider's Guide to Making Money in the Music Business 5th Edition by the Brabeck brothers after I saw them give a lecture a few weeks ago. The book's a bit of a yawner though cause it's huge, but those guys are the brains.

Distorted_Mastermind · Thu Mar 30, 2006 5:43 am

Harry Fox doesn't deal with sampling. Harry fox is for people doing covers....sampling is something they won't touch and if you check their site close enough you will be able to find that.
To get legal clearance for sampling music you have to get permission from the person that owns the copyright....not sure about movies either. I have to agree with what has been said on popularity....a person/company isn't going to take someone to court to lose time and money, but prove a point.

Mr. Tunes · Post by **Mr. Tunes** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:33 am

Distorted_Mastermind wrote:Harry Fox doesn't deal with sampling. Harry fox is for people doing covers....sampling is something they won't touch and if you check their site close enough you will be able to find that.

Yes I was getting confused with Master rights. So I think you'd have to get in touch with the record label cause they usually own the Masters and in film that'd be the production house or even the distribution house. Unfortunately the larger the film the harder it would be to talk to anyone, although when there is potential money for these people they will speak!

CypherOne · Post by **CypherOne** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:36 am

John Vulich wrote:I think that bands like Skinny Puppy and Frontline Assembly are enough under the radar to get away with it.

dover666, unless you think that you will get a lot of radio airplay, with your tracks, I wouldn't worry about it. If you get signed by some label, then maybe you should have them help you out with the necessary clearance issues.

what he said. unless you're going to be some kind of superstar then who really gives a monkeys?

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:01 am

You have to contact the actual person who speech you are using, go to his house, kill his dog, f**k his wife, then politely ask if its ok to use his vocal in a song. Thats how it works where i live, not sure about Hollywood....

Kingston · Post by **Kingston** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:00 pm

Mr. Tunes wrote:Sorry do you mean on the subject of sampling films? Or sampling and artist rights in general(Music Publishing?)

No I meant an article related to only film sample rights and the copyright issues there. I've read up comprehensively on the topic of sampling music and how is works in detail: UK, USA, europe, all somewhat different depending on the local copyright organisations. But film dialog rights are a blank area for me.

sampling films? legal issues?