the art of sampling: the sampling tradition of hip hop/rap music & copyright law, 3rd edition

by Amir said

The art of sampling is one of the most innovative art forms and music processes to emerge in the late-twentieth century. And it stands today as a celebrated cultural activity within the hip hop/rap music tradition and beyond. At the same time, sampling has become one of the most controversial and polarizing topics in pop culture. The debate about sampling and copyright law has been brewing for 40 years; and now this debate has become more intense than ever. The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition by Amir Said examines this complex and controversial art form and music process and presents a study that illuminates its history, creative mechanics, and philosophy. Likewise, The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition also explores the implications that sampling holds for copyright law, and it sheds much needed light on modern ideas of originality, creativity, and authorship.

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"When I started reading The Art of Sampling I was excited to get a deeper look at the history and execution of the art form. To be clear, the book more than delivers in that regard. Said offers up a very clear trajectory of hip hop production and sampling, from Kool Herc to the current trap music trend, that will help hip hop lovers understand how their favorite genre has grown and changed over the years. But what truly blew my mind open and inspired me to write this review was the book's closing third, when Said breaks down the current state of fair use and copyright law. On its surface it sounds like a dry topic, but Said's writing really helped me understand just how dramatically copyright's original purpose [has] been hijacked by big business, and how copyright and fair use is now intertwined with all of our lives." —Nathan Slavik

“An incisive work of scholarship, equally valuable for its insights into process, nuanced musicology and its groundbreaking legal analysis.” —Adam Mansbach

“This book is everything a sampling beatmaker needs.” —Marco Polo

“A book that not only proves sampling is a legitimate art form, but uses sampling as a lens to show just how distorted copyright law's original intentions have become...a must read for anyone interested in art, business and free speech...” —DJ Booth

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Extensive, comprehensive, and loaded with the most accurate and up-to-date information on sampling and copyright law, The Art of Sampling is currently the #1 book in the world on the subject. The all new Third Edition of The Art of Sampling adds 80% new content over the previous edition. Divided into five primary parts, including an in-depth History part, a robust Instruction (how-to) part, an eye-opening Criticism part; and a highly comprehensive Copyright Law part, and Sample Rights Part, The Art of Sampling is detailed, sharply informative, and engaging. Astute and intensely thought-provoking, it's the definitive book on sampling and copyright law, and one of the most striking and poignant music studies to come along in years.

Totaling 26 chapters and more than 1,600 pages (triple the size of the previous edition), this edition is Said's and Superchamp Books' most ambitious book to date. And due to the size and scope of this book, we're going to need YOUR help in completing production and making the first print run on schedule.

**What's in The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition?**

First, you should know: This is figuratively and literally a Big Book!

The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition clocks in at a whopping 1,600 pages. It includes 26 chapters, and comes with an extensive index that's perfect for music makers, educators, scholars, and hip hop/rap fans alike. Given it's sheer size, scope, and detail, The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition is truly the "Power Broker" of sampling & copyright law.

The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition illustrates the different artistic, legal, and social questions related to music sampling as well as the continuum that sampling serves in Western popular music. To properly engage in a discussion about sampling and copyright law, one must possess four things: 1) A knowledge of the associated histories of the hip hop/rap music tradition; 2) A solid understanding of beatmaking, the chief compositional process of hip hop/rap music; 3) A keen awareness of the history, purpose, and rules of copyright law; and 4) A proper understanding of the concepts of originality, creativity, and authorship. There’s no excuse for sample-based musicians to remain in the dark about copyright law; and there’s no excuse for copyright scholars to disregard the compositional complexities of sampling. So here’s what I cover in The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition:

The early history of hip hop/rap music: How multiple art forms coalesced into one culture; and how hip hop was built upon a “culture of sampling”
The history of beatmakinng, the chief compositional process of hip hop/rap music, which is inextricably linked to the art of sampling
The mechanics of the art sampling, which includes an comprehensive examination of how sampling is done in the hip hop/rap music tradition
Detailed instruction with incredible insights for sample-based beatmakers (producers) and other musicians at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level
An comprehensive examination of the story of rhythm in Black music
The history of United States copyright law, which includes an examination of how eighteenth-century concepts of originality, creativity, and authorship helped shape American copyright law, and how it continues to influence our modern notions of creativity
The criticism surrounding sampling, and the role that bias and privilege plays in this area
The implications that sampling holds for copyright, including an in-depth and unmatched analysis of the most important copyright infringement lawsuits involving sampling.
An examination of sample rights vs. sample clearance.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

PART 1 - THE HISTORY OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF HIP HOP CULTURE, BEATMAKING, and THE ART OF SAMPLING

Chapter 1 - A CULTURE OF SAMPLING: An Overview of the Four Elements of Hip Hop

Chapter 2 - THE ART OF BEATMAKING: The Birth and Rise of the Hip Hop/Rap Beatmaking Tradition: Eight Periods of Distinct Development

PART 2 - COMPOSITION AND INSTRUCTION AESTHETICS, COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS, PERFORMANCE, AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE ART OF SAMPLING

Chapter 3 - Grandmaster Flash Battled Mozart At The Fever and Mozart Got Burned: Hip Hop/Rap Music Theory and Beatmaking, The Chief Compositional Process of Hip Hop/Rap Music

Chapter 4 - Hook a Beat Up and Convert it Into Hip Hop Form: Composition, Programming, and Arrangement — Getting The Ingredients And Putting Them All Together

Chapter 5 - An Overview of The Art of Sampling

Chapter 6 - The Compositional Elements of Sampling: The Sampling Equation, and Composition and Arrangement in the Art of Sampling

Chapter 7 - Drums and Sampling

Chapter 8 - The Story of Rhythm in Black Music: The Origins of Rhythm in American Popular Music; Key Characteristics and Nuances of Rhythm and Groove; Rhythmic Feels; The Indelible Influence of James Brown on the Use of Rhythm in Popular Music; and Four Critical Factors That Impact Rhythm in Hip Hop/Rap Music

Chapter 9 - The Missing Context of The Click-and-Clock Rhythmic Feel

Chapter 10 - Sampling Techniques: Extended Sampling Techniques, Notes, Tips, and Analysis

PART 3 - THE CRITICISM SURROUNDING SAMPLING

Chapter 11 - The Function and Value of The Art of Sampling: Cultural Histories, Misconceptions, and Musical Hierarchies, Orientations, and Tastes That Influence Our Opinions of Sampling; and Why Sampling is a “Useful Art”

Chapter 12 - What David Sanjek’S essay “Don’t Have to DJ No More’: Sampling and The ‘Autonomous’ Creator” Reveals About Scholarship and Criticism Surrounding the Art of Sampling Musicianship vs. Technology, Preserving An Accurate Account of Hip Hop/Rap Music’s Role In the Development of Sampling, and the Importance of Understanding Copyright Law

PART 4 COPYRIGHT LAW

Chapter 13 - An Overview of Copyright Law Historical Clarity on Copyright Law and Policy in the United States

Chapter 14 - Demystifying Copyright Infringement: Substantial Similarity and the Complexity of Proving Infringement

Chapter 15 - The Unequal Protection of Black American Music Artists and How Copyright Law, Racial Discrimination, and Inequality Has Historically Disadvantaged Black Music Artists In America

Chapter 16 - Originality, Creativity and Authorship

Chapter 17 - Fair Use, Part 1: The Function of Fair Use

Chapter 18 - Fair Use, Part 2: Determining Fair Use: A Detailed Examination of The Four Factors of The Fair Use Test and How The Courts Typically Apply Them

Chapter 19 - Fair Use, Part 3: Fair Use, The Supreme Court, and The Music Industry What the United States Supreme Court Says About Fair Use and How the Music Industry Prefers to View Fair Use

Chapter 20 - Bridgeport

Chapter 21 - Post-Bridgeport, Part 1

Chapter 22 - Post-Bridgeport, Part 2

Part 5 - THE SAMPLE RIGHTS MANIFESTO

Chapter 23 - The Sample Clearance System

Chapter 24 - How to Fix Sample Clearance, Part 1

Chapter 25 - How to Fix Sample Clearance, Part 2

Chapter 26 - Sample Rights vs. Sample Clearance

Afterword

Appendix

Index

About Sampling as an Art Form

In terms of sampling as an art form and music process, commentary — written by academics and journalists beholden to a music hierarchy before hip hop/rap music emerged — has largely been about what sampling isn’t, i.e. that sampling really isn’t music making at all, that it’s not a "legitimate" music process, nor is it an art form. The irony of such commentary is that it overlooks the interconnectivity of all popular recorded music and what sampling actually does. Sampling, especially as it is best popularized and observed in the hip hop/rap music tradition, affirms the interconnectivity between all music forms. And sampling uses this interconnectivity to create a new music form that is at once every bit as new as it is old.

Further this point, the sampling tradition of hip hop/rap music popularized a music form that didn’t merely echo music of bygone eras (an activity at play in all music forms one way or the other). On the contrary, the art of sampling stitches fragments of actual music (often from the remote past) into the aesthetic itself. Much in the same way that writers borrow words and phrases from the works of other writers, and stitch them together in the process of creating new literary works.

About Copyright Law and Sample Rights vs. Sample Clearance: What You Should Know

(Source: Copyright Gov https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/)

What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t write a song, a poem, a recipe, or even a grocery list without permission?

What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t create art, that could even engage with an art form, unless you first had a license to do so?

Would you laugh at this someone? Would you be angry? Probably both, because intuitively, deep down inside, you already know they’re wrong.

Well, you should know that there is one side that's working hard to get the public to believe that sampling is "illegal"? This side’s agenda isn't really about upholding copyright law at all, but rather making the public believe every sample must be cleared, and that sampling, the actual activity itself, is "illegal" without a license.

You may already seen articles and headlines with language like, the "legal way" to sample or "legalize sampling." Next, will they be saying, "legalize writing"?

Pay attention folks.

There's a stark difference between between promoting the idea that there are times when something requires a license and pushing the false notion that something always requires a license. That's not copyright law works. There are limitations and exceptions. And a healthy understanding of copyright law means recognizing these limitations and exceptions and clearance.

But increasingly, one side's agenda is squarely focused on distracting you from the truth. Their aim is to get you to look away, to disinterest you from the facts of copyright law. Stopping that side's agenda — the sample-clearance agenda side — and disrupting all of the misinformation surrounding copyright law is, in large part, what The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition is about.

The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition is the playbook for helping the public more fully understand copyright law and its true purpose and objectives. The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition proposes that sample rights, i.e. creative rights, must be considered first before any discussion of clearance; as this is the case involving sound recordings and all eight categories of copyrightable subject matter. The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition makes clear that sampling — like writing or dancing or taking photos or designing or painting — is an activity that can never be "illegal".

The Change I Seek to Make

The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition goes a long way in helping change the culture surrounding sampling and copyright law, and I’m counting on you to become a change agent along with me.

One aim of The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition is to help sample-based beatmakers (producers) gain a deeper understanding of the art form and how copyright law promotes it as a “useful Art.” But more broadly speaking, The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition aims to amplify the fact that permissive borrowing rights are protected by copyright law, notably via the de minimis and fair use doctrines. This is important, because failure to act in this area could lead to a similar push to put all creative activity behind a wall of clearance.

The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition not only goes a long way in helping to change the discourse surrounding sampling and copyright law, it seeks to help protect all creative activity. This is why we're counting on you to become a change agent along with us.

**What Supporters of The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition Care About**

Amir, Gino, and I care deeply about art and creativity. We care about the human experience. We care about what’s right and what’s wrong. We care about knowledge and discovery and how it improves our lives. We care about music and all art forms. We care about the art of sampling and sample-based musicians. We care about facts. We care about copyright law, especially its purpose: "to promote the progress of Science and the Useful Arts." And we strongly believe that YOU care about these things, too.

**When Will The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition be Published**

The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition is currently set for publication on September 5, 2023. However, to make this date and reach our distribution and publicity goals, the book must be finished four months in advance. So technically, the book needs to be finished and sent out by May 5, 2023. Kickstarter will help us stay on schedule! Backers will also be the first to receive the book, plus receive rewards that won’t be available anywhere else.

What's in the Budget?

I’m going to get The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition into more hands than ever before. While digital books have have gained broad acceptance in the past 10 years, hard copy still remains king, as most readers still prefer to read and own a printed book. Thus, the single biggest cost will be printing. The initial print run will be 10,000 copies, per industry standard for a full media campaign.

Per Publishers Weekly:

For serious large-scale reviews and media coverage, for instance Publishers Weekly, a book must typically have a print run of 10,000 copies. Given its sheer size, I want to make The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition as affordable as possible once it's available. But the costs of final production and printing are high. That’s where you come in. We need YOU to help make this project a reality.

Money will be used specifically for:

Copyediting
Typesetting
Indexing
Proofreading (at least three rounds, three separate proofers)
Final production
Printing (the single biggest cost)

challenges

Editing, final production, and printing. With the sheer scope and size of The Art of Sampling, 3rd Edition, the biggest challenge will be that the printing takes more time than planned. But there is nothing that stands in our way of meeting this challenge once we have the funds in hand. We have an actionable plan, a realistic timeline, and – most importantly – the in-house expertise to get the job done.

Thank you for your support!

—Amir Said Co-Founder, Superchamp Books