Last week Jay-Z was sued by a little known outfit called Bridgeport Music Inc, over samples he used in the 2003 single, "Justify My Thug." Sampling lawsuits aren't new, but the forces behind this suit are a new sort of nuisance for the music business, a growing set of companies who produce nothing and only generate income through lawsuits to protect intellectual property portfolios of which they've gained control. Slate writes, "Similar to [their] cousins the patent trolls, Bridgeport and companies like it hold portfolios of old rights (sometimes accumulated in dubious fashion) and use lawsuits to extort money from successful music artists for routine sampling, no matter how minimal or unnoticeable. The sample trolls have already leveraged their position into millions in settlements and court damages, but that's not the real problem. The trolls are turning copyright into the foe rather than the friend of musical innovation."
It's a complicated issue, but one with far reaching implications. Sampling, and the artists who employ the technique, have had to fight for recognition as an art form over the years, while also facing the hurdles of the legal system. Still, through all of the in-fighting and rights wrangling, sampling has grown and flourished and become a part of many hits we've all enjoyed. Statutory penalties can be huge, and the fees involved in negotiating legal samples can be an impossible hurdle for all but the largest and most financially solvent of artists.
[via Slate]
21. I love hip-hop! Women suck - beat one today with the butt of your nine while you are getting high!!! Pimps are upstanding citizens!!
Posted at 2:19PM on Dec 15th 2006 by Steve