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getting clearance for samples
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1191
Posted : Oct 1, 2012 23:08:00
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so i made some tunes and sampled whatever i thought sounded cool at the time. then a label approached me and said they want to release some of my music, but its got a bunch of copyrighted shit in it. some of it is from obscure ethnomusicology recordings, some of it is from labels from the 90s that were bought by other labels which were bought by big companies.
I compiled a list of all the copyrighted samples i used and just sent emails to all these companies (except one that doesn't have an email, or phone, only a PO Box), but I am not feeling very optimistic that they will respond to me, or offer the sample for an affordable price.
should I even be doing this legwork? would a good label do this work for me? I'm okay with sharing royalties, but man...i've got a day job and trying to track down all these copyright holders and then negotiate terms seems quite daunting. i'm not a lawyer.
the label basically told me to "get permission or remove the samples" but removing some of these samples would totally change the songs, and I like them the way they are. has anyone else ever had to deal with this?
should I just throw these tracks to the wind and start work on new material that doesn't sample anything?
thanks in advance for any input you all may have
  http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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Kolishin Methud
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
266
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 00:56
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hmmmm if i was in your shoes i would probably make different versions of the tracks, and compare in real time first of all, and if the label still wants them let them have em... of course i really agree with you when you say some of those samples really set the track and removing them would change the whole thing.... so in that case i would release those tracks for free with or without the labels help. then just work on some new material for the label. The way im thinking is most of all if you aren't going to profit off of free tracks (at least not in a money sense.) so if you release those tracks with the samples for free under the creative commons rights, and in the description of where your tracks are being hosted from, give credit to those companies just in case.... another thing you could do if it wouldn't change the track is to literally go back through and alter and manipulate the samples till they sound completely different. or you could just take these tracks and scrap them all together and use them only for live gigs?
http://soundcloud.com/brentmalik |
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snowdogg
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
482
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 01:26
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psytrance is packed full of illegal samples! sesto sento dont pay to use simpson samples etc etc.
dont worry about it! just say you got permission and its all good..
sometimes even a well known song is completely copied (vocals/melodies) and given a slight psytrance flavour for release on a big label!! i doubt very much theres fullon artists paying royalties to Michael Jackson or WWE:) |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
Posts :
5292
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 01:31
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You won't come even close to generating the cash to get the major's lawyers on the case.
That's the general idea from my bootleg days....that and press only 2000 copies of a white label.
http://soundcloud.com/martianarts |
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1191
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 02:04
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haha, yeah, although it is quite tempting to just say i got permission and go ahead with it, i'd be doing one of two things
1) setting my intentions to not sell enough to gain any real attention
or
2) setting myself up to walk a legal minefield if i do get any attention
Plus, it would generally make me and my wife nervous for me to sign a legally binding contract stating that I have the rights to use these samples and accept full liability if it turnes out that i don't. very nervous indeed...
my music isn't trance, btw, so i run the "risk"  of being noticed outside the psyscene. if it were psytrance i'd just hack the samples to bits in some weird twisted way, but its world fusion stuff so to denegrate the samples would make the songs sound like shite and not at all as I had intended.
I've got some ideas on how i could re-create some of the vocals on my own, but that seems like a last resort. i really just want to leave the songs as they are, but i guess my artform is "illegal" hahaha
i really don't know what i'm gonna do at this point. feeling discouraged, but not beaten....
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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splikz
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
287
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 02:09
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soniq vision with the lady gaga remix... and so on.
psy is underground. no one from the copyrights listens to it hahaha.
try to get clearance..
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knocz
Moderator
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
1151
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 03:53
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How much do you have to change to a royalty sample, in order for it to be royalty free?
Like, there's the whole "Queen vs. Vanilla Ice" thing, over only a single riff, but that seems like history nowadays.
However, would slight changes do it? like a well placed EQ and compression, or does it really have to be unrecognizable?
I have two theories:
-firstoff, when audio is encoded to a digital format, it's converted to binary, that is, to a stream of '0's ans '1's. Using MP3 encoding, it's possible to store 1 minute in 1 MB of information. Well, the number of different possible files is known, something like the combination of the 2 different digits in 1048576 spaces.. quite a big number, but if it's only 10 seconds, than its the combination of 2 digits in 1024 spaces.. And it's extreemely easy to make a program that generates random files (you just need to generate random 0's and 1's), therefor it's possible to generate every piece of music and sounds and noise that ever existed, exists and will exists, and the ones that would never be created..
It's a long run, but still it's possible, so you just need to have a bit of luck.
-Second, if you're not in the 'states, or in the same country of the royalty owner, than there's probably not much to worry about.
Sorry not being able to help.. but if the label accepts the tune without the sample, than leave the version with the samples to "live" playing!
Super Banana Sauce http://www.soundcloud.com/knocz |
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1191
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 16:34
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well, so far i'm 1 and 1.
i heard back from the director of a documentary I sampled who was really cool and gave me permission right away.
then i heard back from a guy who recorded some folk music in southern Laos who said "i don t wish u to use it into such a
bastardized beat soup, sorry, hope u understand."
what a prick. like this fuckin guy did anything but hold a mic in front of some elderly villagers, so now he thinks he's the supreme judge of what is good and bad. grrrr. this one pisses me off. gotta try not to be bitter but this guy's arrogance cost me a song. gahhh...
my new mantra should be:
"don't get bitter, don't get bitter, don't get bitter...."
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1191
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 17:37
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oh man, and the icing on the cake is how brutal this guy's own electro-ethno tracks are: http://soundcloud.com/kink-gong
ouch man, i mean.....i'm sure he thinks his stuff is "avant garde" but really it just sounds like shit. to call my music "bastardized" but freely release this stuff of his is rather hypocritical. seriously, i can't imagine anyone listening to this for pleasure aside from other people who think melody, rhythm, emotion, and phrasing are over rated or people who think "bad is the new good."
okay, end rant on greedy, musically untalented, hypocritical, arrogant, douchebag ethnomusicologist.
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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Alien Bug
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
27
Posts :
682
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 18:05
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1191
Posted : Oct 2, 2012 20:34
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i know he has the "right" to because he "owns" the recordings, but don't you think its kind of an asshole thing to do? we're not talking about me being on MTV and making millions off a Queen sample...we're talking about an indie musician sampling some obscure ethnomusicological recordings.
if it were me, i would just be happy that the recordings weren't just collecting dust somewhere and that i was helping another musician. but i guess this is the subtle, yet important, difference between and artist and someone who goes around recording artists.
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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snowdogg
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
482
Posted : Oct 3, 2012 14:48
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i agree vector, he seems like a stuck up piece of shit.
also his music sounds like ass to me..
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snowdogg
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
482
Posted : Oct 3, 2012 14:51
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looks to me like hes selling these cds though...
CHINA (19 CDS) etc etc..
JUST BUY THEM AND THEN DO WHAT YOU WANT HE DOESNT REALLY HAVE A SAY peace |
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vector_0
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
1191
Posted : Oct 3, 2012 14:52
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hahahaha, thanks for the support dude. seriously, it helps to hear it from someone else
I think i'm pretty much over it, though, now that i slept a night. it was good to vent it here, so thanks everyone.
i think the lesson i've learned is: don't sample anything unless its royalty-free
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On 2012-10-03 14:51, snowdogg wrote:
looks to me like hes selling these cds though...
CHINA (19 CDS) etc etc..
JUST BUY THEM AND THEN DO WHAT YOU WANT HE DOESNT REALLY HAVE A SAY peace
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yeah, i'll keep giving the song away for free whether he likes it or not, but I really wouldn't feel right about releasing it on a label against his wishes.
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector |
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psyraal
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
77
Posts :
768
Posted : Oct 3, 2012 18:54
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sampled a bit of the 'supernatural' show into one of my tracks, it's like 30 secs long but you can't really tell where it is, i mean, you can if you really look for it, 'cause of dist/verb/delay etc but overall it's not really in your face so one doesn't even notice if unaware.
and that's pretty much the key to it (imo), besides, most of the time, sampling stuff, either vocals, ambients, watever, from movies or other songs is a hundred times more fun if you re-arrange them and edit them (like distortion etc).
but if i was in your shoes and were obligated to remove some samples, i was pretty much throwing my tracks in the trash, because sometimes taking out some samples from a single track can make it look a bit 'empty'. (unless you re-arrange the whole thing)
https://soundcloud.com/neervos |
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