Copyright Remix (It's Tricky)

Abstract

Over the past five decades, hip hop has become a widely celebrated genre of music, yet misconceptions still exist surrounding the hip hop community’s norm of sampling. This paper explores the origins of hip hop and the concept of sampling that is central to the genre. Sampling can be conceptualized as an eight-pronged framework involving three types of wholesale appropriation, three types related to lyrical quotation, and two types related to the variety of music or beats. Each type is discussed, and some examples are given. Following this overview, the ethics of sampling is explored via the context of the origins of copyright in the United States, which, some consider, to be a sampling of the first copyright law from Great Britain, the Statute of Anne. Historic litigation against hip hop artists is also discussed, as well as how these specific cases changed the attitude of record labels and their willingness to allow their artists to sample from outside the genre. The paper culminates with a discussion on various sampling norms within various communities and how they can be viewed as potential ways to revitalize U. S. copyright law.