Legal Definitions - sampling

In copyright law, sampling refers to the practice of taking a small segment from an existing sound recording and digitally altering or incorporating it into a new musical or audio work.

This process often involves manipulating the extracted sound—such as changing its pitch, tempo, or adding effects—before integrating it into a different composition. Because sampling uses material that is typically protected by copyright, it can lead to legal issues if done without permission from the original copyright holders of both the musical work (the underlying composition) and the sound recording itself.

• Example 1: A modern pop producer takes a distinctive two-second guitar riff from a 1980s rock anthem, alters its pitch slightly, and loops it to form the main hook of a new chart-topping song.

  Explanation: This demonstrates sampling because a small, identifiable part (the guitar riff) of an existing sound recording (the rock anthem) was digitally modified and integrated into a new musical piece. Without proper licensing, this act could infringe on the original song's copyright.

• Example 2: A hip-hop artist extracts a four-second drum break from a rare 1970s funk record, speeds it up, adds a filter effect, and uses it as the foundational rhythm for an entire track on their new album.

  Explanation: Here, a specific segment (the drum break) from an older sound recording (the funk record) was digitally processed and incorporated into a new musical work. This is a classic example of sampling, and the artist would typically need permission from the copyright holders of the original funk record to avoid legal issues.

• Example 3: An electronic music DJ creates a new track by taking a short, atmospheric vocal snippet (just a few words) from a classic jazz recording, reversing it, and layering it repeatedly to create a unique texture in their composition.

  Explanation: This illustrates sampling as a small vocal portion from an existing jazz recording is digitally manipulated (reversed, layered) and used as an integral part of a new electronic music piece. The use of this copyrighted vocal snippet without authorization would constitute sampling and could lead to copyright infringement claims.