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Anyone who creates or even follows hip hop music is aware that sampling is an integral part of the genre. From Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” to NWA’s “Fuck Tha Police”, samples are the root of some of hip hop’s most famous anthems. However, at the same time, sampling remains one of hip hop’s most controvertial subjects. Getting caught for an uncleared sample could have a severe impact on an artist’s career, costing them a fortune in lawsuits. Because of this risk, more and more producers (including myself) are straying away from using them in their songs.  As a producer who has been reliant on sampling to spark most of my ideas, I was left with several choices.
Up until now, I’ve gone by the philosophy “if I get booked for sampling, that means I’ve made it”. The notion that most of my samples are very obscure and well hidden, combined with the fact that my audience is relatively small, gives me a high level of confidence that I will not be caught. However, if there was ever a time to start doing things the right way, it is now. After all, you never know which song will blow up until it does and you never know who’s coming for your ass until they do. 2. Just pay the money This seems like the most logical course of action. However, my demented mischievous, and Jewish brain refuses to pay for anything unless I absolutely have to. Plus, contacting and negotiating with small publishing companies in china sounds like an awful lot of work. 3. Don’t sample This is easier said than done. Half the time I just end up staring at a piano or tweaking a synth note. Anyways, a fourth choice has emerged as business people have begun to recognize this struggle among producers. For instance “Tracklib” is a subscription service for musicians, producers & artists who want to sample real music. Tracklib has essentially purchased the rights to thousands of works, in order to distribute them lucratively.  On the surface, tracklib looks like an easy solution to my problem. However, upon doing some research, I discovered that they use misleading tactics to fuel their business model. Firstly, the subscription on tracklib is just a personal use licence subscription like buying an iTunes card every month. If you sample a track on an official release then you will have to pay a separate licence fee and it will cost either $1500, $500, or $50 depending on the song. On top of that, you will have to pay royalties on the song, which range from 2% to 35% depending on the song and how long the sampling is. This is information they choose to leave out of the instagram and youtube ads, successfully baiting musicians into buying into their platform. Think about it like this: for $6 a month you get access to Tracklib’s library and a minimum of $50 when you release a track with samples in it. Let’s say you release 5 separate songs with one of the 5 tracks samples in each, each sample being >10 seconds, every month. That’s 6+(50*5)=$256 to get the most out of your monthly subscription.
Although legally clearing samples is always a good idea, I see tracklib nothing but a very very well-executed con job, convincing thousands of music makers that they are the only option when it comes to easily clearing samples. But I probably just feel this way because I’m mad I didn’t think of it first.
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