By crystal
Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:42 am
or does someone own their music?
By Dave_Mode
Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:53 am
Absolutely! Start by sampling the beatles.
By mr_debauch
Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:43 am
yeah.. really.... dead guys owned by a dead guy and now owned by who knows who...
MPC-Live/Remix16
By mastasteez
Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:55 am
Well derrr! You can't clear a sample with a ghost. 
By MPC-Tutor
Sun Feb 02, 2014 11:48 am
crystal wrote:or does someone own their music?
Copyright terms varies between countries, in the UK I believe the length is 70 years from initial publication. However this term is being continually extended thanks to heavy lobbying from the entertainment industry.
There are many aspects of ownership in a sound recording - the author/song writer, the performers, the publisher etc. When the author dies, his copyright transfers to his estate (e.g. I assume you've heard of the Dilla and Hendrix estates). Regardless, the publisher (typically the record label or one of their subsidiaries) will continue to claim ownership of publishing rights, however in the US at least, the year of author death has some bearing, although not any time soon. Check this:
http://www.pdinfo.com/Copyright-Law/Pub ... rdings.php
So if you want to avoid sampling copyrighted works, seek out public domain music (best bet would be to find work where the author has specifically declared he is giving it to the public) or music released under compatible creative commons licenses or similar which allow you to modify and republish the work (ideally where commercial use is specifically given).
Also be aware that some music may have eventually fallen into the public domain in one country, but in the US it will may still be copyrighted to an interested party.
Have fun and google around for more info
By Jeff Blactracks
Tue Apr 15, 2014 11:14 pm
Most of the time their is a publisher that owns the music, have you ever seen the movie based on Frankie Lymon Why Do Fools Fall in Love? The movie was about how Diana Ross used the song and the no one knew where the money was going. It can get tricky with samples as well. There is a way around that by using replay services like Replay Heaven where they replay the sample and change it so there will be no problems.