Is Sampling Stealing? Musicians and Lawyers Sound Off in October

Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys, Invisibl Skratch Piklz) at a performance in the ATL

Can you own a sound? As hip-hop rose from the streets of New York to become a multibillion-dollar industry, artists such as Public Enemy and De La Soul began reusing parts of previously recorded music for their songs. But when record company lawyers got involved everything changed. Years before the peer-to-peer explosion and remixing music, hip-hop sampling sparked a debate about copyright, creativity and technological change that still rages today. COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod is the next Community Cinema documentary feature and includes interviews with Chuck D and Hank Shocklee of Public Enemy, George Clinton, De La Soul, Miho Hatori, Mix Master Mike of Beastie Boys, DJ Spooky, RJD2, Matt Black of Coldcut and more!

For more than 30 years, as hip-hop evolved from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry, hip-hop performers and producers have been reusing portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. But when lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.”

De La Soul helped set a high bar for sampling artistry with their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising, released in 1989

Through interviews with many of hip-hop music’s founding figures—like Public Enemy, De La Soul and Digital Underground—along with emerging artists such as audiovisual remixers Eclectic Method, COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS illuminates both sides of the debate, from traditional musicians who view sampling as pillaging to those who argue that the practice of borrowing is by no means new nor is it unique to hip-hop or even music: Think of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans. “Sampling itself is an embodiment of this active process of engaging with history,” argues hip-hop insider Jeff Chang.

Benjamin Franzen (Director, Editor and Cinematographer) is an Atlanta-based photographer and video producer. Franzen’s specialty is providing solutions for media needs—from the production of interactive Web videos for the National Library of Medicine’s Diabetes Project to editing the animated television show Squidbillies for Cartoon Network.

Kembrew McLeod (Executive Producer, Researcher and Writer) is an independent documentary filmmaker and an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa. His books and films focus on both popular music and the cultural impact of intellectual property law. His book Freedom of Expression®: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property received a book award from the American Library Association in 2006

All FREE events are co-presented by the Future of Music Coalition, a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture where artists flourish, are compensated fairly for their work, and where fans can find the music they want. Find your COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS event here!

Tags: Copyright Criminals, music, sampling