The art of taking one artist’s song and turning it into your own is a practice that has ruled the music industry for years. The process of integrating another song into your own is called sampling. As early as the ‘60s, in the peak of Elvis Presley’s prime, James Tenney created the work “Collage #1 (‘Blue Suede’)” from samples of Elvis’ “Blue Suede Shoes.”
Sampling ran into its problems, most notably in the Supreme Court case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. The case dealt with the controversial rap group 2 Live Crew’s use of the popular Roy Orbison song “Oh, Pretty Woman” without permission. The Miami-based rappers used the guitars, bass and drums from the original song, without alteration, and added overlaid solos in different keys and altered drums beats.
The song’s copyright owners, Acuff-Rose Music, cited the devaluation of the song and thus claimed it was a case of copyright infringement. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that 2 Live Crew's use of Orbison’s song was protected under the fair use doctrine, as a parody, even though it was released for commercial gain.
There have been other cases, including MC Hammer’s use of the Rick James song “Super Freak” in his immensely popular “U Can’t Touch This” and Vanilla Ice’s sampling of Queen’s “Under Pressure” for his 1990 single “Ice Ice Baby.” These cases were settled out of court, with the musicians using the samples giving credit to the original artists in the form of a co-composer or songwriting credits.
The legal issues have seemingly subsided over the past decade, but these disputes may be creeping up once again. With the use of sampling gaining a vast amount of popularity over the past few years, it was only a matter of time before the use of other artists’ original songs became out of control.
Recently, America’s Got Talent host Nick Cannon released a rap track entitled “I Remember” to a substantial amount of backlash from electronic dance music lovers. Citing Cannon’s lack of credit to the original artists, Deadmau5 and Kaskade, the community of fans of EDM has protested the song.
However, this is not to say that sampling always carries a negative connotation with it. When done correctly, a sample can be a tasteful or fresh take on a classic — or even lesser known — song. Songs that fall into the category of successful samples include Kanye West’s “Power,” which samples King Crimson’s track “21st Century Schizoid Man,” the popular Chiddy Bang song “Opposite of Adults,” which features music from MGMT’s “Kids,” and The Roots’ “Dear God 2.0,” which takes from Monsters of Folk’s “Dear God.”
Kanye West, no stranger to the art of using other songs in unique ways, teamed up with indie folk artist Justin Vernon, mastermind behind the group Bon Iver. On his 2010 release “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” West teamed up with the Wisconsin-based singer-songwriter on several tracks, including “Lost In The World.” The song utilizes a tasteful reworking of the Bon Iver track “Woods” and seamlessly transitions into a segment of Gil Scott Heron’s emotional speech “Who Will Survive In America?”
The use of sampling other artists’ work has even helped launch the careers of some musicians, especially the popular pop artist who performed on ASU campus earlier this semester, Jason Derülo. His use of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” in his hit single “Whatcha Say” put the singer on the map, helping pave the way for other Top 40 hits “In My Head” and “Ridin’ Solo.” Continuing to ride the popularity wave of sampling, Derülo incorporated an interpretation of Harry Belafonte’s 1956 single “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” in his 2011 hit "Don't Wanna Go Home."
While the use of sampling may pose some ethical concerns at times, the practice is here to stay. With the music industry obsessed with finding a fresh take on nearly any song, there is no limit to the amount of samples that can be used — whether they’re well done or not. Yet, when those samples happen to accentuate an artist’s original work, it is a reminder to music lovers everywhere that sampling can indeed be a form of art instead of a lack of creativity.
Reach the reporter at tpaxton@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
