Music Sampling for Indie Artists

Music Sampling for Indie Artists.

Most of the thousands of videos on YouTube that use copyrighted content without permission, pass intolerance under the ‘fair use’ policy, making monetization of those videos difficult for copyright owners. I have written about this in my blog Monetization Rights for Indie Artists. If you are the copyright owner of a composition or master, make an effort to initiate monetization of videos in which it has been used. You will require permission from the other copyright owners, including the video uploader who has copyright to the video, to start monetizing your work.

All indie artists and bands can partner with a network or YouTube collection company to maximize income from YouTube monetization. Most major labels have a deal with YouTube for this and collect these royalties directly or via their PRS’. Through accounting and matching systems, the collection companies are able to offer you higher ad revenue rates. They are much better equipped to get the most out of content. They use customized accounting and matching systems to attract traffic to your channel and help you form a better strategy. As I always say, your personal relationship with the partner is important. Only sign with a network you know will actively work for you and with which you can properly communicate.

Music Sampling

The use of a piece of an existing sound recording or composition for another sound recording or composition is called Sampling. An indie musician or band is mostly familiar with the term. All of us know about those catchy parts of old school hits that have been sampled by charting pop hits. Permission from the copyright holders, called ‘clearing’ of that sample is required in order to legally use a copyrighted sample. Depending upon what a person or group is sampling, they need to clear the sample with the concerned owner. To sample a composition, solely the copyright holder of the composition needs to grant permission; or probably a publisher on behalf of the writers. To sample a master, permission from both the copyright holder of the composition and the sound recording label is required.

I cannot emphasise enough on the benefits of getting a publisher for your music. A publisher that specializes in custom sync deals will inevitably bring you fresh deals because of the publisher’s contacts in the industry and also take care of clearing of your music for sampling. Indie artists and publishers mostly have their public performance rights represented by a ‘Performing Rights Society (PRS)’. I have written about this in detail in my blog Benefits of Licensing Indie Music. It is advisable for indie artists to sign up with a PRS directly, along with being affiliated with a publisher that is signed up with one. This is very helpful in maximizing income from public performance royalty. The publisher needs to grant a right to create a derivative work and the label a right to reproduce the master. In both cases, you will have to deal with the copyright holders directly as no royalty rights societies or other parties can issue these rights. Hardly any regulations for the payment for these licenses exist, so payment is freely negotiable.

Royalties for Sampling are typically paid separately to the holder of the composition and the master, unless they are representing the same entity. Compensation would normally be a share of royalties. Based on predicted success of the record in which the sample will be used and the popularity of the original sample, the size of royalty is determined. In case the record is not expected to be a huge success, a flat fee is offered to and accepted by both the publisher and label. In return, they give up their royalty share for a one-time monetary sum.

If you are using another artist’s music for your work, you can avoid having to clear samples by using the full composition rather than a piece, for your recording. This is called a ‘cover’ and the only thing required for this is a mechanical license. However, with a mechanical license, you are restricted from deviating from the original work; you can’t change it.

Using copyright-free or creative commons work for your music is another way to avoid paying sample fees. Works issued by the original copyright owners under a specific degree, to be free for public use, are copyright-free or creative commons. These have few or minimal restriction for usage by other artists or groups.

I am going to write more about sampling methods in my next blog. Please leave your comments in the message section and I will add your experiences in my future blogs.

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