RObin Stone discovered that his ’90s hit Show Me Love was sampled on Break My Soul, the lead single from Beyoncé’s new album, Renaissance, along with everyone else. As a performer rather than a writer and producer of the song, her approval was not required to authorize its use – and she derives no income from it.
While Stone sees the nod as a compliment and proof of his 30-year relevance, he also brings up old hurts. The songwriters Allen George and Fred McFarlane “never gave me my credit,” she says. “That first note is mine, the ad-libs are all mine, I’ve added flavor to it. They’ve been eating at my table and I’ve been feeding their families for over 30 years.
Stone isn’t the only artist surprised by the use of their music on Renaissance. This week, Beyoncé removed an interpolation – a kind of sampling that sees re-recorded and often reworked song snippets – from Kelis’ 2003 hit Milkshake of the song Energy after the latter publicly criticized Beyoncé for not having the ” common decency” to let him know. As Kelis explained, the situation resurrected an alleged row with the track’s credited songwriters, Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes’ Chad Hugo, who she claims “cheated” her out of publishing rights for both. albums they made together.
Hayleigh Bosher, author of Copyright in the Music Industry, says Beyoncé didn’t need to remove the tween for legal reasons, but seems to have done so out of respect — and possibly because of public perception. .
“It doesn’t matter that Beyoncé didn’t infringe Kelis’ rights,” Bosher says. “The thing is, people think she did it because the public isn’t educated about music copyright. [Kelis] has no legal status but by expressing herself on social networks, she creates emotional and moral capital.
The discourse around the Renaissance has opened up questions about the politics of sampling in modern pop. Today, sampling is big business. In the credits of the 16 titles Renaissance, there are nods to 17 other songs. Meanwhile, half of the current UK Top 10 singles chart includes outtakes, ranging from excerpts from Silk’s 1979 track I Can’t Stop (Turning You On) to La Roux’s 2009 hit In for the Kill. .
As producer and Beyoncé collaborator the-Dream said this week, sampling came of age with the rise of hip-hop nearly 50 years ago, when samples were used to offset a rare production due to lack of funds. Today, with hip-hop the most popular genre in the United States, and dance – another sample-heavy genre – experiencing a resurgence, samples are a prerequisite for chart success.
Although Beyoncé seems to have been vigilant about crediting all of her samples, failure to do so — or being accused of not doing so — carries the possibility of a costly lawsuit once the music is released. In 2017, Ed Sheeran added songwriting credits for all three of TLC’s No Scrubs writers to his song, Shape of You, after he was accused of picking up the 90s hit’s melody.
The song originally contained a TLC sample which was removed prior to release. The basis of the dispute, says Bosher, was the “re-creation of part of the song that is slightly similar”. As a result, Sheeran handed over 15% of Shape of You’s publishing royalties, which is “extremely high for such a small part of the song,” she says.
The difference between interpolation and direct sampling is another potential cause of conflict. Interpolation is often used for creative reasons – to reinterpret older releases and offer a nod to historically relevant pieces. However, there is evidence that record labels favor the premieres due to the fact that they only need to obtain one set of rights – the edition, rather than those attached to the master recording – to avoid sacrificing revenue.
A music industry insider with extensive major label experience belies this. “The label does not determine anything that is created in the studio. You cannot tell an artist which song to sample.
But they admit artists could be encouraged to interpolate to avoid what is often a lengthy rights clearance process, which can delay a song’s release date. That’s why LF System’s UK summer hit, Afraid to Feel, interpolates Silk’s I Can’t Stop (Turning You On) rather than sampling it directly.
Amber Davis, who works with artists like Stormzy and Dave at publisher Warner Chappell Music, says: “In the current climate, where you want to release the song next week or you do a freestyle that has a sample, the pressure of lead times is quite sensitive.
While Davis would like to see more completely original work, it doesn’t look like the widespread practice of sampling is dying out anytime soon. In recent years, investors have purchased a slew of song catalogs from artists such as Leonard Cohen and Justin Timberlake for nine-figure sums and expect a heady return. “Songs that find new life are what many of these investments base their future on,” says the music industry insider.
