Music industry watch

Samplers must get licenses

Larry Lessig writes about a 6th circuit court of appeals' decision that requires all artists who sample other artist's work to obtain permission. No and ifs or buts about it:

So ordered the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Sampling, we’re told, is piracy. But be certain to see the 19 footnotes in this relatively brief opinion, or the 28 separate quotes the opinion includes from other peoples work. I assume the court got a license for those.

. . .

So once again: life in the analog world is freer than life in the digital world. You can do it, just don’t use technology to do it — unless, of course, your lawyer has spoken to their lawyer.

I especially like his point about digital vs analog. Sad state of affairs, as usual.

Posted by Mayhem at September 9, 2004 12:07 PM