Use of sampling
Sampling consists in copying a sequence from an existing audio production and using it in your own production. You need permission to use it if the work is protected.
If the sample is taken from a protected work and that work can be identified in your work you need a licence to use the sample. The rights holders of the work you sample will determine how big a share they require to allow the sampling.
If, for example, you were to sample Michael Jackson’s Bad it is likely that the heirs, estate, and publisher will require quite a large share of your work even if you only use e.g. a three-second sample. This is based on the argument that those three seconds of sampling may make your work a huge hit.
Three types of sampling:
1. Sampling from a protected work
When sampling from a protected work you must obtain permission/licence from the authors or their publishing company. The licence must state the identity of the work you have sampled and the share in your new work required by the authors.
You can send us a copy of the licence via email. We cannot register shares for new authors until we have received documentation that you have obtained a licence. We can help you find out where to apply for the relevant licence.
Also remember to ask the relevant record company’s permission to use a recording for sampling; artists and producers hold certain special rights to individual recordings. To learn more about this type of permission/license, contact GRAMEX
2. Sampling from a public domain work
Works written by composers who have been dead for more than 70 years are in the public domain, i.e. copyright-free. You are allowed to use the work as you wish, featuring it in new contexts without having to ask the composer’s heirs, estate, or publisher for permission. All you need to do is to state which work you have sampled and to submit the material necessary for our music advisors to determine the relationship between the new and old material.
Send the material (sound file) to repertoirekoda.dk
Please note, however, that even though the work you are using is in the public domain, the recording from which you are sampling that work may be subject to protection in the form of producers’ and performers’ rights.
Contact GRAMEX
3. Sampling from sample libraries, where specific permission for use is included
If you are sampling from a sampling online of the kind accompanied by a licence and permission for further use you do not need any additional licence. Simply remember to state on your registration that you have used samples from such an online service. If you are in doubt about the rights pertaining to the service, contact the service directly and ask them.
How to request permission to use someone else's music
We cannot grant you the permission, but we can help you get in touch with the rights holder you wish to ask for permission. Fill out a form with information about the work in question and what you need it for, and we will forward it.
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