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> That's not going to happen either, under the current system. Well, the dynamics of who will get paid as a result of the legal recording arrangements are well beyond the scope of this conversation, and I don't believe the terms of somebody's recording deal, whatever they might be, negate wholesale expropriation of someone's artistic output. I find the whole "FAT CAT RECORD LABELS ARE PARASITES, STICK IT TO THE MAN!!!" argument to be kind of disingenuous. > Here your own argument comes back to bite you. Really good sampling takes just as much blood, sweat, and tears invested as the other skill sets you cite. This is.... categorically not true. I'm sorry. I have no small familiarity with electronic music and sampling, having transitioned over a while back after seeing the writing on the wall in terms of making music the old-school way, and while I would not hesitate to say that it requires skill and, above all, taste, there is little if any comparison to a singular analog musician, let alone an entire ensemble. I realize I'm going to be called old fashioned in this respect, but I've done both, and I can DJ a heck of a lot better than DJ's can sing, play guitar, bass, keys (live keys), and drums. Each instrument takes a lifetime to master, point blank. You're right, I abused 'externality' a little. Not completely, but it's a little strained. All I'll say here is what I said before-- for little songs, kick a small mechanical royalty to the rights holders so they can pay their bills. For big gold record songs, if you want to ride the coattails of AC/DC, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, or whoever, pay the toll that they dictate or write your own hook. To take the 'sampling' debate into another realm, consider taking the likeness of a famous actor and CGIing it into some other, derivative work. This isn't so farfetched, really. Didn't 30 Rock do a bit a couple years back where they tried to CGI Jerry Seinfeld into NBC's flailing lineup? And according to the ideas proposed in that article, wouldn't that be ANY derivative work, any time? Like some technicolor nightmare of a porno where James Dean bangs Elizabeth Taylor? Do they have a right to say 'no thank you'? Do they have a right to say 'yeah, but it'll cost you'? What about somebody like Tom Waits, who's consistently declined to make his work available in commercials? Can Girl Talk sample him and then put it in a Doritos ad? I think he'd be a little taken aback. |