Samples War: The death of the Mixtape?

So to bring you up to speed a mixtape is a compilation of songs used for self promotion (usually for an upcoming major release), or just fresh material to keep the artist(s) still relevant in the circle. But usually, it's a bunch of songs put together because the artist wasn't able to get clearance for the samples used in the production.

The thing about mixtapes is it is usually provided for free! (usually downloadable nowadays) Meaning no profit, zero percent, nothin, zilch, is given to the artist when distributing the work --- bootleggers don't count...thats their own money lol.

So how could something that isn't being made money off of, therefore not legally responsible on a technicality, be able to be sued from a freakin lawsuit???

"...The rule book on sampling and the boundaries of intellectual property are in the process of being redefined, this time thanks to a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in Louisiana by Los Angeles–based Urband & Lazar Music Publishing. The suit names one of hip-hop's biggest stars — and the undisputed king of the mixtape — Lil Wayne, as its defendant. At issue is an uncleared sample from a song called "Once," written by a singer named Karma-Ann Swanepoel. Wayne's version is called "I Feel Like Dying," never "officially" released and never offered for sale to the public, but rather given away as a free download. The case not only questions the tenuous legality of mixtapes but also threatens to stymie their recent evolution from back-alley promotional tool to legitimate art form..."

- LA Weekly

You could read the rest of the article HERE if you'd like.


If anyone knows anything about hip hop music, you'd know sampling is a huge part of the genre. However sampling clearance is such a headache. It involves a long and complicated process that people don't realize. No, its not as simple as contacting the person who created the song, in this case Karma-Ann Swanepoel, being used for a sample because guess what, usually the artists don't even own their own shit! That's what music publishers are for and that's how artists get screwed! BUt thats a whole other topic but anyways...

It ventures to artist publishing, whoever owns the rights to the publishing, and then negotiations begin deciding how much is wanted for the sample and if the artist wanting to sample is using the sample tastefully to the owner of the publishings liking.


Here's what Urband & Lazar Music Publishing (the company suing Lil' Wayne) had to say about their justification of the lawsuit:

"...It starts with that typical music-business horror story of an artist working with the producer who promises them the moon and stars, who sells it to someone else and cuts the original artist out of the sale," says Lazar. "It was an incredibly depressing song that Karma wrote in her bedroom while pouring her heart out. Hearing Wayne's lyrics about codeine and Vicodin was the last way she expected to hear it..."

Now check out the rebuttal that Lil' Wayne's attorney, Ron Sweeney, had to say:

"Thanks to all the MySpace and YouTube views the song got, [Swanepoel] got a ton of exposure that she wouldn't have otherwise had," argues Sweeney. "Of course, her publishers would deserve something if Wayne was making money off the song, but he most certainly isn't. And the people in the record business wonder why their industry's in the toilet?" Sweeney says that Wayne received the track from the producer, Jonsin, who had signed an agreement confirming that he owned the rights. Says Sweeney, "It sounds like even the publishers have acknowledged the producer is the culprit."

So it is agreed the blame to be relayed towards the producer, Jim Jonsin, creating the production. YET Urband and Lazar want to sue the platinum selling rapper?? Okay, now it's obvious that this is all a textbook example of greedy music publishers attempting to milk money out of a multiplatinum artist. And after all this, the trouble was started from a damn leak on the internet that all parties, including Lil Wayne and Jim Jonsin, didn't even intend on sharing publicly.

However, Urband & Lazar Music Publishing bring up an interesting topic. I too would be pissed if, for example, someone took a picture of me without permission, made some kind of painting out of it and made disgusting alterations to it, which somehow became really famous. Even if it is intended as non-profit work, I probably would not appreciate that kind of exposure in that kind of light. But is it their fault it became so famous? Could they be legally responsible for whatever amount of exposure it got if they contractually didn't even have anything written down?

However the music industry is placed in such a different world. Where there is no such thing as bad publicity, but business is so cutthroat that the first plan of action usually starts in a lawsuit.

But if it were a perfect world, all parties would just forgive and forget. Everyone got exposure, everyone benefitted. And it took zero resources or amount of money to get that all. This situation is almost exactly the same as Eminem's "Stan" which sampled the Dido song "Thank You". And Dido, who at the time was no where near as popular as Eminem, benefitted greatly from that one sample...


SO who is right among this "samples war"?