Note this first: “There are two set of rights in a song – a composition (lyrics, melody) and sound recording (the audio recording). Sound recording copyrights are owned by recording artists and their record labels while compositions are owned by the songwriters and publishers.
It is a cheap fact that every industry exist with peculiar concepts and terminologies. Just as the terms “sampling” and “interpolation” have come to be associated with the music industry. Both terms are even more significant as they uniquely connect with the law and transaction of Copyright. However, many copyright occurrences in the industry have seen many people cross-pollinate both terms and how they interact with copyright law.
Importantly, both acts of interpolation and sampling may translate to acts of copyright infringement if not properly executed according to law.
What is Music Sampling.
A sample is a copy of an already existing sound recording edited into, or forming the basis of, a new sound recording.
Music sampling refers to the act of using a portion or fragment of an existing sound recording, such as a melody, beat, rhythm, or vocal performance, and incorporating it into a new musical composition or recording. This technique allows musicians and producers to create new works by combining and recontextualizing existing sounds and musical elements. Music Sampling is a technique used often to bring back a refreshing aura of old time jams or melodic records that are memorable. It is an age-long technique and not recent in the music industry.
EXAMPLES OF MUSIC SAMPLING OCCURENCES (A search and play of these songs may further brighten comprehension of the use of the technique)
“Walk This Way” by Run-DMC featuring Aerosmith: This song, released in 1986, is often cited as one of the earliest and most successful examples of music sampling. It features a sample of the guitar riff from Aerosmith’s 1975 song “Walk This Way,” which is blended with rap verses and a new drum beat to create a fusion of rock and hip-hop..
“Straight Outta Compton” by N.W.A.: This influential rap song, released in 1988, includes a sample of the drum break from the 1970 song “Funky Drummer” by James Brown. The sample has since become one of the most widely used and recognized in hip-hop music.
“Lose Yourself” by Eminem: This Oscar-winning song, released in 2002, includes a sample of the guitar riff from the 1979 song “Dream On” by Aerosmith. The sample is used in the chorus and helps to give the song a powerful and emotional impact.
“Savage” by Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé: This 2020 song features a sample of the “Did I really just forget that melody?” line from the 2014 Vine video “Suga Boom Boom” by D4L. The sample is used as a vocal hook in the chorus and helps to give the song a memorable, playful quality.
AFROBEATS OCCURENCES
“Don’t Jealous Me” by Tekno, Yemi Alade, and Mr Eazi: This 2019 song, featured on the soundtrack to Disney’s The Lion King: The Gift album, includes a sample of the guitar riff from the 1972 song “Joromi” by Sir Victor Uwaifo, a Nigerian musician and composer. The sample is used as a key element of the song’s instrumental arrangement and helps to give it a distinct Afro-Pop flavor.
“Ye” by Burna Boy: This 2018 hit song features a sample of the “Bend down low” line from the 1973 song “Satta Massagana” by The Abyssinians, a Jamaican roots reggae group. The sample is used as a vocal hook in the chorus and helps to give the song a smooth, laid-back vibe.
“Last Last” by Burna Boy: the 2022 hit song sampled Toni Braxton’s 2000 single “He wasn’t man enough”.
It can be said that artistes and producers have employed this technique often to reignite the appealing sensation of melodies or songs that at a time ruled the world. Many Gen Zs may not have heard the vibes and beauty of soukous melody dished out by the Veteran artiste, Awilo Logomba. However, with the sampling technique, Ayra Star recently got the world vibing again to Awilo, on her recent track “Sability” wherein she sampled Awilo Logombas “Awilo”. Again, music sampling is an expensive technique and may cost an arm and leg on royalty payment. According to Burna Boy, Sampling Toni Braxton’s song in “Last Last” cost him 60% royalty payment on the song’s earnings to Toni Braxton.
For clarity, unlike interpolation, music sampling copies the recording of an existing song and incorporates same in the new song.It has been described as literally copy+pasting a part of a musical work that already exists. Simply put, it’s the Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V of the sonic creation process.
As a matter of Copyright infringement law, a song cannot be sampled without obtaining the consent of the copyright owner of the song. In fact, music sampling is even more expensive because it requires royalty payment to both the record/masters owner (record label) and mechanical/publishing right owner (Publisher). Section 6(4) and the third schedule of the Nigerian Copyright Act are instructive.
Music Interpolation
Due to the expensive cost of executing a music sampling deal, artistes and music producers have patronized ‘Intepolation’ as a substitute to Sampling. Music interpolation is the process of taking a certain part of a music track and recreating it through the new artist’s vision.
Although, like Sampling, Interpolation also copies from existing music, however, interpolation does not expressly lift the lyrics and recording of an existing song. Interpolation rather adopts the lyrics or melody of an existing song and tweaks same with creativity such that the words/lyrics may be the similar but not the sounds of both songs. It is not completely ripping off the original piece but recreating it to work more with the current artist’s persona.
In the situation of interpolation the music producer still needs the permission, but the only permission needed is that of the owner of the mechanical right(musical composition) which may be either the artist or publisher. It’s easier to obtain this permission with lesser cost, than getting access to the master. Thus, rather than being a copy and paste, interpolation is a recreation of the desired part of the existing work.
The major difference between Music Sampling and Interpolation is that while music sampling attracts royalty payment for the use of the musical work(composition) and the sound recording (master), interpolation only attracts royalty payment to the musical composition.
Interpolation will also amount to a copyright infringement if the consent or license of the songwriter is not obtained. An example is the 2019 copyright dispute between Ajibola Muyiwa Danladi, popularly known as ‘Danny Young’ and Tiwa Savage and her then record label, Mavin Records, on the grounds that Tiwa Savage allegedly lifted lyrics from his ‘Oju Tiwon’ song and used same in her 2018 song ‘One’. In her song ‘One’, Tiwa Savage using a different beat and rhythm repeated Danny Young’s lyrics “odo dun la ro rogbo, odo dun la ra wusa, odo dun la romo obi lori gba, my life don better…”. Although the parties reportedly settled the matter out of court. The example above is therefore rather an interpolation and not Sampling.
Legal Implication
By implication, both Music Sampling and Interpolation protrude as Copyright infringement if the proper release or consent is not sought and obtained. The process of acquiring permission for a sample is known as clearance.
Thus, an artiste/music producer who intends to obtain clearance for music sampling will need to obtain two licenses: one license for the usage of the master recording and the other license for the usage of the underlying composition. Interpolation will rather require license to use the underlying composition.
The premise for the conclusion above is upon the provisions of the Nigerian Copyright Act,thus:
Rights in Musical Works
Section 51 of the Nigerian Copyright Act defines a musical work thus:
“musical work is defined as any musical composition and includes work composed for musical accompaniment”
This would include lyrics, melody, instrumental composition, harmonies, musical notes e.t.c. Whereas, amongst the rights conferred on musical work by virtue of Section 6(a) of the Act, is the exclusive right to make any adaptation of the work. Further, section 51 of the Act defines adaptation as “the modification of a pre-existing work from one genre of work to another and consists in altering work within the same genre to make it suitable for different conditions of exploitation and may also involve altering the composition of the work.” Hence, Music sampling and interpolation is seemingly an “adaptation” of a musical work and the right to do so is therefore vested exclusively in the composer/songwriter.
Rights in Sound Recording
Section 7 the Nigerian Copyright Act, confers as part of copyright in a sound recording, “the exclusive right to control in Nigeria the direct or indirect reproduction, broadcasting or communication to the public of the whole or a substantial part of the recording either in its original form or in any form recognizably derived from the original.”
Whereas, Section 51 defines Sound recording as “the first fixation of a sequence of sound capable of being perceived aurally and of being produced.” Thus, Music sampling typically entails reproduction of a substantial part of a prior recording. The power to exclusively exercise this right, thus, rests on the holder or the right to the sound recording (master).
Conclusively, music sampling and interpolation are terminologies that are often used interchangeably but differ in scope and meaning. However, regardless of the differences, both concepts are subjects of copyright infringement if the license or consent of holder of the right in a song is not obtained.