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Not sure where I should put this question but I've been wondering just how legal it is to use fragments of interviews/movies/documentaries/... in songs. I've been writing alot of experimental instrumental music and I'd like to spice things up with some cool spoken word fragments I found online from interviews. Does anyone have any practical tips for this? Anything I should watch out for?

if you're using something quite well known I would try and find out whether the audio is public domain or at least has a creative commons license that allows for commercial use or modification.
there are a lot of soundboards and archives on the net dedicated to public domain samples.

i like processing fragments quite heavily and using samples that very few people would recognise in the first place (let alone people who would care about copyright infringement).
luckily you're generally a LOT safer sampling interviews and documentaries etc than music, so i wouldn't worry about it too much. it's useful to know about the different forms of licensing though.

what are you going to do with the music?
if its just for your personal music that will always be obscure and with a limited audience, then i'm sure that the rightsholders will never know or care.
if the music becomes more known then you may find yourself having to scrap it, and/or pay any royalties/sales to the rightsholders of the samples, if they can be bothered to pursue it

Doctor X wrote:what are you going to do with the music?
if its just for your personal music that will always be obscure and with a limited audience, then i'm sure that the rightsholders will never know or care.
if the music becomes more known then you may find yourself having to scrap it, and/or pay any royalties/sales to the rightsholders of the samples, if they can be bothered to pursue it

Yup.

Make the music, care later.

yea i wouldn't really worry about it mang.

unless u are making big waves and/or millions nobody is gunna come after you (which if u are, congrats!)

Most likely, it's going to be illegal. We live in a time when intellectual property laws are stricter and more encompassing than ever before. That said, ask yourself what you are using it for. If it's an album you're just going to sell, then go for it. No one is probably going to sue you over that. Worse case, you might get a cease and desist letter and have to pull the song.

If you're making songs you'll want to license though, you can't do it. Like if you want to provide the song to film or to a commercial or whatever, then you really need to make sure that you have legal rights to whatever you're selling. Otherwise, you risk being sued by both parties. Also, for something that will be played on TV or a high level venue, the producers, networks, etc. have strict rules and usually do their due diligence in making sure that they only use stuff with all the rights clear.

But, if you're just doing it for artistic purposes and want to create your own work to sell directly to the audience, then I wouldn't worry about it. Most people aren't going to waste money going after you, unless you are crazy successful and at that point, you should be able to afford it.

^ theres actually alot of court case rulings that are favorable towards sampling...

Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D. wrote:^ theres actually alot of court case rulings that are favorable towards sampling...

Interesting, I'd like to hear more about this. Links?

Still doesn't change anything I wrote though. We still live in a time when intellectual property is more legally restricted than ever before. And if you do try to license something to a professional company you will probably have to sign something guaranteeing you hold all the rights, which could set you up for big problems. But, once again, if it's just for your own artistic expression and you're marketing and selling it yourself, you can probably get away with it.

Sweet, thanks dudes!