TYhis topic started in the Vital signs thread but i thought to create a separate thread to discuss, and even inventory desi and non desi songs that have copied music.
Vital signs have lifted
from air wolf extended theme for dil dil pakistan,
from red red wine by UB40 for their song “samjhana”
from “feels like heaven” by fiction factory for the song “naraz tum”
This is not a practice limited to desi artists, but it does not mean it is not wrong…artists who have used other people’s work have been sued, have paid rotalties or made soem arrangements.
Case in point, Vanilla Ice basically lifting music from “under pressure” by Queen and Bowie, for his sone “ice ice baby” It is a different thing if someone has secured artist permission to either sample their music, or re-make their song or whatever. going back to bands like PM Dawm who used music from Spandau Ballet’s song “true”
P diddy, has copied lyrics in his “ben around the world” from Lisa stansfield, and the music in the background is “lets Dance” from david Bowie…recently there was some song “it’s gonna be allright” which had Clash’s “rock the casbah” music.
But they either get artists permission or get sued. Here are some right and wrong ways to do it..sadly VS took the wrong way, they were kids then..fine, but they should have the artist integrity to admit that they lifted music back then.
Any sample is a copy so permission must be sought in order to use it- some people might say that ‘if you can recognise a separate work within another then an infringement has been committed’ or ‘its not quantity but quality’. The fact that any sample must be paid for is thought to be so crucial that at Polygram there is a whole department whose job is to listen to records to check for unlicensed James Brown samples.
P.M. Dawn obtained permission from Spandau Ballet to use samples from ‘True’, which helped them make their song ‘Set Adrift On A Memory Bliss’. Spandau Ballet even helped promote it. The music for the P.M. Dawn song was very similar to the original and instantly recognisable, as the main samples were a couple of bars repeated and arranged into a new sequence, so if a licence had not been obtained an infringement would certainly have been committed. The details of the licence meant that P.M. Dawn had to split the royalties/ earnings with Spandau Ballet 50%/50% . In the process the original ‘True’ was re-released and was a hit a second time around. Everybody was happy but things aren’t always this simple or easy.
De La Soul’s first single ‘Plug Tuning’ sampled Liberacé which did not cause much of a problem, probably as it made very little money, but when they sampled Hall and Oates on ‘Say No Go’ and the song became a hit they encountered a law suit, and worse, at the end of 1989 the Turtles sued for $1.1 million for the use of an unlicensed sample from their 1969 single ‘You Showed Me.’. However the case was settled out of court for a figure ‘rumoured to be in the low five figures’.
Biz Markie and his record label Warner Bros. Inc./ Cold Chillin’ were cited for violation of US copyright laws and he was condemned for his use of an eight bar sample from Gilbert O’Sullivans 1972 song ‘Alone Again (Naturally)’ as well as the titled refrain, (published by Grand Royal Music).
Again in 1990 both MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice released records. MC Hammer sampled’ Superfreak’ after obtaining a licence and although he had to pay out a large but undisclosed amount of expenses to the original artist, the record was a hit and he encountered no problems.
Vanilla Ice however sampled the most identifiable riffs from David Bowie and Queen’s song ‘Under Pressure’ for his only hit from his LP entitled ‘In The Extreme’. The samples however were not licensed or even credited. As it is generally accepted that readily identifiable riffs or hooks in a song are what generates the sales, the similarity of Vanilla’s track to the original would lead it to compete directly. The case never went to trial, although it is believed that after a threatened law suit from ‘Under Pressure’s’ copyright owners Vanilla Ice settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
In early eighties Kraftwerk sued Afrika Bambataa for sampling a drum beat.
In November 1992 Redman was taken to court by Bridgeport Music for sampling from the Clinton/ Parliament/ Funkadelic back catalogue without permission.
Big artists such as Marly Marl and L.L. Cool J. have been challenged for sampling ‘Rappers Beware’ an old drum track
Michael Jackson has been in trouble for sampling 67 seconds of the Cleveland Orchestra’s rendition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
A Tribe Called Quest supposedly had to give over 100% of their copyright in a deal negotiated with Lou Reed after the release of their single ‘Can I Kick It?’ when they sampled the bass line from his single ’ Walk On The Wild Side’.
In the UK a band called ‘Shut Up and Dance’ (comprised of two members- PJ and Smiley), and their small independent record label of the same name were put out of business by excessive fines after having been found guilty of using a sample from Mark Owens’ 1974 hit single ‘Walking in Memphis’ in their 1994 single ‘Raving, I’m Raving’ without first gaining clearance.
Some of the artists sampled included Suzanne Vega and Prince, and Shut Up and Dance were made to pay for every one. As is often the situation in these cases the final settlement was made out of court and the sum involved remains undisclosed.
In 1964, Roy Orbison and William Dees wrote the rock ballad ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’, which in 1989 The 2 Live Crew sampled as a basis to construct their own song.
Good job Fraudia,lifting should be Haram b’cuz some’s 1 hard work is being ruined for cheap stuffs and day R even being rewarded for it 2, 