All Samples NOT Cleared!

Almost every hip-hop fan has heard of Biz Markie. His personality and wacky songs are legendary. Biz Markie is also well-known in the legal world; particularly in the world of copyright law. Biz Markie was involved in probably the first and certainly the most publicized illegal sampling case of all time. This case literally changed the way hip-hop producers do business. It had such a negative impact on Biz Markie’s music, that he named his next album following the lawsuit, All Samples Cleared.

In 1991, Biz Markie was one of the most prominent and well-known hip-hop artists in the business. As a result of his previous success, there were a lot of expectations for his next album, I Need a Haircut. Sales were already off to a very disappointing start when Biz was hit with a lawsuit for copyright infringement. This lawsuit would change the hip-hop industry permanently and it forced Warner Bros. Records, who was Biz Markie’s distributor, to pull the record from the market and seize all album sales.

The controversy in the lawsuit was over Biz markie’s song, “Alone Again.” In the song, Biz sampled an original track titled; you guessed it, “Alone Again” by Gilbert O’Sullivan. Biz sampled three words from the original song and a portion of the original music. *download the samples here*

In the lawsuit, there was no doubt that O’Sullivan was the original composer of original song. The Court even had a letter as evidence that was written by Biz Markie’s lawyers to O’Sullivan’s agent asking for permission to use the original track. The problem with the letter was that O’Sullivan had previously transferred all of his ownership rights over to Grand Upright Music, Ltd. and therefore the letter was written to the wrong party. The letter also helped the Court determine that Biz knew he needed permission to use the song making his infringement knowing and willful.

Regardless of the fact that Biz Markie did not know who the actual owner of the song rights was, and in spite of asking the wrong party for permission, Biz Markie proceeded to release his song with the sample before securing any permission to use it. The Court called his actions a disregard for the law and the rights of others and said Biz’s only aim was to sell thousands upon thousands of records and his callous disregard for the rights of others deserved stern measures.

The Court’s first sentence in its decision against Biz Markie was “Thou shalt not steal.” This set the tone for the harsh criticism the Court levied on Biz and his record company. The end result for Biz Markie was that the Court ordered a freeze and absolute stop to any album sales including the sampled song and the Court referred the matter to the US Attorney’s Office of New York for criminal prosecution due to the defendants’ intentional copyright infringement. After the lawsuit, Biz Markie’s career went into decline and has never recovered.

The impact of this Court case was also felt throughout the hip-hop industry and is still felt today. All artists were now required to seek permission to use samples before re-engineering, borrowing and or altering original tracks. If they did not seek and get permission, they faced an immediate lawsuit and potentially criminal charges. Records produced with dozens of samples had to either be changed, or permission had to be granted to use them. Since hip-hop was on its way to being a billion dollar business, sample clearance fees began to rise and as a result, high costs limited the use of sampling to one or two per album for most recordings.

Nonetheless, hip-hop producers adapted to the new rules quickly. Interpolation started being used by many producers including Dr. Dre and others. Other producers changed samples so much that they were either unnoticeable or had become something new and unique. Other artists simply paid the fees and used samples with little changes. For example, P-Diddy’s sample on the track “Juicy” on the Ready to Die album was expensive, but it propelled Bad Boy Records and Notorious B.I.G. into superstardom.

Sampling in hip-hop is not going anywhere. It is a fundamental part of the music and helps artists reach large audiences they would not reach without the use of sampling. Some people take the position that the regulation of sampling severely limits the ability to create good music. However, I would argue that the flexibility that producers have shown to adapt to the rules and overcome their limitations has helped hip-hop music evolve into something even more original and creative.