elysian@nstar.rn.com (Brett Simpson) (05/17/91)
Help! I would appreciate if anyone could tell me what the maximum allowable time can be sampled from a copyrighted song without infringing on the copyright.. I think it's something like 3 Seconds or 6 Seconds but I am not real sure? If anyone knows please send me a reply..... Thanks -Brett -- Brett Simpson NSTAR conferencing site 219-289-0287/317-251-7391 internet: elysian@nstar.rn.com 1300 newsgroups - 8 inbound lines uucp: ..!uunet!nstar.rn.com!elysian 99 file areas - 4300 megabytes --- backbone news & mail feeds available - contact larry@nstar.rn.com ---
alves@calvin.usc.edu (William Alves) (05/21/91)
In article <87N321w161w@nstar.rn.com> elysian@nstar.rn.com (Brett Simpson) writes: >Help! I would appreciate if anyone could tell me what the maximum >allowable time can be sampled from a copyrighted song without >infringing on the copyright.. I think it's something like 3 Seconds >or 6 Seconds but I >am not real sure? >If anyone knows please send me a reply..... >Thanks > I believe that the legal answer to this is "none" unless the use of your sample falls under "fair use." Using the sample in a song of your own is probably not fair use, though this is the subject of a couple of pending law suits against rap groups. In practice, however, the answer is any, as long as it is not recognizable. I know plenty of synthesists who sample a second or so in the middle of a piece just to capture a certain exotic sound or chord. This is questionable ethically, in my opinion. Composer Carl Stone, who has often used well-known recordings and then transformed them electronically in various ways, has for a number of years gotten permission to use all of the sources. He says he does this for ethical rather than legal reasons, since he considers it extremely unlikely that anyone would sue him. Bill Alves