Sampling

The topic of sampling is something that can build some controversy and Steven Shaviro explains in his article on how sampling works. It is true that we are surrounded by the electronic media and that it is now a huge source as far as referencing. It becomes hard to tell what line to draw and especially now with copyright protection, plagiarism, law suits, etc., plays a role in today’s society on what kind of sampling is “legal”. He points out that Shakespeare would not have been able to create his plays if the copyright protection was in effect.
It’s easy to argue that when you create an “original” piece of work that you would not want someone else to claim it as their own. What if they only use a sample of your work and recreate another piece of work? Would that work? If it didn’t work then replication icons would be the “very fabric of our lives”. Shaviro states that when these pieces of work are put into private hands that “creativity dries up altogether”. People would have to worry about law suits and fines and all because they only have one thing in mind which is to maximize their economic incentive.
Now, it really depends too who is the one sampling. I feel that Beck and Missy Elliot who are part of large markets and use a lot samples. (More justified for Beck because he buys his samples) With the right person behind them and describing their work as, “mimicry, without any of parody’s ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse.” Good sophisticated wording can get many out of trouble for a good price I guess. I’ve seen paintings where there are two orange lines on a black canvass and it’s considered art. So it comes to who can word their defense the best and I think bigger markets have more opportunities to defend their work then others.
Grandmaster Flash also uses sampling but his innovation and creation of double vinyl turn tables was a tool that he used to alter the sounds that couldn’t be done in that day. His technique, although sampling, had to be unique to be one of the first to break out of the local and into a successful international scene. I find it also easier to support him with the fact that created a lot of the terminology like “needle drops”, “scratching/cutting”, and his infamous “Clock Theory”. Do perfect these things seamlessly while he is playing music is a very hard skill. Like any innovator, only through lots of trial and error and finding the right needles, mixers, and mechanical parts that would make the sound he wanted did he get his end result.