The Song Remains the Same: Music Sampling in the Digital Age

Ben Challis LLB MA Barrister at law

Sampling can be simply defined as the incorporation of pre-existing recordings into a new recording. It can be extended to include the incorporation of part or the whole of a ‘tune’ (a melody) and/or lyrics into another work. Copyright subsists in sound recordings and in the music and lyrics to a song pursuant to section 1(1) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA). The CDPA provides in section 16(1) that the owner of a work has a number of acts restricted to him or her which are to: Copy the work (b) Issue copies of the work to the public (c) Perform, show or play the work in public (d) Broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme and (e) Make an adaptation of the work and do any of the above in relation to such adaptation. Therefor any kind of sampling without the consent of the copyright owner will prima-facie amount to infringement. In both the UK and the USA there is an instant copyright infringement or violation when a