Commodore Remix

Kraftwerk win court case against producers using 2 second Metall auf Metall sample
http://www.side-line.com/news_comments. ... 30_0_2_0_C

That article contains some really poorly described descriptions of what went on... I'm glad they won, but the whole system is still a mess...

"According to the ruling, sampling is only justifiable if the producer can demonstrate they can't create the sampled sound themselves. To prove the duo could technologically create it themselves expert witnesses gave live demonstrations using a 1996 Akai Sampler and bits of metal recreating approximatively the 2 second sample."

For instance, this is too confused to make any sense...

In the end what was the return in investment that Kraftwerk put into this case? I'm thinking, probably not much.

Indeed. The producers had probably spent all the money anyway...

In my opinion, ruling out a copyright over a simple sound sample, even if it's kind of unique, overshoots the mark by far. I always despised that Moses Pelham guy and loved Kraftwerk, but this goes too far, for it creates a precedent that limits the creative use of samples even more. There were wonderful hip hop tunes in the end of the 80s that were what they were because of heavy creative use of sampling. I understand of course that this is an impossible practice on the commercial point of view, but from the artistic point of view we've sadly and totally lost that particular style of music.

I hope that the motivation for Kraftwerk to sue them, was that they hate those guys, too.

I'm not sure it's that much of a precedent: some German judges seem to take great delight in reworking copyright laws depending on what they had for breakfast... completely ignoring not only precedent but the actual law as well. It's a lottery. And I still don't know what the actual ruling was saying, as the reporting was so bad.

Well it all seems very interesting to me.

Interesting whole issue of making your own sound so much like someone else. Suppose your imitation sample resembles the 'real' cut so much people can't tell the difference? What's legal and what isn't?


I suppose anything is in Germany.

At least the answer to that is that if you can recreate something exactly and prove you did, you're untouchable, but only for the sound: if there's musical content, a whole load of different rules apply.

Commie_User wrote:Well it all seems very interesting to me.

Interesting whole issue of making your own sound so much like someone else. Suppose your imitation sample resembles the 'real' cut so much people can't tell the difference? What's legal and what isn't?


I suppose anything is in Germany.

I agree, suppose you had gear that was the same as an artist say a small stone phaser and an Eminent...or even a commodore 64.