CompuServe Messages

Jeff- You've hit upon one of the unsolved legal issues of our time. Rules for how many *bars* of music can be "quoted" without copyright infringement are pretty well established (don't recall how many it is, tho- <g>), but not how many seconds of sampling. It's also really a whole different ballgame, since it's not just a crude replication of a series of pitches with specified lengths, it's someone's precise "sound" which is being duped. I've heard of one rap piece which unabashedly incorporates samples of another artist's hit, inextricably hooking (pun intended) into that hit's "aura" quite successfully. Rap is one of the hot areas where this issue hits hard, since sampling is such an intrinsic part of the form. Wish I could give you a cut-and-dried answer, but since nothin's *been* cut and dried yet, I'd suggest you hop down to the library and give a scan to a treatise on copyright law. In general, it is illegal to copy a copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright owner. It's up to you if you want to err on the strict or the loose interpretation of that guideline; in the latter case, you may or may not be subject to either complaints or legal action. Bob