Critical Analysis on Music Sampling Under Co...

Critical Analysis on Music Sampling Under Copyright Law

Author Name : Sreya Elsa Biji

ABSTRACT Music sampling is the method by which a musician or record producer incorporates a fragment of an existing song into a new recording, looping and layering it with new music in a new context. In recent years, the Indian music industry has seen a slew of remakes and mashups that employ samples from the original song to refashion and remix the original compositions. Despite their enormous popularity, copyright infringers who use the material element of a pre-existing song in their musical work without the prior authorization of the original song creators face a serious threat. The original song makers include music composers, lyricists, sound recording artists etc. If such refashioned or remixed music is made available on a commercial platform without obtaining permission from the original creators, the song maker may be held principally accountable for copyright infringement. This research paper will look into the contemporary perspective of music sampling, the legality of music sampling, other kinds of music copying, copyright law with respect to musical works and rights and wrongs of music sampling.