Looks like the whole industry’s been weighing in on “Blurred Lines,” but RZA Says Sampled Artists Should Get 50 Percent, At Most. In fact, he recalls a sampling experience as a producer where he was forced to hand over 90% (daaaaamn) even though he did a lot of the leg work! Check the specs on why, how and what the legendary Abbott says is wrong with that!
The news of millions coming back to the Marvin Gaye family for “Blurred Lines” definitely set off a ripple effect. After voicing their “disrespected” feelings and penning an open letter to basically say “it’s not about the money,” they’ve now put the snipe scope on rapper T.I. In another ripple effect legendary producer Jermaine Dupri recently commented on his feelings that Ciara’s “I Bet” rips off Usher’s “U Got It Bad,” though he’s not exactly coming for blood. Now XXL reports respected and also legendary producer RZA Says Sampled Artists Should Get 50 Percent, At Most and reveals some of his worst experiences:
Bobby Digital recalled one of his own issues where the artist he sampled got 90 percent of his new track’s publishing. That was way too much in his opinion. “That means they ignored all the programming, drumming, keyboard playing I played on top of it, they ignored every lyric, every hook, everything that we built to make it a song,” he said. “And we wound up selling more copies than the sample version—but yet they took 90 percent of the song.”
The struggle between what’s inspiration and what’s a direct rip is definitely real. RZA Says Sampled Artists Should Get 50 Percent, At Most and says even though he agrees “Blurred Lines” does sounds like Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up,” he also agrees with Pharell and thinks the industry should at least have a cap on the pay-back:
“Art is something that’s made to inspire the future. If you utilize somebody’s artistic expression blatantly, to [the point] where it’s an identifiable thing, then there should be some sort of compensation to the person who inspires you…Even though I use his portion as an instrument—because the sampler is an instrument—he should not be able to come in and take 100 percent of my song. The most he should get is 50 percent. There should be a cut off. Fifty percent is the most…”
Lots of new things exist that echo all sides of this argument, for instance the growth of music engineering technology which made a legend like Michael McDonald say Kanye West doesn’t make “valid music,” and the new online app that lets you recreate Kanye, Dilla and 9th Wonder beats all on your keyboard. But what #facts still remain? Is RZA Says Sampled Artists Should Get 50 Percent, At Most valid or nah???
Check the vid to hear RZA on sampling vs. live instrumentation and traditional recording, and don’t forget the gallery up top!
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