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As a starting point, it is important to understand the
dierence between a musical work and a sound recording.
In short, a musical work is a song’s underlying composition
created by a songwriter or composer along with any
accompanying lyrics. A sound recording is a series of musical,
spoken, or other sounds xed in a recording medium, such
as a CD or digital le. For more information on musical work
and sound recording copyright owners’ rights, see Musical
Works, Sound Recordings & Copyright.
The following songs contain samples of other songs:
• Avicii’s “Levels” contains a sample of
“Something’s Got a Hold on Me” by Etta James
• Sam Hunt’s “Hard to Forget” contains a sample of
“There Stands the Glass” by Webb Pierce
• Ye’s (aka Kanye West’s) “Stronger” contains a sample of
“Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” by Daft Punk
Note that samples do not have to come from
recorded music. For example:
• Charli XCX’s “Boys” samples the coin sound from the
Super Mario Bros. video game
• Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” samples famous
speeches, including President Kennedy’s 1961
inauguration speech
• Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” samples the audio from a
pedestrian crosswalk signal
Sampling, Mashups, and Remixes
Sampling involves taking part of an existing sound recording
and incorporating it into a new work. For example, a piano
line or guitar ri from one recording might be used as a
melody in a new recording (instead of re-recording the
melody or creating a new melody), or the audio from drums
or a piano might be incorporated into a new sound recording
as the rhythm or melody of the new work.
YoungKio sampled the banjo and other instruments
from “34 Ghosts IV” when creating the beat that became
“Old Town Road.”
Musical Works
A musical work is a song’s underlying
composition created by a songwriter
or composer along with any
accompanying lyrics.
The copyright owner of a musical work
has the rights to make and distribute
copies of it, publicly perform or display
it, and make derivative works from it
(including interpolations, remixes, or even
videos using the musical work). Anyone
else who wants to do these things must
either get a license from the copyright
owner, use a statutory license, or have an
exemption apply, like fair use. A statutory
license is created by operation of law, not
by contract. With a statutory license, a
copyright owner cannot say “no” to uses of
their work, as long as the licensee complies
with applicable legal requirements.
When you record a song,
you may be creating
two works that can be
protected by copyright
law: a musical work
and a sound recording.
These works are subject
to dierent rules under
the Copyright Act and
are commonly owned
and licensed separately.
For both musical works
and sound recordings,
copyright protection
begins the moment
the work is fixed—
for example, when a
song is recorded in an
audio file or when a
musical work is notated
in sheet music or a
digital file.
Musical Works,
Sound Recordings
& Copyright