Anneta Shargorodskaya | Copying Music is Not Vogue
THE ISSUE
Have you ever listened to a song and recognized the melody? Perhaps you have heard something similar in another song? Your first thought might be “they copied my favorite artist!” And you might be right. However, if the appropriate license is obtained, it is completely legal.
Sampling is the “actual physical copying of sounds from an existing recording for use in a new recording, even if accomplished with slight modifications such as changes to pitch or tempo.”[1] Sampling is a common occurrence in the music industry. After all, there are only so many combinations we can come up with using nine notes. This is why sampling music is allowed when it licensed.
Now, try to remember if you’ve ever thought the same way about a particular note or a sound in a song. Probably harder to discern. So, what happens if a sound is sampled? Does that violate copyright laws? The Circuits are split.
THE SPLIT
The Sixth Circuit
In Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, the Sixth Circuit took a hard “[g]et a license or do not sample” approach. In doing so, it created a bright-line rule:
For copyrighted sound recordings, any unauthorized copying constitutes infringement, no matter how trivial.[2]
The Court took a “literal reading” approach towards its interpretation of §§ 114(a) and 106 of Title 17 of the United States Code, concluding that while imitating or simulating “the creative work fixed in a recording” is permissible, making an actual copy of any of its contents not. To support its reasoning, the Court made an analogy to pirated music: “If you cannot pirate the whole sound recording, can you ‘lift’ or ‘sample’ something less than the whole.” The Court answered no.
Furthermore, the Sixth Circuit rejected a de minimis analysis for the following reasons:
Adopting a de minimis analysis would require employment of “mental, musicological, and technological gymnastics.”
Artists and recording companies have previously sought licenses “as a matter of course.”
The record industry can work out its own guidelines.
The new rule “should not play any role in the assessment of concepts such as ‘willful’ or ‘intentional’” in cases currently before the courts or in those already decided.“[T]here is no Rosetta stone” in interpreting the statute. As previously stated, a literal approach was taken to reading the statue. The Court, therefore, did not refer to legislative history because digital sampling was not done in 1971. Accordingly, if the record industry wanted a change, they can ask Congress for “a clarification or change in the law.”[3]
The Court, therefore, held that no de minimis inquiry was needed—where there was no authorization, infringement was established.
The Ninth Circuit
The Plaintiff in VMG Salsoul, LLC v. Ciccone alleged that a horn hit was sampled from his song “Ooh I Love It (Love Break)” (“Love Break”) in “Vogue” by Madonna. Interestingly, the person who recorded “Love Break” also recorded “Vogue” with Madonna. The horn hits are between 3:11 and 4:38, and from 7:01 to the end, at 7:46 in “Love Break” and at 1:14, 1:20, 3:59, 4:24, 4:40, and 4:57 in “Vogue.”
See if you can spot them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_YmUoQKJRw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI
Here, the Ninth Circuit took a different approach. First, the Court looked at the statute and concluded that Congress intended to limit, as opposed to expand, the rights of copyright holders.[4] In addition to its differing approach to statutory interpretation, the Ninth Circuit’s decision also was based on the fact that a de minimis exception has been applied “across centuries of jurisprudence.”[5] Thus, it was applicable in this dispute, directly in conflict with the Sixth Circuit’s holding.
Next, the Court looked to legislative history: “…infringement takes place whenever all or any substantial portion of the actual sounds that go to make up a copyrighted sound recording are reproduced in phonorecords by … any … method, or by reproducing them in the soundtrack or audio portion of a motion picture or other audiovisual work. Mere imitation of a recorded performance would not constitute a copyright infringement even where one performer deliberately sets out to simulate another’s performance as exactly as possible.”[6]
Finally, the Court concluded that the legally protected interest is “the potential financial return from his compositions which derive from the lay public’s approbation of his efforts.”[7] “If the public does not recognize the appropriation, then the copier has not benefitted from the original artist’s expressive content. Accordingly, there is no infringement.”[8]
Therefore, in the Ninth Circuit, the “de minimis” exception does apply to copyrighted sound recordings. Put simply, if a lay person can’t recognize the similarity, there is not infringement.
LOOKING FORWARD
Depending on which jurisdiction you’re in, sampling a specific sound in a song may get you in trouble for copyright infringement. So, which approach is better: an authorization requirement for any sampling of a sound or just sounds the lay public can recognize?
[1] VMG Salsoul, LLC v. Ciccone, 824 F.3d 871, 875 (9th Cir. 2016).
[2] Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, 410 F.3d 792 (6th Cir. 2005).
[3] Bridgeport Music, 410 F.3d at 805.
[4] VMG Salsoul, 824 F.3d at 883.
[5] Id.
[6] H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 106 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 5721 (emphasis added).
[7] Arnstein v. Porter, 154 F.2d 464, 473 (2d Cir. 1946).
[8] VMG Salsoul, 824 F.3d at 881.