Research On Copyright Issues Of Music Sampling

With the development of digital music technology,digital music recording is confronted with more and more legal issues,copyright issues of music sampling is one of them.According the definition of music sampling from Wikipedia,music sampling means taking or sampling a portion of sound recording and reusing it as an instrument in a different song or piece.Copyright issues of music sampling is quite complicated,from 1940 s to 1960 s,music sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with electronic music.Experimental musicians often sample others sound recording without consent or notify the copyright holder.But this situation has changed in 1980 s,musicians would ask for permission before they sample other's sound recordings.Even though most of musicians will ask copyright holder for permission before they do the music sampling,but not all of them have the same legal sense.That is why unauthorized music sampling still happening all the time.There are many cases of music sampling abroad,but different courts have different attitude toward music sampling.From my point of view,music is different from art works and literary works,because music does not have visual perception.And the audience's personal artistic quality are different,so their feeling toward the same music are different.Music sampling as one of the common patterns of musiccreation is widely used in nationwide.Although there are not much cases of music sampling in our country,but how to make a balance between copyright holder's interests and encourage musicians to create music still very important.How to determine whether the music sampling infringe copyright holder's right or not,and dividing a relatively clear boundary is the purpose of this thesis.Thesis is divided into four partsPart ? firstly clarifies the definition of music sampling.According to its pattern and result divided into three different ways.Also introduce the music sampling case in United States and Germany.And discuss music sampling from a macro point of view,which includes the object of infringement such as music works and sound recordings.Discussed about the exclusive rights involved in music sampling based on different objects.Part ? introduces the judicial practice on music sampling in the United States,and analysis three rules in music sampling cases through the three paragraphs,such as substantial similarity,fair use defense,de minimis,and clarify the relationship between those rules.Part ? offer some judicial suggestions based on the conclusion in Part I and Part II.Not all music sampling behavior could apply compulsory license of sound recording,this need to be discussed case by case.From the economic perspective,it is necessary to have sound recording compulsory license for music sampling in our country.In music sampling case,copyright holder can prevent other from unauthorized music sampling via litigation.In the process of litigation,it is possible for copyright holder to choose a country with a high level of moral right protection as a jurisdiction,and the litigation may turn into an international music sampling case.The development of science and technology has changed the life of human beings,and copyright law should be improved to meet the needs of society.Finally,I conclude that for music sampling cases,we should first discuss the different types of music sampling,and judge whether the behavior of the actorsinfringes the copyright of the right holders.And propose a new legal license system for the recording products in Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China,which is based on the type of music sampling behavior of the creator,makes the corresponding music sampling rate.Balance the interests of music creation and the interests of the copyright owner,making the music industry booming.