What are the legalities involved if getting a remix signed.

bangersandmash wrote:

If it’s your own vocals there are no legal hurdles to over come what so ever. You own the rights to both the beats and the vocal therefore it’s yours to do with as you please. Finding a label to sign it will be the cahllenging part….

100% Incorrect.

You simply Can Not stick your vocals over a remix and have zero implications after. You have to get the consent of all the holders of the rights to whatever you copy/sample. Artists will sign Publishing deals on 4 levels, one of which is… the Publishing company will consult them on whether it is suitable for acceptence, because the music may be used for a derogatory song and the artist would not want to be in any way linked to such a song.

The BBC have an article online that gives the basics of Publishing and the kind of agreements are usually made.

If you stick your own Vocals on it, you will only hold the rights to the words usually.

SYN wrote:

The OP did not state anywhere that he would be using another person’s material to remix with, so it should not be assumed he is doing so.

I disagree. It should be dealt with caution and without ignorance of the possibilities and implications. Furthermore, when things are unclear, the worst case(s) should be taken into consideration when dealing with points of Law. As the saying goes… Ignorance of the Law is not an excuse.

If somebody is asking about the Legal side if their remix of a tune got signed, then I’m sure I would be closer to thinking nathaliebason is asking about the Legalities because it is somebody else’s tune. Even more so as it is not stated in the first post as ‘my tune’, in which case I wouldn’t have corrected the first and incorrect reply, of which I feel obliged to do so. And, as a representative of acapellas4u, I feel even more obliged to correct any advice I feel to be misleading and possibly taken out of context for the benefit of the community.

Thats my evidence so far me Lord.

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I’ve got more time to really reply to this now, so i’ll give a proper reply, rather than a rushed one.

I wouldn’t like to see somebody create a brilliant remix, that rocks the world, and then find out all of that hard work was done for nothing. You will most probably have to get any samples cleared before getting near a contract. It is a common misconception that the record company will sort it all out. They won’t do that unless you have an Album deal, at least.

It is also a misconception that if anybody samples less than 5 seconds of audio, then it won’t be subject to copyright. If it’s a drum hit, then you would probably get away with it, but I wouldn’t count on it.

So, get any samples cleared by approaching the Label, and/or the Publisher. You are best asking about the possibilities first, then if they’re suitable you should make your move.

Alternatively, if it is a cover version you are thinking of doing, then have a look at my post about how AATW approached, and dealt with, the Whitney Houston cover of ‘Take me to the clouds above’.

Hope that helps.

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Oh yeah, nearly forgot.

Spot on example Mr. C. There are a few more, like….

MC Hammer = ‘Rick James – Super Freak’
Vanilla Ice = ‘Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure’

… there are a fair few more.

An interesting twist, and if I remember correctly (from the book titled.. Electronic Punks – The Prodigy), this is how it went…

The Prodigy had a sample on one of their tracks, and it was sampled from, and cleared by, the original artist. A year or so before The Prodigy release, some ‘other artist’ had copied the same sample, from the original artist, and didn’t get it cleared. The ‘other artist’ attempted to claim The Prodigy had ‘stolen’ their sample and threatened court action. However, The Prodigy’s representatives had pointed out the original source of the sample used. If I remember rightly, The Prodigy then bought the rights to the sample from the original artist and notified the ‘original’ that they was owed royalties from the ‘other artist’ due to the recording and publication before The Prodigy had bought the rights.

The lesson to learn from that is, keep a record of where the sample is from, and what the length of the sample is. Then, keep quiet, if you hadn’t cleared it, and above all else, pray.

You can easily check under Intelectual property and seek for your answer. If you dont understand what ur reading ask someone who knows.

I think since england is part of Europe union intelectual law is same or similar cant say for sure, but im sure if artist die his music is not royalty free for at least 10 maybe more years.

I need to check those infos cause its late and im tired and might writen something else than was in my head D: