Sampling in rap music

Sampling in rap music

On relationships between technology, ways of thinking and institutions

Tomasz Kukołowicz

Institute of Applied Social SciencesUniversity of Warsaw

Culture, Communication and Cognition (International Conference)Poland - Lublin - 8 May 2012

Sampling

Urszula SipińskaNim zakwitnie tysiąc róż[Before a thousand of roses come into bloom]

1971

2000GrammatikFriko [For free]

Vinyls as a source of music samples

A screenshot of the music videoOrtega Cartel, To historia [This is history], prod. Sixteen Pads Films

Sampling as a technical solution

AKAI MPC 60A ‘legendary’ sampler

FL SutioA computer programme which offers similar features to samplers

Sampling as copyright infringement in the USA

1990-19942 Live Crew v. Roy Orbison, Oh, Pretty Woman

Source: en.wikipedia.org

1991Vanilla Ice v. David Bowie & Queen, Under Pressure

1991Biz Markie v. Gilbert O'Sullivan, Alone Again (Naturally)

Polish rappers against music piracy (1)If you play it as an MP3 file and this is the first time this rap

may be not much good. But this toast may be better if you

listen us in a better version. Rap will not please you as long

as you don’t devote something. And if you devote two

grams of marihuana the sound will not be opaque. Devote

two grams and you know what you may buy? See, you may

have a record singel, an album, half a gram of marihuana

and a beer. You may put an original [recording] on you

headphones and this original will be yours as your family is.

Only an original has this good climate, only! Only once you

may listen to it for the first time ! Let it sound clearly.

Pezet, To tylko raz, [It’s Only Once]

Paweł „Pezet” Kaplińskisource: muzyka.one.pl

Grammatik, Friko [For free]

Buy Polish rap CDs!Leszek „Eldo” Kaźmierczak

You know – nothing for free.Maricn „Jotuze” Józwa

Polish rappers against music piracy (2)

Polish rappers against music piracy (3)

[In Poland] Everything should be given

for free and above all mp3. So there is

a traffic on the net like in Hel*. I feel

sorry that they nastily rob us.

Łukasz „L.U.C” Rostkowski, Co z tą Polską? [What’s with Poland?]

* Hel - a popular seaside resort

Paradox of rappers arguing for copyrights enforcment

Explenation 1Amateurs

Non-commercial recordings

Lack of appropriate formal

regulations (Lessig)

Professionals

Commercial recordings

Intellectual property rights

Fair division of profits (Towse)

fot. Maranna Sosnowska, cjg.gazeta.pl

1999

2009

Prophetic nature of music?

Jacques Attali

Noise: The Political Economy of Music

Changes in music preceeds social changes

Rap music Creative commonsFree culture

1979 2002

Prophetic nature of music?

Spurious relationship

C

A

BCorrelation

Causality

Causality

Rap music

Creative commonsFree culture

Technological innovations - ?

Explanation 2

Paradox of rappers arguing for copyrights enforcement

Neo institutionalism

Path dependence (Douglass North)

Institutional change is incremental

Record music according to the new logic

Rappers

Sell music within the old institutional framework

Concluding questions

• What is the common source of rap music and creative commons licenses?

• Why new art forms are accepted faster than new social rules?

Thank you for your attention!

[email protected]