Moneygrabbing enquiry, or... no, just moneygrabbing
granjero
147 Posts
So I was on hold on the phone to the bank yesterday, and this piece of music was playing. Suddenly a flute line jumped out at me. I thought I was going mad (I'm suffering from sleep deprivation cos I've got a month-old baby) as I recognised every twist and turn of the flute line.
It was, I am sure, a sample of a flute recording made at a friend's home studio about 10 years ago, which was used on a record of mine which came out about 8 years ago. This bank music used a clean sample of that flute line which was improvised in that studio all those years ago.
I emailed the bank to ask what the tune was, and they got back to me. I listened again and sure enough. It's that flute.
Now, I'm a great fan of irreverent sampling (with impunity) in musicmaking - it's out there, sample what you want, flip it, be creative and have fun. All the records I ever made were created from samples of other records, chopped up reorganised and layered, with other lines played over them. So I acknowledge that to raise this has an aspect of distastefulness to it. Though the flute on this bank track uses just one repeated phrase out of a much longer improvisation. Plus a few notes later on.
I've no idea how this artist got hold of the recording. Perhaps my friend with the studio made it available to someone else at some point. It's 'just' a groovy flute recording.
To complicate matters further, my studio friend passed away 3 years ago.
I didn't compose the flute line (it was improvised by the flautist). But (as the owner of the recording?) I didn't authorise anyone else to use it.
Obviously the fact that the recording has been licensed by the bank motivates my desire to find out if a portion of money might be payable to me or the flautist.
Just wondering what anyone thought to this.
Deep down I'm just amazed to hear the flute again (having edited that recording, it's been etched into my brain).
Has anyone else had cause (or the balls, or the tackiness) to chase this kind of thing.
Tar.
It was, I am sure, a sample of a flute recording made at a friend's home studio about 10 years ago, which was used on a record of mine which came out about 8 years ago. This bank music used a clean sample of that flute line which was improvised in that studio all those years ago.
I emailed the bank to ask what the tune was, and they got back to me. I listened again and sure enough. It's that flute.
Now, I'm a great fan of irreverent sampling (with impunity) in musicmaking - it's out there, sample what you want, flip it, be creative and have fun. All the records I ever made were created from samples of other records, chopped up reorganised and layered, with other lines played over them. So I acknowledge that to raise this has an aspect of distastefulness to it. Though the flute on this bank track uses just one repeated phrase out of a much longer improvisation. Plus a few notes later on.
I've no idea how this artist got hold of the recording. Perhaps my friend with the studio made it available to someone else at some point. It's 'just' a groovy flute recording.
To complicate matters further, my studio friend passed away 3 years ago.
I didn't compose the flute line (it was improvised by the flautist). But (as the owner of the recording?) I didn't authorise anyone else to use it.
Obviously the fact that the recording has been licensed by the bank motivates my desire to find out if a portion of money might be payable to me or the flautist.
Just wondering what anyone thought to this.
Deep down I'm just amazed to hear the flute again (having edited that recording, it's been etched into my brain).
Has anyone else had cause (or the balls, or the tackiness) to chase this kind of thing.
Tar.
Comments
Whether you think it's distasteful or not, you do have the right to pursue this further. Assuming you never assigned any ownership to a third party (and even if you have), it's been used without your permission. It sounds to me as if whoever has acquired the track is licensing it out as production music and may have acquired/licensed it in good faith with no knowledge of its origins, but I doubt the bank itself would be directly involved. Nonetheless, somebody will have been paid for the use. How much is anybody's guess.
It's a little unclear from what you're saying if the flute was sampled from your record or if someone else had access to the original master and incorporated it into a new track. If it's the latter, then you need to speak to your boy at the studio and find out a bit more about it. Was the original track registered with ASCAP or BMI? The extent to which you're able to support any claims of ownership will be pretty significant, and if you're able to trace the licensor, they might be willing to break you off a little something in order to avoid a lawsuit. Equally, they might just ignore you. The fact there's a bank in the picture might make a difference. Depends on how serious you want to get. Unless a hit record is involved, there's rarely enough money in things like this to make it worthwhile spending too much time pursuing it. There's no harm in trying your luck, though. It sounds as if you have a fairly solid case, after all.
I've heard of people going to the movies and hearing a song of theirs sampled in something on the soundtrack, but hearing an uncleared sample in a piece of hold music is a new one on me.
Thanks for your reply, Doc.
The flute must've come from the raw file/ original master as there's none of our beat behind it. Unfortunately, my friend with the studio died in 2009.
I don't know we did anything official with regard to publishing (lame). Towards the start of putting out records we did fill in some forms to do with registering copyright, though whether for mechanicals or publishing I can't recall. We always just asked them to put 'Copyright Control' on credits when we got licensed for cd comps. We wrote (p) & (c) on the label artwork but that means nothing I presume. I did have a sort of deal with Bucks for other music and I do remember them investigating whether I was owed anything for foreign plays of this other music... and we weren't. Everything's kinda hazy.
I expect I've got a copy of the flute recording somewhere, and I've probably also got the 3.5" Akai S3000 floppies it got chopped up onto.
It isn't the same flute. Classic mania moves. Sorry, everybody :weaksauce: