EMI Production Music Offer Sample Amnesty

Nile Rodgers told us he loved it. Seminal German four piece Kraftwerk once sued a fellow artist over a one second usage. And  Will.i.am uses it in the most extreme sense of the word. Yes we are of course talking about sampling. The process for us at DT is one that is vital for the progression of electronic music but one that has been generating plenty of controversy within the scene in recent times. Always a thorny issue, the debate surrounding copyright has reared its ugly head a lot recently but today samplers received some good news as EMI Production Music announced an amnesty on sample declarations from its back catalogue.

Starting today, September 1st, the amnesty will allow producers who have previously used EMI samples to declare them “without the fear of a royalty back claim” and reportedly aims to encourage new sample requests from its broad catalogue.

Speaking on the amnesty EMI Production Music’s global director Alex Black said: “EMI Production Music has a treasure trove of original recordings spanning more than six decades. Our vision for this amnesty is to highlight the wealth of possibilities open to producers working with samples.”

Before adding: “We’re very excited about the new and exciting partnerships that will come from the amnesty. The chance to work with labels and artists who see the value in the library is a very thrilling prospect for us. We are also excited about the potential to bring recognition to our original composers by unearthing great tracks from the past that have sampled their music.”

Further information on the amnesty can be found here