Is sampling an art form or ‘incredibly lazy’ theft?
He’s the original, undisputed Funky Drummer. But, ironically, a lot of people wouldn’t have known Clyde Stubblefield’s name if so many musicians hadn’t borrowed from him. The documentary “Copyright Criminals,” out on DVD this week, is a fascinating look at both the legal and ethical issues surrounding the world of digital sampling, in which DJs and hip-hop artists take a snippet (or more) of an original track and build their own song around it. DJs like RJD2 and Cut Chemist go “beat-mining” through old record stores and rummage sales looking for those snippets. Albums like the Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back” are rife with samples. The original sources aren’t given royalties or often even cited. Now, say DJs, those albums — about 20 years old — are “artifacts” of an earlier time, before sampling became such a controversial and litigious practice. Today, artists often pay royalties for the use of a sample, and some DJs
