A view from the insides of a copyright infringment case - this one between the band The Beastie Boys (who've been AWOL since '98) and jazz musician James Newton whose flute sample they used on a recording 10 years ago. This article presents the Beastie Boys' side of the argument, while the Washington Post featured the argument from Newton's side. Its interesting to see how although the Beasties followed the rules, Newton was not aware that his performance was used - even 8 years after the hit, "Pass the Mic" was released.
Beasties: Before spending a lot of money on the case we contacted Mr. Newton and offered him a generous out of court settlement in hopes of avoiding further legal fees. He responded by telling us that the offer was “insulting” and said that he wanted “millions” of dollars. In addition he told us that he wanted 50% ownership and control of our song, “Pass the Mic.” But because Mr. Newton’s flute sound is just one of hundreds of sounds in our song giving him 50% ownership of our song seemed unfair. That kind of split is sometimes done if one party writes all of the music and the other writes all of the lyrics. Newton by no stretch of the imagination wrote all of the music in “Pass the Mic.”
Newton's label, Munich-based ECM (great minimalist album cover designs) was apparently OK with the whole deal. Raises questions about what belongs to labels to give away/sell/license, and how much cooperation is required of the original artist when constructing arrangements with artists who want to sample previously recorded work.
Beasties: Before spending a lot of money on the case we contacted Mr. Newton and offered him a generous out of court settlement in hopes of avoiding further legal fees. He responded by telling us that the offer was “insulting” and said that he wanted “millions” of dollars. In addition he told us that he wanted 50% ownership and control of our song, “Pass the Mic.” But because Mr. Newton’s flute sound is just one of hundreds of sounds in our song giving him 50% ownership of our song seemed unfair. That kind of split is sometimes done if one party writes all of the music and the other writes all of the lyrics. Newton by no stretch of the imagination wrote all of the music in “Pass the Mic.”
Newton's label, Munich-based ECM (great minimalist album cover designs) was apparently OK with the whole deal. Raises questions about what belongs to labels to give away/sell/license, and how much cooperation is required of the original artist when constructing arrangements with artists who want to sample previously recorded work.
