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Slightly Off-topic: As someone who really doesn't know much about this stuff legally but likes heavily sample based music: Empirically I don't think having short samples having strict copyright restrictions doesn't feel "right". Anything under, say, 5 seconds and where the whole song isn't sampled from one artist exclusively should be fair game.

Does anyone else have thoughts on this or could explain to me reasons why it should stay the way it currently is?

2 comments

It's always been the unofficially accepted way things are done in the music business. Short samples are tolerated, but some people are sensitive and try to sue and then I believe it can go either way depending on the details. If you lose, you'll have to license it.

Caveat Emptor: I am a software engineer who loves music and about 20 years ago I read a book about how the music biz works. (spoiler: it was mostly quite ugly behind the scenes!)

Right, thanks for the info!

I think tracklib is attempting to find a middle ground. Not sure the younger generation cares about Bob James in a backwards hat though.