Navigating the legal issues around covers and sampling requires an introduction. This article explains key questions in creating and using covers, and the meaning and principal forms of sampling.<\/p>\n
A cover is another artist\u2019s version of an existing song, potentially with a personal style and interpretation. It may simply be a new performance, or change arrangement and melody so substantially that it becomes a new derivative work. Sometimes it surpasses the original\u2019s popularity; without appropriate author permission, litigation may follow.<\/p>\n
The Copyright and Related Rights Act[1]<\/a> supplies no definition. Practice ranges from another performer singing a familiar song to complete rearrangement or genre transformation[2]<\/a>. No single legal classification works automatically; the relationship to the original must always be examined.<\/p>\n Following A. Sewerynik, three types can be distinguished[3]<\/a>:<\/p>\n Beyond technical classification, this distinction determines formalities. A new performance requires a licence for relevant uses. Distributing a creative adaptation additionally requires the original author\u2019s permission. The original singer\u2019s consent is unnecessary unless also the composer: there are no derivative rights in performances. A cover may imitate the singer or take another approach. If clearly referring to the original performer, personal rights set limits, for example with an insulting parody[5]<\/a>.<\/p>\n How can we distinguish them?<\/strong><\/p>\n Interpretation changes dynamics, articulation or phrasing technically without altering individual character[6]<\/a>. Anyone with appropriate musical expertise and skill could make those changes similarly.<\/strong> Fixed elements such as melody remain, although ornaments or vocalisations can enrich performance without creating an adaptation[7]<\/a>.<\/p>\n Changes only to tempo, phrasing, volume or sound production therefore do not create adaptations. Even changes within the composition need no extra author permission if technical or standard; an appropriate licence suffices[8]<\/a>.<\/p>\n An adaptation creatively and individually changes composition or lyrics substantially, creating a derivative work. Significantly changing melody or translating lyrics are examples.<\/strong><\/p>\n Instrument changes are hardest to classify. Related electronic replacements for acoustic instruments are not creative, nor are other simple substitutions. Turning a metal-band composition into a string quartet arrangement, however, creates an adaptation.<\/strong><\/p>\n Where authors died more than seventy years ago, neither licence nor adaptation permission is needed because the original is public domain, irrespective of creativity.<\/p>\n If a cover is not publicly exploited through streaming, YouTube, social media or concerts, nothing need be done. Creating adaptations alone<\/strong> requires no original-author consent[9]<\/a>.<\/p>\n For protected works, public use always requires a ZAiKS licence or one from another collective management organisation representing the author. ZAiKS provides a fee calculator[10]<\/a>.<\/p>\n Uploading also requires a licence for the underlying song. YouTube has an agreement with ZAiKS, which collects viewing royalties and pays authors. Rights holders can therefore earn from covers. Content ID informs them of new performances; they can request removal or monetise through adverts. This applies to Polish and foreign authors.<\/p>\n Creative adaptations additionally require direct author consent. ZAiKS can help supply contact details. The adapter may also earn royalties by registering the adaptation and obtaining original-author approval<\/strong>[11]<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sampling incorporates parts of existing sound recordings into a new composition[12]<\/a>. It involves digital recording, computer analysis and possible modification, then incorporation[13]<\/a>. Sound itself functions like an instrument: a short isolated element becomes integral to the new work[14]<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are three principal types.<\/strong><\/p>\n First, looping:<\/strong> repeating a short earlier passage. Called derivative works sampling, it uses one or a few recognisable samples significant quantitatively or qualitatively to both works[15]<\/a>. An attentive listener can readily identify their origin.<\/strong> Vanilla Ice\u2019s Ice Ice Baby<\/em>[16]<\/a> uses the bass motif from Queen and David Bowie\u2019s Under Pressure<\/em>. Taco Hemingway\u2019s Mo\u017ce To Co\u015b Zmieni<\/em>[17]<\/a>, from 1-800-O\u015aWIECENIE<\/em>, samples Edyta Bartosiewicz\u2019s Jenny<\/em>[18]<\/a>. Modern sound and a familiar motif combine nostalgia with freshness.<\/p>\n Second, collage sampling:<\/strong> combining passages from several musical or sound sources into a new structure. Small, heavily modified excerpts may make originals unrecognisable, leaving little similarity. Effects, tempo and pitch changes offer broad freedom. Sources can include films or field recordings.<\/p>\n The Weeknd\u2019s Secrets<\/em>[19]<\/a> samples Tears for Fears\u2019 Pale Shelter<\/em>[20]<\/a> and the Romantics\u2019 Talking in Your Sleep<\/em>[21]<\/a>. Variations become principal themes in a new structure, key and arrangement, while retaining the originals\u2019 eighties new-wave feel.<\/p>\n Third, mash-up:<\/strong> combining two or more songs into a coherent composition[22]<\/a>, often using genre contrast and eclecticism. Like collage, it borrows recordings[23]<\/a>, but leaves them recognisable. Unlike looping, it uses much longer passages, with the result largely based on their sound. Numb\/Encore<\/em>[24]<\/a> combines Linkin Park\u2019s Numb<\/em> and Jay-Z\u2019s Encore<\/em>.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Act of 4 February 1994 on copyright and related rights (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2022, item 2509).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> https:\/\/legalnakultura.pl\/pl\/prawo-w-kulturze\/prawo-w-praktyce\/news\/2864,covery-melodie-ktore-juz-znamy-kto-ma-do-nich-prawa#gsc.tab=0<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> http:\/\/prawomuzyki.sewerynik.pl\/2013\/10\/21\/cover-a-prawa-autorskie\/<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> http:\/\/prawomuzyki.sewerynik.pl\/2013\/10\/21\/cover-a-prawa-autorskie\/<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.rp.pl\/opinie-prawne\/art2751421-cover-a-prawo-autorskie-w-praktyce<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> https:\/\/akademia.zaiks.org.pl\/wiedza\/przerobki-remiksy-covery<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> https:\/\/www.rp.pl\/opinie-prawne\/art2751421-cover-a-prawo-autorskie-w-praktyce<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> https:\/\/www.rp.pl\/opinie-prawne\/art2751421-cover-a-prawo-autorskie-w-praktyce<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> https:\/\/akademia.zaiks.org.pl\/wiedza\/przerobki-remiksy-covery<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> https:\/\/online.zaiks.org.pl\/oblicz-kup-licencje<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> https:\/\/www.rp.pl\/opinie-prawne\/art2751421-cover-a-prawo-autorskie-w-praktyce.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> B.J. McGiverin, Digital Sound Sampling, Copyright and Publicity: Protecting Against the Electronic Appropriation of Sounds, \u201eColumbia Law Review\u201d 1987\/87 (8), p. 1724, cited in J. Azran, Bring Back the Noise: How Cariou v. Prince Will Revitalize Sampling, \u201eColumbia Journal of Law & the Arts\u201d 2014\/38, p. 71.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> R.M. Szymanski, Audio Pastiche: Digital Sampling, Intermediate Copying, Fair Use, \u201eUCLA Entertainment<\/p>\n Law Review\u201d 1996\/3 (2), p. 275 (citing J.S. Newton, Digital Sampling: The Copyright Considerations<\/p>\n of a New Technological Use of Musical Performance, \u201eHastings Communications and Entertainment Law<\/p>\n Journal\u201d 1989\/11 (4), p. 671, 675).<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> P. Ju\u015bci\u0144ski, Cyfrowy sampling utwor\u00f3w muzycznych w \u015bwietle prawa autorskiego i praw pokrewnych<\/em>, ZNUJ. PPWI 2019, no. 1, p. 45-87.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XiCtKpSNwWU.<\/p>\n [18]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=g7wVNZ9JIf8<\/p>\n [19]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eXDU9um19HM<\/p>\n [20]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BUfcT5OoP-8<\/p>\n [21]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JmGMzyajA2U<\/p>\n [22]<\/a> https:\/\/pl.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mashup_(muzyka)<\/p>\n\n
Artistic interpretation versus creative adaptation<\/h2>\n
Covers on YouTube: can their creators earn money?<\/h2>\n
Sampling: meaning and types<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
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