Let’s discuss sampling. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s been a part of songwriting for decades. Taking snippets of existing music and weaving them into something new isn’t exactly a modern idea. It’s been around long before digital samplers were a thing. And while we’ve come a long way with technology, there’s still plenty of room to keep innovating in this space.

Of course, sampling gets its fair share of side-eye, mostly because of concerns around originality and legality. Some see it as “cheating” or straight-up theft. But in reality, sampling can be a way to cite your influences, paying homage to the artists who inspired you in the first place.

Jazz musicians did it all the time, borrowing riffs and melodies to riff off each other. Early hip-hop sampling pioneers built an entire genre by looping and chopping up records to create something new. Even the founders of Musique Concrète made a point to reuse existing material to create new pieces of experimental music.

In this article, we’ll explore the question, "Is sampling stealing?", what it means creatively, how it’s been used historically, and where the legal lines get drawn. Let’s get into it.

The Definition of Sampling

At its core, sampling is the practice of taking a portion of a sound recording, whether a beat, a vocal, or even just a funky bassline, and using it in a new composition. It’s essentially borrowing a little piece of history to create something completely new. While it’s now a common tool in all sorts of music genres, most people link the birth of sampling to hip-hop records.

Back in the early ‘70s, in the Bronx, DJs like Kool Herc were throwing massive block parties, spinning records, and essentially laying the foundation for what we now know as hip-hop. Herc had a knack for finding the best instrumental breaks in funk records and looping them live to keep the energy going. MCs would jump on the mic and start rapping over these breaks, hyping up the crowd. This was live sampling before we even had samplers.

For a while, this all happened on the fly. DJs would mix and blend records live, with MCs freestyling over them. That was the vibe until 1979, when the first recorded hip-hop tracks started dropping. Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" was technically the first hip-hop single, though most people credit "Rapper’s Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang for putting hip-hop on the map. Another early gem was "We Rap More Mellow" by Younger Generation, which also gave a taste of what was coming.

However, the concept of reworking existing sounds wasn’t new. Composers had been “sampling” for hundreds of years. Take Johann Sebastian Bach, for example. He would take traditional hymns and reset them into his cantatas and oratorios, giving old melodies a new life. Or consider Stravinsky, who reimagined folk songs in his compositions. These composers might not have had turntables or samplers, but they were doing the same thing as hip-hop producers.

Sampling Throughout History

While hip-hop might get the most credit for popularizing sampling, the roots of this technique actually go way back, starting with musique concrète .

In the early 1940s, French composer Pierre Schaeffer began experimenting with recorded sounds, using anything from train noises to human speech. He would manipulate these recordings, splicing and looping them to create new compositions of sample-based music. This was one of the first times someone used recorded sound as the primary element in music, essentially laying the groundwork for sampling as we know it today.

Fast forward to the 1960s

In this era, we find Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop , working on a groundbreaking project. Derbyshire took a score written by composer Ron Grainer for a sci-fi show that was about to launch on TV - Doctor Who - and realized it using early electronic techniques.

She manipulated tape loops and oscillators to create the show’s iconic theme music. What Derbyshire did was like an early form of sampling, using available technology to bend and reshape sounds into something futuristic.

Around the same time, the Mellotron arrived on the scene. This instrument used tape loops to recreate the sound of orchestral instruments, allowing artists to “sample” strings, choirs, and other instruments before samplers existed in the modern sense.

Bands like The Beatles and The Moody Blues were some of the first to embrace this new tech. Just listen to "Strawberry Fields Forever." This track owes its lush feel to the Mellotron.

Development of Synthesizers in the 70s

The 1970s brought the development of early synthesizers like the Synclavier and the Fairlight CMI , which took sampling to a new level. These were digital workstations that could record, edit, and playback sounds. They let musicians sample real-world audio, manipulate it, and turn it into music.

*Fairlight CMI Photo

Of course, this tech wasn’t cheap. Only top-tier studios and artists had access. However, it opened the door for creative experimentation. Artists like Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, and Kate Bush used these instruments to push the boundaries of music.

Sampling Becomes More Accessible

By the time the 1980s rolled around, sampling technology became way more accessible. Samplers like the E-MU SP-1200 , Akai S950 , and the MPC series changed everything, especially for many hip-hop producers.

Instead of needing an expensive studio setup, producers could loop, chop, and flip samples from vinyl records in their own homes. People like DJ Premier, J Dilla, and Pete Rock mastered the art of sampling, creating timeless beats from fragments of older tracks. It was then that sampling became a central part of the creative process.

The Morality Argument

Sampling has always stirred up debate, and some people are quick to claim that it promotes unoriginality among artists. The argument goes something like this: why create something new when you can just borrow - or, depending on who you ask, steal - someone else’s work?

It’s an argument that’s been thrown at sampling since its early days, with some purists feeling that it undermines the creative process by relying too heavily on pre-existing material.

However, I believe that sampling was founded on innovation. The whole idea of taking a small snippet of sound and transforming it into something entirely new is about reimagining what’s possible.

Take Drake, for example, one of today’s biggest artists. His latest album For All the Dogs is packed with sampled tracks. One standout is his collaboration with 21 Savage, where he took Nohelani Cypriano’s “Livin’ Without You,” spliced it, pitched it up, and slowed it down to create an entirely new beat. This kind of sampling offers a total reinterpretation of the music.

That said, not everyone’s on board with this approach. Some people denounce it as unethical, arguing that it allows big-name artists to rip off lesser-known ones without any real consequences. There’s a real concern that these smaller artists aren’t getting the recognition or compensation they deserve when their work gets sampled by mainstream musicians. And honestly, those fears aren’t completely unfounded.

The good news is that the music industry has taken steps to address these concerns. Over the years, there have been legal measures put in place to ensure that when a sample is used, the original artist gets proper credit and compensation. Licensing agreements, publishing rights, and sample clearances are all part of the process now, which means that, in most cases, credit is given where it’s due. While there are still gray areas, sampling today is more regulated than ever before.

The Legality of Sampling

Sampling without permission is illegal . If you’re taking a piece of someone else’s music to use in your own work, you’ve got to get the proper clearance. It’s not just a polite nod to the original artist, it’s the law. Whether it’s a few seconds of a bassline or a vocal snippet, if it’s copyrighted, you need permission to use it. That usually means reaching out to whoever holds the rights and working out a licensing deal.

Unfortunately, here’s where things get a little murky. Even though there are laws in place to protect both artists and their work, there are always going to be cases where someone tries to get away with not playing by the rules.

Sadly, there are instances of corruption and shady behavior when it comes to creative licensing, whether it's bigger artists using lesser-known tracks or the complexities of who really owns what in a song.

If you don’t go through the proper channels, you’re opening yourself up to a lawsuit. Artists who use samples without permission are liable for copyright infringement, and some of these cases have resulted in major legal battles.

Copyright Infringement

Sampling is a powerful creative tool, but if you don’t play by the rules, you could end up in serious hot water. Plenty of big-name artists have found themselves on the wrong side of a lawsuit for using unauthorized samples, from Kanye West to Vanilla Ice.

One of the most famous cases in music history comes from The Verve with their 1997 hit "Bittersweet Symphony." The song featured a sample from an orchestral version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time."

The Verve had initially gotten permission to use the sample, but they were accused of using more than they were licensed for. Enter a massive legal battle, and The Verve ended up losing the rights to their own song, with all royalties going to The Rolling Stones.

For years, Bittersweet Symphony was tied up in this copyright mess until 2019, when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards finally gave The Verve their songwriting credits back. But that case serves as a reminder of just how risky sampling can be if things go sideways.

Sampling Today

We’ve come a long way since the early days of looping records at block parties. Thanks to technology, the process of sampling has gotten a whole lot easier and way more accessible.

What’s even better is that you can now find royalty-free samples all over the internet. There are tons of platforms where you can legally grab high-quality samples to use in your music without worrying about getting slapped with a lawsuit.

Some of the big ones include Splice and Loopmasters , both of which offer massive libraries of sounds, loops, and beats that you can download and start using in your own music right away.

We highly recommend using these platforms if you’re looking to avoid any legal headaches down the road. It’s just easier (and safer) to work with royalty-free samples, especially if you’re planning to release your music commercially.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, while some people outside the music industry might still view sampling as stealing or uncreative, it really shouldn’t carry that stigma. If you’re using samples without permission, however, you’re dipping into copyright infringement territory, but that’s a legal issue, not theft in the traditional sense.

Honestly, in today’s music world, is it even possible to create something entirely new? Whether we realize it or not, almost everything we write, play, or produce is influenced by what’s come before. Whether it’s a melody stuck in your head from childhood or a chord progression you heard last week, music is a constant cycle of influence and reinterpretation.

Sampling is no different. It’s just another way of contributing to the ongoing conversation. We take something old, reimagine it, and give it new life in a modern context. So, instead of looking at it as unoriginal, maybe we should see it for what it is - a nod to the past and a way to push music forward.