Musical sampling and mash ups - just the truth, ruth

By nature, musicians are thieves. Nicking a bit of this song and a lick from that one, shaping their style on the riffs of those who came before, musicians are experts in the art of acquisition. Woody Guthrie knew this; he pinched melodies from Leadbelly - and let anybody pinch him in return. The Sex Pistols knew this; they shamelessly lifted from the New York Dolls. And James Brown knows this; he accrued a large debt to Little Richard - only to become the most sampled man in showbiz, with thousands of his grunts and bridges and beats pilfered by lesser men.

But what some call theft, others call sharing. Thanks to sharing, there are genre-bending artists like Beck and Prince, the mash-up legacy of Jay Z's Black Album, and the sublime delight of Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven."  Look at all the mash-up artists, layering songs on top of songs to make new ones.

At root, sharing and stealing music start from the same impulse: Cribbing is creation. Building on what other musicians have done - with or without their blessing or collaboration - is what it takes to make new music, music that will delight and sustain people. That, after all, is why it's called making music (playing music is something else altogether).  

[source: wired magazine nov. 2004]


"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. Theres also a negative side. "

Hunter S. Thompson