Copyright Criminals Documentary
Copyright Criminals is a documentary that traces the roots of Hip Hop back to the streets of New York where sampling was just part of the game. Now, it is the game for many in the multi-billion dollar industry of music.
It provides perspectives from both those who sample and from those who have been sampled from. The growth of music in a variety of genres has strong roots in sampling.
In this day and age where technology is easily accessible, sharing info & content across the various channels has become easier than ever, but more importantly, the demand to obtain info & content has also risen. There are a couple facets of copyright infringement that are widely spreading as a result; illegal duplication and distribution of music, and the age-old sampling of others’ music to create new tracks. Emerging tools within the music industry, both hardware and software, are making it easier to remix, sample, cut, mash-up a multitude of music into new productions.
This documentary takes a look into this art form to review the source, process, politics, and art of sampling. It features foudning figures of hip hop such as Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers (Atmosphere, P.O.S.), Ninja Tune, and more.
From the other side, sampled artists such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, the original funk legend George Clinton.
(by the way, I sampled some of these snippets from the Copyright Criminals website, modified and re-purposed it for this post – thanks www.copyrightcriminals.com)
Here is a nice clip from the documentary:
Copyright Criminals – Trailer from IndiePix on Vimeo.
Copyright Criminals
“A look at sampling, in which snippets of old songs are reused in new productions, featuring remarks from hip-hop and electronica artists as well as George Clinton and ex-James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield, whose beats have been heavily recycled.”
duration: 60 min
There are several dates this will air, but here is the next date for the Denver area is:
Saturday, January 23 — 11:00pm
Channel 0006 – KRMA
or HD
Channel 0658 – Digital/HD Rocky Mountain PBS
For additional show times and more info visit PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/broadcast.html
For details about Copyright Criminals visit:
http://www.copyrightcriminals.com/
