The Amen Break
We’ve all heard it, whether we know it or not. The Amen Break, taken from the song “Amen Brother” by The Winstons, is a six second drum break that has been sampled and reincorporated in a multitude of songs and even commercials. The video embedded below, although somewhat lengthy, does a good job of showing both the variety of uses of the Amen Break and the issues associated with sampling of such iconic pieces of music history. Should the use of the Amen Break be more strictly regulated?
The Special Case
While most people may see an artist claiming copyright to a piece of his or her work being opposed to its free use as an acceptable action, the Amen Break is a unique case where the entity selling the “product” has no relationship with the band or artists whatsoever. As a few of you are probably already thinking, I feel that this capitalization on the Amen Break is a gross misuse of copyright. In my mind, clearly the artists or someone involved in the original creation of the Amen Break should be the ones getting the profit. However, if you put this oddity in copyright laws aside (even if it is somewhat of a common case for sampling), it is worth examining whether there should be copyright laws governing the use of such pieces or whether they should remain in the public domain.
Protection as a Pro
There will always be the argument that the musicians involved deserve both the credit and financial benefits of the success of their work. Sure, the song as a whole will result in profits based off of album sales and live performances, but don’t they deserve all of the profit that would come there way if someone else were using it? The better question might be if they actually want to. In the case of The Winstons, the group member that holds the copyrights seems to have no opposition to the rampant use and remastering of the Amen Break. Is this likely to be a common response, with lawyers and production companies being the main motivation to pursue maximum profit?
The Reality
At least the way I see it, those who are truly interested in the advancement of music tend to care less about missing out on their potential financial gain and more about what they can inspire to be created due to their efforts. This is certainly true with the Amen Break, thankfully so. Can you imagine a musical realm with absolutely none featuring the Amen Break? It would be pretty difficult. Chances are that you even like at least one of the songs that features it. Just like how the visual arts inspire other artists to take the subject, colors, and style of some of the indisputable greats of art history in order to create new, updated pieces for even more people to enjoy, musicians (when allowed) are able to take pieces that would otherwise be lost in the ebb and flow of popular taste in music and revamp them into something suitable for a much larger audience, increasing the longevity of the original samples.
Being so strict with such a fluid medium is almost a crime in itself. Instead of preserving these works, we are simply preserving a few wealthy social statuses. What truly benefits the future of music? Allowing for sampling. Allowing for creativity. Allowing for the artist to adapt what has been neglected to more closely fit the needs and desires of an ever-changing culture. How will this progress alongside the progression of modern technology? Either better detection methods and stricter control will be instituted or better and better means of sampling and morphing one tune into the next will win. Only time will tell.
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