A 12 year legal battle involving Kraftwerk and the use of unauthorized sample has finally come to an end. Kraftwerk released the song "Metall auf Metall" on their 1977 album Trans Europa Express, then years later a song "Nur Mir" written by Moses Pelham, Martin Haas, and performed by Sabrina Setlur lifted a sample from Kraftwerk's song without permission. Kraftwerk filed suit in 2000, and a German court ended up ruling against Kraftwerk. The case was recently heard by the Supreme Court in Germany, and this time Kraftwerk emerged victorious. According to a report in The Economist, the Court ruled for Kraftwerk after weighing testimony from expert witnesses who attempted to create the sound of metal crashing on metal in an attempt to imitate Kraftwerk's song:
"The answer given by the Supreme Court is that it [sampling] is only permissible if the same effect could not have been produced by the new artist himself. After various demonstrations by expert witnesses, crashing metal on metal and using instruments such as a 1996 Akai Sampler, it was shown that an imitation of the sound-bite would have been possible in 1997."
Essentially the court appears to be saying, if an artist cannot figure out any other way to create a sound, sampling another artist's music would be acceptable, but in this case the court ruled that the sound WAS able to be re-created/imitated, so the sample was NOT permissible. The full ruling in the case is expected to be published next year. The case is an interesting one and is expected to have an effect on music sampling in the future.
For more on the case and the court's decision visit The Economist.
Kraftwerk "Metall auf Metall"
Sabrina Setlur "Nur Mir"