When I was browsing the internet trying to find an article to use for our blog today, I came across this article about the rapper RZA, who is suing Meiko Kaji for demanding compensation for using a part of his song. The one part of this article that popped out to me was towards the end when one of RZA’s lawyers points out that the part Meiko Kaji wants compensation for is “so simple that the least talented person in the studio could have replayed it had anyone wished to do so”. I found this interesting because it ask the question what makes something worthy of protecting? Just because this was a simple piece of work does that necessarily mean it should not be able to have the same protection?
Simplicity could arguable be more important than complexity when it comes to copyright. The lawyer probably just said that because hes a lawyer and wants to win his case
When people use samples of songs, they’re required to ask for permission; a sample could be as few as three notes played from the original song. However, in the case of mixtapes, you don’t need to ask for permission because you aren’t making a profit off of it. Drake released So Far Gone, a mixtape with the hit “Best I Ever Had”, which was a sample of a very old song – he didn’t need permission because he was making no profit off it.