A Short History of Sample Clearance

For hip-hop’s first decade, sampling was largely unlicensed. The records that built the genre were collages of uncleared breaks — nobody had settled whether, or how, you had to pay for them.

1979 — "Good Times" becomes "Rapper’s Delight"

The Sugarhill Gang built "Rapper’s Delight" on the bassline of Chic’s "Good Times." Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards threatened to sue; the matter settled with Edwards and Rodgers added as songwriters. It became an early template for resolving an uncleared sample after the fact.

1991 — "Thou shalt not steal"

In Grand Upright Music v. Warner Bros., a court found Biz Markie’s uncleared use of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s "Alone Again (Naturally)" infringing — the opinion literally opened with "Thou shalt not steal." The ruling forced the industry to start clearing samples up front.

2005 — "Get a license or do not sample"

In Bridgeport Music v. Dimension Films, the Sixth Circuit held that using any part of a sound recording needs a license — famously summarized as "Get a license or do not sample." It made master clearance effectively mandatory, however short the snippet.

The result is today’s norm: sampling is a licensed practice, and the uncleared classics of the 1980s could not be released the same way now. Our "Amen, Brother" page is a case study in what that history left unresolved.