“Digital Sampling and the Legal Implications” focuses on digital sampling, its impact on music, the effects that will occur for artists and the music business if the Bridgeport case isn’t reexamined, and finally, possible solutions and alternatives for dealing with the sampling dilemma. The paper has a strict perspective that sampling holds a positive impact on music, and that the Bridgeport decision has the capability to extremely hinder creative output. What I was particularly drawn to were the suggested solutions to seemingly never-ending debates over sampling and its copyright implications.
    The three main options mentioned and explored are the creation of a subgenre in fair use to cover digital sampling, a compulsory licensing system, and lastly, a combination of the two. For the subgenre in fair use, the key component would be to determine the purpose, character, and use of the sample, and its effect on the original work’s market. If the underlying work was altered enough or so minimal that it was unrecognizable, the sampled artist or copyright holder shouldn’t and wouldn’t be injured. A compulsory licensing system would make copyright owners compelled to allow samples of their songs. In return, they would receive payment from all of the uses of the new work at a predetermined rate.
    A combination of the two would look something like this: A fee would be paid to obtain “temporary” rights to use the sample. The new work would then be analyzed under the proposed new sampling subgenre of fair use. This would determine whether the sample was substantial enough to be recognized or have an effect on the original copyrighted recording. If it didn’t fall under fair use, then a new fee would be assessed in terms of length, prominence, and importance of the sample. An official authority would be put in position to help mediate this last negotiating step.
    This is a really creative and intelligent way of looking at possible solutions to the legal issues regarding sampling, infringement, and payment. I think the combination of compulsory license and fair use could have a dramatically positive effect on artistic creativity and output, as well as on the chronic litigation that plagues music companies. This is relevant to my project because if this type of system were instated, it would drastically change the copyright implications of my songs and how they were greeted and treated. I could potentially release these songs at a much lower time and financial cost; but more important, I would be releasing them legally.