Reply To: Copyright problem with sample?

I think there are 2 other options you could try:

1. You could always try and directly ask the artist for permission. Personally, I’m not really familiar with Jhené, or how popular/”famous” she is, but maybe she’s the kind of person who wouldn’t mind being sampled by a producer in another genre. Basically, what I’m getting at is that you never know the artist’s opinion until you ask them directly. She might hear your track and actually like what you’ve done, and grant you permission for use. Might be worth the effort to try and establish contact.
2. You could always change the track title. I know that this isn’t ideal for an artist who is trying to gain recognition for their productions, but you could always rename it as a “bootleg”. You could change the title to something like “Jhené Aiko – The Worst (Mind Zero Bootleg)”. This does two things. For one, you can AT LEAST credit the original artist whose vocal you’re using. For two, it’s a way to include your name in the track title so that people can direct themselves to your respective online/offline/artistic outlets. Including “bootleg” also points to the fact that it’s a remix of sorts, but done unofficially. You would probably also want to release a bootleg as a free thing (as Forgot Their Name suggested), otherwise you and whatever label might choose to release it are running more risk.

I know that maybe this isn’t the advice you want to hear, but if her vocal sample is really going to wind up serving as one of the main hooks or draws of your track, I wouldn’t be releasing it as an original production – unless you’re going to do a lot more to effect the sample. As Forgot Their Name said, you probably wouldn’t get in trouble. But as I think Shrike is alluding to, it’s not really a good practice to get into as an artist. You might see bigger name artists in the D&B scene using well-known samples, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they did it without permission or any sort of protection. Some of these labels are set up with licensing/affiliation that tends to protect them, or even connections that come in handy, and all of this gives them more freedom in what they can release.

I try to think of things in the context of the music we’re all producing. Let’s say I come up with a pretty sick drum break using some sort of software like Addictive Drums or whatever, something that allows me to put more of a “signature” and original/unique character into the final sample. Maybe I’ve got samples of pots & pans I recorded at home in there too, whatever. I’m super proud of the break, then wind up using it in a track where there are snippets of it, alone in the mix. Personally, I’d be somewhat annoyed if an artist from another genre (say hip-hop) simply sampled, re-pitched/re-timed it, and then just chucked it into a track without permission. I’d definitely be pissed to hear another D&B artist do that. It might be a completely different story if I had some sort of contact/request from those artists beforehand though. But when you make something yourself with some uniqueness in it (like a vocal sample of your voice), and you spent time coming up with it, you can definitely tell when you hear it elsewhere – even when it’s changed a tiny bit.

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents. Sorry for the book. Personally, if I wanted to release it for profit, I’d find a way to effect the vocal more, or I just wouldn’t use it (without permission, that is). If I was really itching to put it out there, I’d do what Forgot suggested, and give it away. Believe it or not, giving something away for nothing really can be an investment in your own self-promotion.
*Dismounts soapbox*

*Sidenote: Your tune is good! Even without the context of the vocal. Good luck!*