This Long Island hip-hop group helped set a high bar for sampling artistry with their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising, released in 1989.

George Clinton helped invent the genre of funk with his groups Parliament and Funkadelic (collectively known as P-Funk); his music has been sampled in several important hip-hop songs.

Can you own a sound?

That is the provocative question raised in a new resource from ITVS Community Classroom: four lesson plans and film modules for Copyright Criminals, an innovative and dynamic documentary that explores the origins of sampling culture in hip-hop music, copyright, creativity, and technological change. This curriculum is an invaluable tool for teachers or media organizations seeking to promote media literacy and ethical media production practices among youth.

The film explores how hip-hop rose from the streets of New York to become a multibillion-dollar industry, and what happened when record company lawyers got involved and everything changed. Students will develop not only a deeper historical understanding of “remix” culture, but also contemplate where it is headed. Featured artists include Public Enemy, De La Soul, and George Clinton, as well as several prominent entertainment lawyers and media scholars.

These exciting resources examine copyright law in the history of “borrowing” sounds in music, and raise thought-provoking questions about what is creative and what is criminal. The lessons are directed toward grades 9 through 12, and college students for use in the following subject areas: media studies, media literacy, social studies, history, sociology, media production, music and language arts, business, and legal studies.

Best news of all, all of these resources are FREE to educators and youth-serving organizations.

Check out our FREE resources >>

Watch a video preview of the film below:

Kembrew McLeod, co-producer of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, answers questions from the audience with Tony Berman of Berman Entertainment and Technology Law, who is featured in the film.

From our first event at the Saratoga Springs Public Library in Saratoga Springs, New York on October 3 to our last two events on October 29 in Charleston, South Carolina and Indiana, Pennsylvania we’ve thrilled audiences with live DJs, hip-hop dancers and fascinating panelists from musicians to lawyers. Co-producer of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS Kembrew McLeod told us “I feel honored to be part of the Community Cinema program which has allowed the film to be seen far and wide by a diverse range of audiences. Plus, it’s free. Who doesn’t like free?”

For more than 30 years, as hip-hop evolved from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry, hip-hop performers and producers have been reusing portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. But when lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” Through interviews with many of hip-hop music’s founding figures—like Public Enemy, De La Soul and Digital Underground—along with emerging artists such as audiovisual remixers Eclectic Method, COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod illuminates both sides of the debate, from traditional musicians who view sampling as pillaging to those who argue that the practice of borrowing is by no means new nor is it unique to hip-hop or even music: Think of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans.

With OVER 50 free screening events from coast to coast audiences were able to sample the flavor of hip-hip and electronic music first-hand from some of the subjects featured in the film. The Philadelphia event featured worldwide DJ sensation based in Philly, RJD2 (RJ Krohn – pictured to the right, on the left). The photo is a TwitPic uploaded live from the event. Our event in Oakland welcomed DJ legend Jeff Chang. Local hip-hop radio DJs hosted events in St. Louis and Seattle. In Seattle, KUBE 93 FM DJ Hyphen who co-hosts “Sunday Night Sound Session” introduced the film. “Sunday Night Sound Session” airs every Sunday night at 10:45 PM. “J. Moore and I offer listeners the newest, dopest hip-hop from all around the country, including local music from our own backyard,” boasts DJ Hyphen. Tune in around the Puget Sound Region or online worldwide. DJ Hypen introduced COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS and left the audience with some things to think about while watching the film.

Read on for more video clips, photos, and community connections.

Northwestern University law professor Peter DiCola.

Our guest speaker at the Community Cinema event in Evanston, Illinois was Northwestern University law professor Peter DiCola, who co-authored the forthcoming book Creative License: The Culture and Law of Digital Sampling with filmmaker Kembrew McLeod.

We could not have asked for a better guest speaker when it comes to questions of copyright. DiCola was able to give in-depth answers that helped the audience understand legal issues in a clear and engaging manner.

In St. Louis, DJ Alejan talks about how the film exposes the many layers and areas of sampling that have never previously been explored on film.

Find more videos like this on Community Cinema Series St. Louis

Throughout the month, Community Cinema partnered with Future of Music Coalition to present COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS. Future of Music Coalition encouraged discussions about sampling and more as part of their 8th Policy Summit in Washington DC in early October. Regional Outreach Coordinator Michon Boston explains, “Fair use is … described for documentary makers, as follows:

Fair Use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. It is a crucial feature of copyright law. In fact, it is what keeps copyright from being censorship. You can invoke fair use when the value to the public of what you are saying outweighs the cost to the private owner of the copyright.

– Source: “Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use”

Boston continues during her chat with Kembrew McLeod, “When it came to fair use, he appeared cautious about their selection process for COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS.”

McLeod said, “We didn’t want to ruin it for people following us through the door.”

Speakers and audience members in St. Louis feel the music after the film an discussion.

For the hundreds of people who attended our 60 free screening events for COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS nationwide, McLeod and Frazen busted the door open for musicians, artists, and others to explore the myriad aspects and themes of sampling, borrowing, mashing-up, and paying tribute. Holla!

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS airs nationally on the Emmy Award winning PBS series Independent Lens on Tuesday, January 19 at 10:00 PM (check local listings).

Please join us in November for free preview screenings of the award winning paperfolding documentary BETWEEN THE FOLDS. Blurring the mysterious lines between art, science, sculpture and math, the film is an exhilarating adventure into origami, or paper folding, featuring works of art whose emotional expressiveness and engineering complexity defy logic.

Filmmaker Kembrew McLeod

It’s been a busy time for me. In the past three days I attended two screenings of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS in two Midwestern towns: Kansas City and Iowa City. Lots of miles covered, and a ton of great questions from viewers. It made me wish I were able to attend each and every one of the 50+ Community Cinema screenings of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS across the country during October. However, that would have been an insane (and impossible) journey, because several times the film was playing in two or more cities on the same night. I feel honored to be part of the Community Cinema program, which has allowed COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS to be seen far and wide by a diverse range of audiences. Plus, it’s free. Who doesn’t like free?

The really cool thing about the recent screenings I attended was that they took place in “real” theaters—Tivoli Cinemas, in Kansas City, and Iowa City’s Bijou Theater. I’m used to seeing my films in all sorts of nontraditional venues, but there’s nothing like seeing your documentary on a nice, big screen and in a room with a great sound system. Sound quality is important, especially for a film about music, after all. Whenever I show COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, I like to sit in the back of the audience because it’s fun to watch everyone’s heads nod to the rhythm of the film’s soundtrack. The cool thing about music is the sometimes-unconscious reaction it provokes in people; my bet is that most of the folks don’t even know they’re even moving in their seats. The music just takes them over.

The other thing I like about attending my own screenings is talking to an engaged audience. The Q&A sessions in Kansas City and Iowa City were no exception, though I’ll focus on the latter screening, because it’s freshest in my mind. Given the nature of the film, there were more than a few questions about copyright law. For instance, “Did copyright law impact the making of your film?” (Short answer? YES!)

I try to stay away from technical legal talk, but I often find myself having to provide a small-scale intellectual property law primer, especially when discussing topics like fair use (a legal doctrine that allows you to quote from copyrighted materials without permission, for the purposes of education, critical commentary, and other transformative uses). Fortunately, because the Bijou is located on a college campus—the University of Iowa—a lot of people already knew what fair use was, so I didn’t have to go into full-on teaching mode.

Another thing I like is getting combative questions from audience members who are totally offended by the idea of sampling, remix culture, and the notion that people want to “steal” from other people’s creations. Benjamin Franzen and I have had our share of irate questions, especially at the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival—something that makes life more interesting. Sadly, nothing like this happened in Iowa City, where the people tend to be nice and polite. It’s Iowa, after all.

- Kembrew McLeod
Filmmaker, COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS

Audience members listen to the panelists discuss copyright law and music sampling at the Community Cinema screening of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS.

Northwestern University law professor Peter DiCola.

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS was our first Community Cinema screening this season at Reeltime––Evanston’s independent film and discussion series.

Even in the darkened theater, we could tell the audience was fully engaged as silhouetted heads were moving rhythmically to the sounds of this terrific history of sampling and hip-hop music.

Our guest speaker was Northwestern University law professor Peter DiCola, who co-authored the forthcoming book Creative License: The Culture and Law of Digital Sampling with filmmaker Kembrew McLeod.

We could not have asked for a better guest speaker when it comes to questions of copyright. DiCola was able to give in-depth answers that helped the audience understand legal issues in a clear and engaging manner.

Since there were several local musicians in the audience, some of the questions dealt with their own composing practices and use of sampled music. Other questions had to do with historical copyright lawsuits, what “fair use” means and how copyright issues relate to visual arts and documentary filmmaking.

Several audience members thanked us for showing the film and hardly anyone left before the discussion ended––surely a testament to how audiences love to connect, discuss and learn more after seeing a documentary.

Ines Sommer,
Reeltime Director and Community Cinema Producing Partner

Find screenings near you >>

Learn more on the Community Cinema Blog >>

Kembrew McLeod, co-producer of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, answers questions from the audience with Tony Berman of Berman Entertainment and Technology Law, who is featured in the film.

There was a time when talking about music sampling and lifting pre-recorded music in front of an audience of musicians would seem more like a rowdy town hall meeting.

Times have changed. At Sunday’s screening of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, the audience was enthusiastic to ask questions about copyright and sampling for professional purposes. The screening was part of the Future of Music Policy Summit at Georgetown University.

For Kembrew McLeod, co-producer of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, copyright is not just a hobby, but a profession based on his own youthful “sound collages” of existing material. I won’t reveal the source of his work on this forum (YouTube removed the evidence!). Tony Berman, of Berman Entertainment and Technology Law (who appears in the documentary) was also available during the Q&A.

Together, McLeod and co-producer Benjamin Franzen cleared over 500 clips for the documentary. The process took more than one quarter of the production budget, according to McLeod, adding, the estimated cost for “playing by the rules” clearance for the clips in the film would have added up to $4 million. Some clips were classified as “fair use” thanks to the expertise of attorneys like Peter Jaszi of American University (who is affiliated with DC’s new Community Cinema series partner The Center for Social Media).

Fair use is not defined by the Center, but described, for documentary makers, as follows:

Fair Use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. It is a crucial feature of copyright law. In fact, it is what keeps copyright from being censorship. You can invoke fair use when the value to the public of what you are saying outweighs the cost to the private owner of the copyright.
– Source: “Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use”

When it came to fair use, McLeod appeared cautious about their selection process for COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS.

“We didn’t want to ruin it for people following us through the door,” McLeod said.

Though COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS highlights music sampling, there is a lot of overlap between audio and visual content––especially in an age where music videos are as essential to music distribution as the recordings.

Musicians, producers and entertainment and intellectual property lawyers came to the Policy Summit to talk about the business of making and distributing music. McLeod is aware of the importance of compensation for one’s work especially for African American musicians who pioneered hip-hop music and are often the source of its key elements such as the beat by former James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield. McLeod said he and Franzen paid Stubblefield to play a session to include in the film. DJ’s may not go this route (which costs less than clearing tracks) as a matter of the sound aesthetic a DJ is aiming for in the final mix.

Stubblefield’s story mirrors Rogue Wave drummer Pat Sturgeon in D TOUR. McLeod told the audience Stubblefield had kidney failure earlier this year and is now traveling with a portable dialysis machine. In the film, Stubblefield says he wants the credit more than the royalties. But McLeod and Franzen are hoping Stubblefield will get more––a chance to live for another gig; and that their film will raise attention about Stubblefield’s medical condition that may inspire benefit concerts and recognize the man behind the hip-hop beat.

-Michon
Regional Outreach Coordinator