Answers/Glossary/Sample clearance

Glossary · Licensing

Sample clearance

By Boboy Watson·Last verified August 31, 2026·Also called Clearing a sample, Sample licensing, Sample permission

Sample clearance is two negotiations wearing one name, because a record contains two copyrights. The master use licence comes from whoever owns the recording, usually a label. The composition licence comes from the publisher or publishers of the song. Either side can refuse, and neither is compelled to quote a reasonable price. There is no compulsory licence for sampling.

Deals typically combine an upfront fee with an ongoing interest: a percentage of the new composition to the sampled songwriters, and sometimes a royalty or points on the new master. Clearance is slow — weeks or months of correspondence with rights administration departments — and it is not scaled for a bedroom producer's budget. That is the honest answer to "how do I clear this sample," and it is why so many independent records simply do not contain uncleared samples.

The alternatives are real and worth knowing. Re-performing the part yourself is an interpolation, which clears only the composition side and removes the master negotiation entirely. Royalty-free libraries like Splice Sounds are licensed in advance for exactly this reason. Public domain source material avoids the composition side, though a particular recording of a public domain work may still be protected.

The misunderstanding that ends releases: "it's only two seconds" and "I changed it so much you can't tell." Neither is a rule in US law. There is no statutory de minimis threshold you can rely on, and unauthorised sampling exposes you to statutory damages of up to $30,000 per work under 17 U.S.C. 504(c), rising to $150,000 where infringement is wilful.

I do not release uncleared samples, and I am not a lawyer — clearance work needs one.

Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.