Thanks to musicologist Amanda Sewell, we have some academic papers on the subject of sampling.
Sampling is synonymous with interactive technology. The pressing of pads on an MPC or Maschine, the splicing of audio on a DAW or even the manual pausing on cassette. But we don’t really see many books or papers on the subject. Amanda Sewell, a musicologist from Indiana University has written a number of papers on sampling and its place in African-American music as well as its relationship with copyright law. In current times of strife with lawsuits, these papers may provide some food for thought or just pique an interest in those with curiosity about the art form.
Read and download them below.
How Copyright Affected the Musical Style and CriticalReception of Sample-Based Hip-Hop
Paul’s Boutique and Fear of a Black Planet: Digital Sampling and Musical Style in Hip Hop
A Typology of Sampling in Hip-Hop
“The Sampling Network of Public Enemy’s ‘Bring the Noise'”
Further reading
Sampling the 1970s in hip hop
Was Foucault a plagiarist? Hip-hop sampling and academic citation
Sampling, Looping, and Mashing… Oh My! How Hip Hop Music is Scratching More than the Surface of Copyright Law
Making Beats: The Art of Sample-based Hip-Hop by Joseph Schloss (Amazon.co.uk)