The history of "Amen Brother"

[Anubis]

anyone have a clue how much $ it would cost to clear a 2 second break? I would like to get the proper rights to use it commercially.

Or are you talking the actual Amen break? Then just go ahead and use it. It has been used in sooo many commerical project already. If they would sue, you probably wouldn't be the first target.

Apparently somebody has gotten the proper rights. Moreover it seems they built an entire album around the Amen Break
The copyrighted track is Breaker Beats, Pt. 1 From the album: We Rock Hard. Go check it

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSt ... 3&s=143441



Additional Information for:BREAKERBEATS PART 1
(SAMPLES: "AMEN BROTHER")
Writer(s):ASTON HARVEY, MATTHEW CANTOR, RICHARD SPENCER
HFA Song Code:B17793

PublisherRepresented By HFA:
IRVING MUSIC, INC. OBO RONDOR MUSIC (LONDON)

COPYRIGHT CONTROL (NON-HFA)

Artist/Album
FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
THE FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
THE FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
THE FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
THE FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
THE FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
FREESTYLERS, THE/ WE ROCK HARD
FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD
FREESTYLERS/ WE ROCK HARD


Note: The above information may not reflect all of the
artists or albums have recorded versions of this song.

[glu]

exactly, I want to do things the proper legal way, you know, cover my arse. It will make life much easier in the future if I can get clearances earlier on. Anybody know who to contact for info?

[Anubis]

Anybody know who to contact for info?

That would undoubtedly be the Harry Fox Agency. Or at least that would be a good place to start. You can use their public search function to see wassup with the lick you're trying to snatch.

Although I would have to agree with Michael-SW that in the specific case of the sample discussed in this movie... i.e. the original Amen Break, ...the cat's already out of the bag. I mean the glossy UK mags have been putting that on their 'royalty-free' cover CD's for years. That's where I got it from. That sample has been so widely distributed by now that it has become de facto public domain- even though technically, it's not, apparently.

I can't believe that none of the family of any of The Winstons hasn't found a shark lawyer with some teeth by now. That intellectual property has got to be worth hundreds of millions by now. Everybody owes them money. I would venture to say that buying the vinyl on E-Bay and sampling it off of that would be about the most dangerous thing you can do. You want to be as far removed from the original as possible in case the shit were to hit the fan in the future, ...if one of the grandchildren of the Winstons were to ever wise up

[glu]

I would like to get the proper rights to use it commercially.

Why not give it a rest?

No drums, no mics, no space to play the beat, and I already have the damn track recorded.. or were you refering to rhythmic jargon "rest"
That might sound cool

[Michael-SW]

If you acually were to clear the sample properly (and not just bullshitting here), it would be far cheaper to rent a studio, an engineer and a session drummer.

No kidding. Clearing samples is damn expensive business.

[Anubis]

...and I already have the damn track recorded...

Again if you're referring to the specific Amen Break mentioned in this movie(or any variant thereof for that matter) I would say go for it, and don't worry about it. There's sh*tloads of artists that have used it commercially already. You'd be one of the last in a very long line. In fact I would be just ahead of you in line because I used it too, in a track which was part of a commercial release last year that I produced.

[glu]

Amen!

[went to the gypsy]

Why don't I care?