Do moral rights protect author's creation from sampling - Essay Example

This occurs particularly in the case of rap or hip hop music for example, where DJ’s repeat breaks from various songs and compile it together into a new recording2. Sampling of music is possible through the use of digital samplers which are pieces of musical hardware or computer programs which work on a digital computer and are designed to record specific bits and sequences of sound and through the judicious use of sound synthesizers and software, the fragmentation of musical notes and re-synthesis has been facilitated3.

Instantaneous download of music poses a threat to the moral rights of an author because it undermines the very core of identification that is the basis for assignment of moral rights. In order to promote the incentive to create, it is necessary that an author’s skill and labour are recognized and upheld through the protection of the law. Creators of music have historically faced the threat of inequitable contracts with recording companies and sampling only allows further exploitation of their work without due economic compensation.

Therefore the question that is posed in this proposal is to examine whether the existence of moral rights of an author as currently framed within the scope of a law are adequate to protect work from sampling and thereby losing their economic potential? The rights of an author are guaranteed under the Copyright, designs and Patents Act of 1988, which first came into force on August 1, 1988 and has been amended since, in 1990 and 1991 to incorporate the provisions of the European Convention of Human rights.

4 The CDPA has also introduced the concept of moral rights to allow a creator to protect the artistic integrity of their works.5 The purpose behind providing copyright protection to an author is to provide the incentive to create by ensuring exclusivity in claiming the economic benefits that accrue from the performance or use of the creative work6. Where music is concerned in particular, the creation of