Court reverses sampling ruling
WIRED is reporting that a federal appeals court in Cincinnati has ruled that "rap artists should pay for every musical sample included in their work — even minor, unrecognizable snippets of music." This is a reversal of an earlier ruling which required the sample to be recognizable after it was sampled.

This will have a huge impact on hip hop. Just think of Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" without the samples. There would be nothing left but the vocal tracks.

On the other hand, had this ruling been made earlier, we could have avoided "U Can't Touch This" and "Ice Ice Baby."