You rarely hear anyone cover the Beastie Boys. Is it because their songs rely so much on samples that they’re impossible to recreate legally without making a profit? How did they not get sued into oblivion with hundreds of samples used? Where do those royalties go today?
Paul’s Boutique was a landmark record in music law. The Beatles did sue them. It’s largely thanks to that album that sampling isn’t a legal liability and allowed the practice to continue. It’s one of the most important records of all time IMO.
The Beatles thing is a myth. Nobody connected to the Beatles has sued anybody over Paul’s Boutique. Most of the samples on Pauls’ Boutique were cleared, especially the most obvious ones.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/pop-hiss/story/2012-05-10/beastie-boys-sampling-in-pauls-boutique-again-in-spotlight
Huh, TIL. I even glanced over the Wikipedia page before I posted that. Thanks!
For a modern example of something similar, Avalanches took like 15 years to release their second album, Wildflower because they had to clear hundreds of samples, including the Beatles.
https://youtu.be/iySa7HTWgSI
I found a torrent years ago with every song they sampled on this album, I highly recommend it. Absolutely phenomenal collection of music that goes so much deeper than you expect.