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Buck 65 recently wrote that a vinyl plant refused to press his record unless he named every sample he used and provided clearances. They used AI to detect if his music was sample-based.

Buck 65 is a rapper from Canada. If you aren't familiar with him here's one of my favourite songs from him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OViINrmZUY

He recently wrote this on his substack: "Not long after sending the master off, we received a message from the pressing plant (one of the bigger, more popular plants). They said there was an issue and refused to go forward with the pressing until the issue was resolved. We came to find out that they used AI to analyze the album and determined that the music was sample-based. They said they would only press the album if full details on sample clearances was provided. I went through all of this with Warner back when I signed my deal back in 2002 or whenever it was. That paperwork may or may not be collecting dust in a drawer somewhere in the world. Finding it now would be impossible and going though the whole process again - with lawyers and contracts and blah, blah, blah - would be just as difficult. I don’t even have a lawyer anymore. So we bailed and then had to scramble to find a different plant that was willing to do the job as pre-orders were already in and all copies sold out in advance."

Has anyone heard anything similar? If more widespread this could kill vinyls across the board, not just hip hop but anything sample based from plunderphonics to vaporwave.

The full article is here but only the first paragraph talks about this issue: https://buck65.substack.com/p/hill-and-gully-ride

This isn't good.

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  • I'm so glad music is my hobby and not profession!

    • This affects indie and hobby artists more than mainstream artists. But tbh I never really cared for vinyl. CDs and cassettes are where it's at for hobbyists.