This (dated) Slate article makes a pretty convincing case that when a proper fair use case finally gets to court, most sampling will likely be deemed fair use:

This (dated) Slate article makes a pretty convincing case that when a proper fair use case finally gets to court, most sampling will likely be deemed fair use: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2007/11/diddy_could_save_sampling.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudenc... Artists like Girl Talk are getting bolder and more blatant in their uncleared sampling. It might have something to do with his giving away his recent albums, though. Edit: Here's a couple other Slate articles that go into more detail - http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/adam_yauch_and_paul_s_boutique_how_dumb_court_decisions_have_made_it_nearly_impossible_for_artists_to_sample_the_way_the_beastie_boys_did.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/adam... http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/05/08/paul_boutique_sampling_and_the_law.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/05/08/paul_boutique...