The comments on Slate just show how little people understand about the culture of EDM. The debate about whether Daft Punk is "stealing" or passing off other peo

The comments on Slate just show how little people understand about the culture of EDM. The debate about whether Daft Punk is "stealing" or passing off other people's work as their own misses the point. Daft Punk (and many other electronic artists) are mainly producers, and it's normal for producers of all kinds of music to hire sessions musicians and record them in the studio. Sampling is just another version of that. That's no more stealing other people's work than a director of a movie is stealing the work of the actors or the writer. I think what people can't get their heads around is that a producer can be a legitimate creative role and it makes sense to give them the main credit. Secondly, no electronic music producer argues against having to pay licensing fees to copyright holders, on fair use or on any other grounds. Since they are copyright holders themselves, it wouldn't make any sense. Remixes are considered legitimate collaborations, and many producers are motivated by the desire to showcase forgotten or obscure works by people who didn't the attention (and money) they deserved for whatever reason.