I saw this floating around various social networks lately. DJ Pain 1 shares the same views i\’ve been telling people for a while now.
The basic question covered is…

Should I get the samples cleared?

This is, of course, in reference to beats you are putting on your album or mixtape.
The short answer is \”No\”. (mind you, this is just an opinion and not legal advice).
Take a look at the video to dive into this topic deeper.

The reasons

The main reasons to not worry about it:
If you\’re a producer, a label is not going to expect you to front all that money to have your samples already cleared, especially if you are hammering out mad beats per week.
If you\’re an independent artist, most likely you will not be selling hundreds of thousands of records on your release. Suing someone costs money, plain and simple. Labels are not going to start suing every independent artist that used an uncleared sample. It\’s not worth it. Now, on the other hand, if you start selling boat loads of records, that\’s a different story… BUT, that is a good position to be in. Cross that bridge when you get there.

Props to DJPain1 for putting this out there.