Kraftwerk lose longstanding legal battle over sample
After more than 25 years, electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk have finally had a long-running legal dispute resolved, but it hasn’t gone as they would have hoped.
The case, which was first filed all the way back in 1999, revolves around a two-second sample of their 1977 song ‘Metall auf Metall’, which was used in ‘Nur Mir’ by producer Moses Pelham in 1997.
In that time, since it was first filed, Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider were initially found to be successful in their case. However, it was later appealed, and escalated from the regional courts of Germany to Europe’s biggest lawmakers.
After making its way to the European Court of Justice, a decision has now been made, which finds that Pelham didn’t do anything illegal with the sample due to the ‘pastiche’ ruling, an act that was introduced in 2022.
The European Court of Justice’s ruling reads (per Mixmag), “In order for a finding to be made that use is ‘for the purpose’ of pastiche, it is sufficient that the ‘pastiche’ nature be recognisable for a person who is familiar with the existing work from which the elements have been borrowed.”
It goes on to add, “A finding that the user intended to use the work for that purpose is therefore not necessary.”
The ruling continued, “The Court notes that that interpretation of the exception for ‘pastiche’ ensures a fair balance between the protection of the freedom of the arts and copyright protection, as well as legal certainty.”
Although the ‘pastiche’ ruling “does not have a catch-all nature”, the European Court of Justice states that it “covers creations which evoke one or more existing works, while being noticeably different from them, and which use, including by means of sampling”.
While the case appears to be over, it will now head to Germany’s Federal Court of Justice for the final ruling.
The case is of a landmark nature, suggesting that the ‘pastiche’ ruling allows artists in Europe to freely sample other songs without permission as long as there is a significantly noticeable difference between the two recordings, which remains open to interpretation.
In a statement, Kraftwerk representative Hermann Lindhorst told Süddeutsche Zeitung, “The fact remains that sampling is only possible within narrow limits.”
Meanwhile, next month, Kraftwerk return to the UK and Ireland for their first tour in the territories in nine years. They will kick off in Dublin on May 17th, with stops to follow in Belfast, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Glasgow, Stockton, Sheffield, Brighton, Bristol, Bournemouth, London, Liverpool, Nottingham and Edinburgh.
Extra shows were added in London and Manchester due to demand.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.