Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - How The Art of Sampling Links With Sustainability in Music
Sampling has become a significant influence on popular music over the past two decades, though it dates back to the early 1960s and 1970s. The technique has often been at the center of debates about its morality, with questions raised about whether it diminishes the need for true creativity in the industry. My question is whether we’ve considered that the art of sampling actually promotes sustainability in an ever-evolving—and sometimes greedy—culture that is constantly hungry for new material and songs.
Sampling is a technique central to modern music-making; it’s an umbrella term that can describe everything from the use of a small snippet of sound to the incorporation of an entire recording of previously released music. These samples can undergo audio manipulation (e.g., pitch and speed modification) and other effects to suit their intended use. The timeline of sampling’s origins is somewhat ambiguous, with some even tracing it back to the Romantic period of composers like Wagner and Brahms. However, its widespread use is generally considered to have emerged in the 1940s, when French composer Pierre Schaeffer began recording real-world sounds onto tape and editing them together, pioneering the "musique concrète" movement, which uses natural sounds to create compositions. Sampling was later popularised in the 1960s, particularly in hip-hop's use of breakbeats from soul and funk records, and by artists like The Beatles. Since then, many iconic records have benefited immensely from sampling, including Daft Punk’s "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"and Kanye West’s "Stronger", which both sample Edwin Birdsong’s "Cola Bottle Baby", as well as Madonna’s "Give Up"(sampling ABBA’s "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)") and Kendrick Lamar’s "Hood Politics" (sampling Sufjan Stevens’ "All For Myself").
Sustainability, by definition, refers to the quality of being able to continue over time. In this context, sampling can be seen as promoting sustainability within music.
Sustainable thinking has been applied to music in various ways, from the use of renewable energy at live events (e.g., Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour) to celebrity endorsements of climate change initiatives and the push for a greener planet. Recently, Indo-Canadian singer Shubh became the first global ambassador for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Digital Climate Library (DCL). Furthermore, both government bodies and non-governmental organisations have increasingly focused on cultural heritage management, working to protect and preserve music and other cultural traditions that are at risk.
One example of such intervention took place in Indonesia, where efforts were made to restore the traditional Marapu music and other cultural practices of the Sumbanese people. In 2020, the Sumba Integrated Development (SID) launched its project to Revitalise Traditional Marapu Cultural Assets. The Marapu religion had been in decline due to the influence of Western religious and cultural norms, but this initiative supported Marapu communities in documenting and celebrating their cultural practices. The SID project demonstrated how cultural sustainability interventions can benefit music communities and protect traditions from disappearing.
“Sustainability today is directed at resources thought to be endangered, on the road to extinction, and music is no exception.”
Sampling is one of the most universal and accessible ways musicians can actively contribute to making the music industry—and the process of music production—more sustainable. Though some may argue that sampling is akin to “stealing” or “ripping off” someone else's work, the core concept of sustainability is about preserving and protecting what might otherwise be lost in a world that is constantly producing new material. Modern pop artists sampling vocal lines or instrumental riffs from records first released decades ago is arguably a way to ensure that music with significant cultural impact is never forgotten and is introduced to entirely new audiences. While the sampled version may not fully align with the original artist's intent, giving genres that may be fading in relevance or popularity a new lease on life is, in many ways, more substantial. This is particularly evident in Beyoncé's 2024 album "Cowboy Carter", which features numerous samples of earlier works, including but not limited to: The Beatles' "Blackbird", Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide", Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", and The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". Similarly, Dua Lipa's 2020 album "Future Nostalgia" also highlights the sustainability of sampling in the music industry.
Relevant Reference Points/Links
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41699866
https://theacademic.com/how-music-and-sound-can-help-advance-sdgs/