There’s a new hustle business strategy that is getting popular by which publishers are tapping old songs to power new hits creating income and credits for two or more clients at the same time. This strategy is powered by interpolations. Interpolations are similar to samples except instead of taking part of an existing sound recording and using it in a new song like you would with a sample, interpolations pull from the written composition which includes the notes, melodies, phrases, rhythms, lyrics, and/or harmonies of the song. Read on to learn more and to check out examples of recent hits that have been powered by interpolations.
- Interpolations create a ton of opportunities for publishers who own catalogs
- These new opportunities are sparking a bit of a buying frenzy for legacy catalogs
- Songs with interpolations create opportunities to give writing credit to the legacy artist(s) and/or songwriter(s)
- Interpolations and samples also generate streams for the songs they came from
- Artists using interpolations are making bank on them too, even while generating income for their legacy collaborators
- Even huge companies like Sony and Warner Chappell are taking note and trying to make it easier for songwriters to find and clear samples and interpolations
While this is most certainly a way for the fat cats who own catalogs to benefit by double and triple-dipping on their commissions, it’s still positive for upcoming artists as this shift signifies that publishers are becoming more open to allowing their use. There is a potential downside – this new trend of throwing more songwriters on songs will most certainly create complex instances when these songs are being licensed, but that’s a problem for another day.
Please visit Rolling Stone to view the full article by Ethan Millman.
