“The Turtles won the case, and the decision not only had substantial impact on De La Soul, but on rap in general. Following the suit, all samples had to be legally cleared before an album could be released. Not only did this have the end result of rap reverting back to instrumentation, thereby altering how the artists worked, it also meant that several albums in the pipeline had to be delayed in order for samples to clear.”

None of this is true. The case was settled out of court without the defendants admitting liability. There is no case that says “all samples” must be legally cleared. And the lawsuit did not cause rappers to “revert” to instrumentation (a bizarre notion). I was the director of business affairs for the label at the time, so I know. The lawyer on the case was Ken Anderson of Loeb & Loeb. This URL comes up on the first page of any google search for De La Soul and Turtles, so that’s why I’m writing.

Kind regards,
Lawrence Stanley, Esq.