Ma Dukes is talking about Kenny Powers’ bad language here.
So, I went down the rabbit hole about the intro to Drake’s “We Made It” - which technically was Soulja Boy’s song first; before Drake made it.
“more room here for the fixins”
It’s a sample straight from HBO’s Eastbound & Down - yup that is Kenny Powers dropping lines in his usual, understated style.
Perplexity quickly confirmed: this isn’t some original Drake flex, it’s a direct lift from the show.
Naturally, I wondered: does Danny McBride get a royalty check every time someone bumps this track?
Perplexity broke it down: nope, not unless he’s got a rare back-end deal.
So that means the money flows to HBO and the production company, not the actor, unless he’s got a piece of the IP pie.
BUT … standard contracts don’t cut actors in on sampled dialogue.
Then I asked the obvious: is the reason this song isn’t on Spotify because they never cleared the sample with HBO?
My turn to get clever
Why don’t studios just strike a forward-looking deal and let bygones be bygones?
Perplexity explained: while it sounds logical, studios want to recover past income first.
The studios and perhaps all well-run corporations (fueled by an acrimony-inducing legal system) act from a point of legal leverage.
They don’t want to set a precedent that encourages everyone to “sample now, pay later.”
They want to protect turf and royalty streams.
But I pushed back on Perplexity.
Shouldn’t studios want to encourage innovation? Let creators market-test with their IP, then share in the upside if it pops off?
-Me
Perplexity agreed: it’s a valid point and dropped the phrase
“sample amnesties”
This is a concept where rights holders let artists experiment, then negotiate after success. It’s rare, but some forward-thinking companies are starting to try it, especially in light of tokenization on the blockchain.
The real bottleneck isn’t creativity.
Unsurprisingly, stodgy fat-cat-timelines dictate legal inertia in the IP world.
Sample amnesties could be the bridge - the venture capital dare I say it - of the recording industry.
Let re-mixers take the risk - sweat equity - let the market decide and then let the rights holders cash in once the value is proven.
It’s a win-win, but only if the record industry is willing to loosen its grip and reimagine the rules.
