Recycled riffs – samples of music biz justice

For some musicians, having their records sampled has been like winning the lottery. Others are not so lucky, Angus Batey learnsThe name Melvin Bliss probably doesn't mean that much to many music fans, but millions of people have heard his music without realising. Synthetic Substitution, the B-side to his only single, released in 1973, had an unexpected afterlife when hip-hop producers began to sample it in the 1980s. Yet creating the record that underpinned more than 90 tracks for artists includ...

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