In a press release titled “From the Desk of Kevin Saunderson,” the Detroit techno icon (pictured above) spelled out his concerns over an illegal sampling of his 1987 classic, “The Sound,” which was produced with Santonio Echols and released under the artist name Reese & Santonio. The offenders, an Italian production duo named Giacomo Godi & Emiliano Nencion, lifted a generous portion of the original’s hook, looping it as the central element of their song, “Beat Me Back.” No licensing fees were paid to Saunderson, and seeing as how Godi & Nencion have achieved considerable success with the track, he feels that the transgression is clear. In response, Saunderson has decided to offer the original of “The Sound” for free (downloadable here), as well as Godi & Nencion’s track over on his own Soundcloud. In regards to sampling ethos, Saunderson has this tidbit to say, “I have a huge affection for sampling, it’s how some of the most inspiring and ground breaking tracks of our times were created. We’ve pretty much all sampled records at some time, and cleared the sample so we can use it on our releases, but it is just not cool to take someone else’s music, create a big old loop of it and then put your name on it and try to have success entirely off the back of another artist’s efforts.”
