I can see why many criticize this form of music-making: it's easier to make songs as a significant portion has already been made, and that it is "stealing"somewhat from the original song. One could also argue that, in some cases, sampling violates recent piracy acts. This brings up an interesting debate about the fuzzy line between sampling and stealing.
Before I can even begin to create a hard line between these two I need to ask a crucial question: how far must an original piece of music be altered in order to become its own new piece? Must the song undergo significant rhythmic or harmonic changes throughout the song, or can one single note change make it a new song? Can the edited song simply be called a remix? Or can it be given a new name despite the minor differences?
The answer to all of these questions are opinion-based, as different people have different assessments of the boundaries of music. In my opinion, a song is its own original song when it does not simply copy another, but rather uses another for inspiration or even as a backbone for new creative additions. For example, in the Kanye West produced song, The Food, featuring himself and the rapper Common, he clearly uses a piano riff from Sam Cooke in the song, Nothing Can Change This Love, and yet the song is still original and equally creative as the other.
If you listen to the Sam Cooke song, it's clear
that Kanye used the piano riff throughout the song
To sum it up, I do not think sampling is taking the "easy way out". Obviously, if a song rips off an entire verse or blatantly mimics another song it isn't acceptable; but if the producer does it in a way that does not steal from or copy another and uses his/her own creative input then I encourage it. I don't think laws should be made restricting the boundaries of music-making, rather I feel like it should be policed by ones own morals.
"Good artists copy, great artists steal." This is a quote that has been attributed to both Pablo Picasso and Steve Jobs (who attributed it to Pablo Picasso, but we're not sure). I think it perfectly sums up my view on sampling in music and "copying" in any art form, for that matter. I agree with you that sampling is not just a way for artists to find a catchy melody without writing it themselves (not for great artists like Kanye, anyway) but I like to go one step further and say that even the kind of copying you mention in the last paragraph of your post is acceptable as long as the artist who is copying the material repurposes it and uses it towards their own unique ends/meaning/vision. For example, I could walk into a field and sing "The Food" word-for-word and that would be it's entirely own piece of art with an entirely different purpose than Common and Kanye's performance. Also, Kanye could have easily reproduced the piano riff he was looking for for this particular song on his own, but sampling it from a piece by Sam Cooke- a soul music icon and a pioneer for African-American musicians everywhere- adds a whole new meaning to its use in "The Food." Oh, and give Kanye a break for 808s and Heartbreak; he made it after his mom died. RIP Donda.
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