So I make music, and I wanted to use a sample for guitar, since mine broke a string and I wasn’t trying to lose the inspiration while restringing it, so I joined TrackLib, a subscription based service for easy to clear samples, since I thought I might want to release it and wanted to be able to be sure I could clear the sample.
So far I think it’s worked out pretty well, but I wanted to know what KTT2 thought about these services.
Which are good? Are any good? What effect will they have on music?
Whatever you want to say about them, I’m interested to hear it.

There’s always been apps and websites with this. I don’t see anything wrong with it. As long as you make something dope. Nobody will know the difference

Yeah that’s kinda how I feel too.
To me it’s just a streamlined way of crate digging that comes with the added bonus that I have some level of assurance that it will be clearable if I want to release it.

Frank Dukes da goat

Okay TrackLib marketing team shill 👍 we’re not your focus group

#ad

If I was being paid to shill something I would put more effort into it than this, lol

I posted this the other day and it made me realize Mannie Fresh was turning some real trash stock sounds into just funky and energetic gold.

So I don't think it's about the material so much as how you work it. Anything is viable. Try it and see how you feel about it. I think less can be more. It can force you to innovate. It can make you be tasteful. Crate digging is a slot machine

Yeah I’m bout to go off on this one

Tracklib is high key an absolute rip off. If your a small unknown obscure artist then you don’t need to clear any f***ing samples. Alchemist himself said he don’t clear s*** unless it’s something for a big artist like Kendrick. So all his projects with Roc, Curren$y, Boldy, Larry etc. are full of uncleared samples because there small enough where suing them wouldn’t even be worth it finically. And if your track blew up and was actually making a ton of money you could actually handle that situation and give the sampled artists their percentage. It’s very rare something like Lucid Dreams by Juicewrld happens and even tho Sting takes almost all the revenue of that song it was completely worth it in the end because Juicewrld blew up and made a ton of other big songs

Tracklib tricks young producers and people who don’t understand this and makes a s*** ton of money off them

Tracklib is also full of absolute trash. Everytime a really good song that has a ton of potential gets uploaded on there it immediately gets downloaded thousands of times and used everywhere. Which imo kills the fun of finding dope songs to sample

As a sample based producer myself who really enjoys the art of finding obscure gems and s*** nobody’s heard since the 70s I avoid Tracklib and those YouTube channels live Andre Navarro like the plague

Ain’t nothing like going the record store, Finding some obscure German album full of absolute heat that very few other people know about

Which beat u talking abt

waste of money. samples u find on ur own are usually more meaningful and better suited for ur musical desires. I think that definitely shows in the final product.

i think like someone else said the true art if sampling is all about how inventive the flip and execution of it is...

no matter the source

Dogshit

Damn, this is making a lot of sense.
Might cancel my subscription before the trial period runs out.
Idk.

Kind of

It was dope when Kanye flipped PYT by Michael Jackson for Good Life or how Daft Punk flipped Evil Women into Face To Face and there’s tons of other cool flips of popular songs but finding rare and obscure pieces of music is also part of the art form and always has been

Man I always f*** with your takes on this stuff

You got any music out or anything you’d like to share?

I’ll give tracklib credit for a few things

You can find a lot of good drum breaks on there if your into that sound

Some tracks have stems which is kind of cool. Not something I personally use tho

songs are mostly in good quality not all the time tho, sometimes they sound like s*** for some reason. This is a big one for me personally and why I really don’t sample off YouTube. I need them high quality vinyl crackles lol

I mean I feel like I did find something pretty obscure and interesting, but also in the vein of what I was looking for on there pretty quickly, but if I really don’t have to worry about sample clearance too much then I might just want to do actual crate digging.
I do like the idea of finding fun new songs and albums while looking for sample material too

I see where that might be useful and easy but I gotta agree with @notbrock on this one. Why use some sample that everyone is gonna end up using

Damping is so f***in amazing. To cut up a segment of a song and turn it into something dope to rap over. S***s magic.

Digging for a sample no one has used for your own song is part of the fun and part of the “work”.

Kinda feels like cheating using a sound from some subscription spot. But as long you ain’t overdoing it and use that site smartly, I don’t see the issue when it’s said and done

Hell yeah man, Finding new bands is always awesome

It’s honestly amazing how much music came out in the 70s. Dudes been crate digging for 30+ years and still find a crazy new album every time they go to the record store

For real, it feels like a miracle that so much music exists, so much of it is good, and most of all that so much of it still exists

damn this would make a great advertisement for TrackLib

The problem is clearance. Imagine making the most fye beat, then someone huge takes it and then when it comes down to paperwork they either pull a sting on you or refuse to clear at all

What do you mean?