Are Drum Samples and Loops Legal? Drum samples and loops are legal as long as you have obtained them legally.
Can I copyright a beat?
You can easily copyright your beats or songs in the United States at Copyright.gov under the sound recording category. The whole process can be done online but there is still and option to do the filing and payment using traditional mail.
Can you get sued for sampling drums?
Re: Getting sued for using drum samples The laws in most every country have a line drawn with single hits, sounds under 1.5 seconds. No one has ever been sued for single drum hits, or even one shots.
Is percussion copyrighted?
The short answer: unfortunately, no. Drumbeats and drum patterns are not typically considered songwriting it's not typical to copyright a drumbeat. The law makes clear that lyrics, melody, harmony, and rhythm can be copyrighted.