The Triangle Project

MASH UP CULTURE
from wired

You may not know the "Amen Brother" drum loop by name, but you've heard it hundreds or thousands of times. The following video, which should be required viewing for anyone interested in sampling, copyright, and culture, traces the so-called "amen break" from its original recording in 1969 through hip hop, jungle, IDM, advertising, a site that only plays songs created using it, and finally a company called Zero G, which sells the break -- the copyright of which is not enforced by its owners -- on a copyrighted CD.
The video lasts over 18 minutes (which is like three YouTube eternities), but its tale of a six-second drum break creating an entire subculture is engaging and informative, and contains a great lesson about how the expansion of copyright laws is hurting our culture