The Amen break is a 6 to 7 second (4 bar) drum solo performed in 1969 by Gregory Cylvester "G. C." Coleman in the song "Amen, Brother" performed by the 1960s funk and soul outfit The Winstons.
It was actually the 'B' side of a single release "Color him Father" which got to number 7 in the American Billboard 100 and yet that distinctive phrase of snare, bass, hi-hats and crash symbol has become one of the most stolen pieces in the history of music making its way into tracks from rock,pop, hip-hop, gangsta , rave, hardcore techno, drum and bass and reggae.
The Copyright holder, The Winstons band leader, Richard L Spencer was not really expecting anything of the brief drumming contribution to his instrumental song and even with the very lucrative earning potential of its subsequent use by many artists over the next 40 years remained unbothered about what was legally due to him in royalties.
Sadly, the dynamic drummer died impoverished in 2006 and an on-line campaign has been recently established to raise funds to ensure that other surviving members of the band do not suffer the same injustice.
In the current litigation culture it is inconceivable that this situation should have arisen even with the apparent indifference of the beneficiaries to the fortune on offer. Recent high profile cases of infringement have seen notable legal rulings and the award of multi-million dollar awards and no doubt with many other settlements conducted behind doors or amicably in private.
It is, of course now more about the money than the artform, much more so than in 1969 when the unique break beat hit the airwaves.
The Winstons, now in name only may be criticised as being foolish or badly advised not to pursue legal action but in fact their non-action contributed significantly to the cultural affluence of music and performance.
The track itself may easily have been consigned to the dusty archives had it not been recognised by other musicians as being something very special. The duration and intensity made it perfect to form a driving rhythm but this was only really made possible by the emergence of the piece of equipment of the Sampler in the mid to late 1970's.
This originally VCR sized machine was able to record and playback in a loop a multitude of sounds and the Amen Break began to be heard in Hip Hop records in 1989.
The first sampling used only a single bar loop of the break beat to create interesting and creative sounds. As the equipment developed it became possible to form yet more complex samples and these became the spine of many club and popular hits in the new scenes including rave, techno and electronica.
The 4 bar original was also deconstructed and manipulated into new patterns through the late 1980's and well into the 1990's. Many artists were producing acetate one-off discs or dub-plates and being cheap and quick it was possible to have one playable within the same day. The outcome was of a plentiful supply of tracks and even more absurd applications and self indulgences. The dub plates quickly wore out but from the humble beginnings of the Amen Break in 1969 there has been an almost 24/7 release of 100's of tracks finding a cult following amongst DJ's and the Club Scene. The distinctive beat has not just been an underground phenomena but often features in the backing music for commercial advertisements, most recently for the Jeep Corporation.
Many have made a good living out of the property of the Winstons and third parties have sold it on by shamelessly exploiting the lax copyright. One company marketed the Break Beat as part of a Jungle Construction Kit in 2002 which ironically came under copyright law in their name. It was irrefutably the same material but technically subject to two copyrights.
It is a good story to illustrate the rise of sampling and the vagueries of legal and intellectual rights in music but it is not victimless. More recent Case Law has opted for a payment structure for sampling, however small the stolen sequence although there is a strong counter argument that over-protection can be more harmful than under protection.
Creativity in music in particular does build on what has gone before and even though The Winstons may be a long way off being millionaires their contribution has been and remains priceless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwQLk7NcpO4
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