Sampling (
see Wikipedia) typically commandeers a famous riff from a song and incorporates it into a new song. At least in some cases money is paid to the original songwriter. However it can get sketchy. When a riff was sampled from
Every Breath You Take by The Police for a hip hop song, Sting the one member of the band who had 100% writing credit for the song was paid money but the guitarist Andy Summers who came up with the distinct riff did not receive anything and referred to the song as "the major rip-off of all time."
The other night on David Letterman a band Broken Bells performed a Beatles song/medley using a video of Ringo playing the drums.
As a concept within the context of contemporary music and practices I think this is well done. I don't know whether they committed any money to gain permission to do this however the band honors The Beatles, particularly Ringo Starr, with this performance while displaying their own talent and creativity. The dynamic is interesting. It isn't just a couple of musicians covering a Beatles song.
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