Abstract
Music sampling is a common practice among hip-hop and electronic producers that has played a critical role in the development of particular subgenres. Artists preferentially sample drum breaks, and previous studies have suggested that these may be culturally transmitted. With the advent of digital sampling technologies and social media the modes of cultural transmission may have shifted, and music communities may have become decoupled from geography. The aim of the current study was to determine whether drum breaks are culturally transmitted through musical collaboration networks, and to identify the factors driving the evolution of these networks. Using network-based diffusion analysis we found strong evidence for the cultural transmission of drum breaks via collaboration between artists, and identified several demographic variables that bias transmission. Additionally, using network evolution methods we found evidence that the structure of the collaboration network is no longer biased by geographic proximity after the year 2000, and that gender disparity has relaxed over the same period. Despite the delocalization of communities by the internet, collaboration remains a key transmission mode of music sampling traditions. The results of this study provide valuable insight into how demographic biases shape cultural transmission in complex networks, and how the evolution of these networks has shifted in the digital age.
Highlights
Music sampling, or the use of previously-recorded material in a new composition, is a nearly ubiquitous practice among hip-hop and electronic producers
The three most heavily sampled drum breaks of all time were collectively sampled 6530 times (n1 = 2966, n2 = 2099, n3 = 1465). 4462 (68.33%) of these sampling events were associated with valid Discogs IDs, corresponding to 2432 unique artists (F: n = 143, 5.88%; M: n = 1342, 55.18%; Other or NA: n = 947, 38.94%), and included in the primary OADA and separable temporal exponential random graph modeling (STERGM)
Given that the strength of transmission has not weakened over the same time period, this finding indicates that collaboration remains a key cultural transmission mode for music sampling traditions
Summary
The use of previously-recorded material in a new composition, is a nearly ubiquitous practice among hip-hop and electronic producers. The usage of drum breaks, or percussion-heavy sequences, ripped from soul and funk records has played a critical role in the development of certain subgenres. “Amen, Brother”, released by The Winstons in 1969, is widely regarded as the most sampled song of all time. Its iconic 4-bar drum break has been described as “genre-constitutive” [1], and can be prominently heard in classic hip-hop and jungle releases by N.W.A and Shy FX [2]. Due to the consistent usage of drum breaks in particular music communities and subgenres [1,2,3,4,5] some scholars have.
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