In the early days of sampling, the majority of artists primarily collaborated with people nearby. Samples had to be physically shared on vinyl records or tape, and access to hardware samplers was limited. Today, social media allows artists from all over the world to share music and collaborate with one another, and digital files and production software have made sampling much more accessible. With fewer limitations and higher connectivity, artists may be less dependent on the information and resources shared by their collaborators.

In a recent study published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, we used data from Discogs and WhoSampled to investigate whether and how music samples are culturally transmitted (i.e. shared via interaction), and if the internet has affected this process. First, we reconstructed a collaboration network of music producers and tracked the appearance of music samples over time. This involved extracting collaborative releases from Discogs to see who has worked with who, and then using WhoSampled to determine when each artist used a particular sample for the first time.

Specifically, we focused on three of the most heavily sampled drum breaks of all time: “Amen, Brother,” “Think (About It)” by Lyn Collins and “Funky Drummer” by James Brown. Second, we used geographic data to determine the effects of the internet on community structure. In short, we found that if an artist collaborates with another artist who has used a particular sample in the past, then they are more likely to use that sample in the future. Scaled up, this means that samples are culturally transmitted through music production communities similar to the way that fashion trends and new words pass through populations. We were also surprised to find evidence that, although the internet has delocalized communities and allows artists to discover samples on their own, their sample usage is still primarily influenced by their collaborators. In other words, artists continue to depend on their on- or offline communities for information in the digital age.