Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 March 2019
$30,000 to license one minute of Rajasthani music for an American insurance company's television commercial. Sampling by two French musicians of a Solomon Islands lullaby, which, mixed with pop rhythms and computerized chords, results in an international success with millions of dollars in profit through CD sales and income from television commercials in France and the U.S.A. (and perhaps other countries). Note by note borrowing of another Solomon Islands lullaby (these lullabies seem to be a hit!) by a well-known French composer, jazz musician and interpreter of classical and contemporary music who declared the composition as his own. $8,000 (only!) proposed by a Rumanian pop musician living in Germany, for sampling an Albanian song …
This article, while written in reaction to some recent cases mentioned in the first paragraph, reflects my concerns for many years, in fact, since my first encounter in 1969 with the ‘Are'are people of the Solomon Islands. Some issues have been sporadically discussed with colleagues and students in France, but the opinion expressed is mine (sometimes in heavy contradiction with ideas of some colleagues). I wish to thank Dieter Christensen for having encouraged the writing of this article, Steven Feld for proposing substantial improvements, and Travis Jackson for extensive copy editing of the draft written directly in English despite my very imperfect knowledge of this language.