Samples, licensing, copyright, &c. &c.

Being an electronic musician of sorts, I will cop to using uncleared samples in my work. Usually, I jack a beat from somewhere and then manipulate it until it's no longer recognizable. Still, it's uncleared and, therefore, illegal.

Apparently, even back in the olden days, record companies were aware of the possibilities of illegal use of their recorded sounds, and released records with appropriately restrictive licensing. This post describes the EULA-like language on a Victor Talking Machine Co. release from sometime around 1906. Not only does it stipulate a minimum price for the record, but it grants a very limited license to the user.