Crash Test Dummies Song Analysis

Quantitatively, the humming sample constitutes four seconds of the 4:03 minute-long Crash Test Dummies song. Even though, the sample constitutes less than 2% of the original song, a court is not likely to find, as a matter of law, a de minimis use without first looking at the qualitative importance of the sample to the song as whole, like the court in TufAmerica that refused to find a de minimis use based solely on the fact that the sample constituted a small portion (i.e., nine seconds of an 8:11 minute-long song) the original song. See TufAmerica, 968 F. Supp. 2d at 603. Indeed, in TufAmerica, the court noted that before rendering the use of the sample as de minimis, it had to look to the qualitative importance of the sample in relation to the original song.

Unlike one of the samples in TufAmerica (i.e., a three-second long drum sequence) that lacked qualitative importance because it was not in any way the heart of the song (e.g., the sequence occurred a single time and was not consistent with the title of the recording), the humming in the Crash Test Dummies song is arguably the most significant part of thereof. First, the humming is consistent with the title of recording. Second, it is the refrain of the song; hence, it is repeated emphatically a various points the recording. Finally, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” is a song about adverse situations and suffering; the humming then can be seen as a means to transmits the overall mood of the song. Indeed, Brad Roberts, the composer and interpreter of the song, said in an interview with British online newspaper “The Independent” that he decided to hum the refrain instead to sing it because “humming sounded more resigned.” Thus, even when the sample is quantitatively small its qualitative value to the song is significant enough that a court may properly deny de minimis use and find substantial