Deborah Mannis-Gardner sat down with Elias Leight to lend commentary to this Billboard piece on sampling credits.

To prevail in clearance negotiations, the sampled artist needs leverage and a good lawyer. And negotiations can be charged. “All clearances are emotional,” explains Deborah Mannis-Gardner, president of DMG Clearances. “Someone either wrote this song or they recorded it — it’s their baby. [In many cases,] it’s up to them to decide, do they want it altered by it being incorporated into another song?”

– Elias Leight, Billboard