The Amen Break is quite possibly the most influential six seconds in all of music and one of the most sampled beats ever, but until now the original creator wasn't getting paid for their work. The Amen Break is a six second drum solo in The Winstons' 1969 track "Amen Brother" and has been sampled by countless artists including Oasis, NWA, The Prodigy, Slipknot, Lupe Fiasco, Skrillex, Sub Focus and hundreds others. At its core, It is the basis for a lot of many early songs in jungle and drum n bass.
All of this time, the drummer Richard Spencer was not receiving any money from all of these samples. In an effort to try and right this wrong, a gofundme was created in March to pay back some of the money that Spencer and The Winstons' deserve for creating one of the most influential drum samples ever.
The crowdfunding page has delivered a £24,000 check to Spencer as a small thank you from everybody who has listened to a song with the sample or used it.
The crowdfunding campaign was started by British DJs Martyn Webster and Steve Theobald with an initial target of just £1,000, but easily surpassed that amount.
"If you have ever written or sold any music with the amen break, or even just enjoyed one of the countless hundreds and hundreds of tunes that contain it... please donate," wrote Webster.
The campaign closed in March, but there were issues with transferring different currencies with his bank, so the money didn't appear in Spencer's bank account with a big check until now.
He posted an emotional video on his Facebook announcing he had received the money, saying "Thank you so much for this great contribution to my life. Thanks you very, very much. A-men!"
