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DMG Clearances, Inc is a company based in Hockessin, Delaware, USA, which handles music clearances and licensing for the entertainment industry. DMG Clearances was founded in 1996 by Deborah Mannis-Gardner.[1]
The company clears musical compositions for use in films, video games, sampling and Broadway Theater. Clients include Drake, Eminem, De La Soul, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Coen Brothers, Martin Scorsese, Rockstar Games and The Roots.[2]
In 2023, the American hip-hop group De La Soul partnered with DMG in order to clear the samples on their back catalogue before their digital release.[3]
Deborah Mannis-Gardner is a graduate of Emerson College and began her career in the entertainment industry working on music videos and providing television clearances in New York City in 1989. Mannis-Gardner went into the business of sample clearances for hip hop music in 1992 with a UK business partner. In 1996, she created DMG Clearances to focus on sample clearances and music placement.[1]
Regarding the state of music sampling, Mannis-Gardner has always considered it an art. "I think sampling is an art and I think it's incredible. When I first started, I was told how it was theft. I was told that hip-hop and rap was a phase. That it wasn't going to be around. All of that horrible, negative stuff. I kept saying "well, a collage, that's not real art? Jambalaya isn't real food?" That's a great meal mixed up of different foods and spices, that's what sampling is."[4]
The New Castle County Chamber of Commerce named Mannis-Gardner the 2016 Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year.[5]
Source: IMDb[6]
Source: Artist Direct[2]