Audio fingerprinting was used by record companies before YouTube. If you sent a file to be mastered / pressed they would have it checked at the plant and ask you had you sample clearance. It killed sample based music. Breaks scene moved to Eastern European vinyl pressing but they ran the software (maybe that would have been around when yt came into existence).
Needless to say the results that the software threw up were bullshit and not necessarily the people being sampled. More likely some connected artist who also sampled the sound you were sampling.
