After Hundreds Of 'Empire State Of Mind' Parodies... Why Does EMI Suddenly Take One Down?
from the these-copyrights-will-inspire-you dept
Nearly a year ago, the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys collaboration Empire State of Mind was released. If you haven't heard it, you've been living under something of a rock:The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down | ||||
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Even odder? Apparently EMI has issued a takedown notice for just that one video pulling it off YouTube. This is despite literally hundreds of Empire State of Mind parodies on YouTube. Those 55 best parodies? They're all on YouTube (with the exception of the Darth Vader one...). Honestly, I thought this had to be a mistake, or some weird Content ID error by YouTube. Considering the vast number of these parodies that have all remained up this whole time, would EMI really issue a takedown for this one parody?
However, EMI seems to have confirmed that it's taken down the video. According to the BBC report:
A statement from EMI said: "When a song is created based wholly on any of our writers' works, those writers need to grant their permission.And what about all those other parodies? And, of course, at least in the US, parody is often protected as fair use. I recognize this particular parody was done in Wales, but, still, the decision to take down this one video seems really, really odd.
"If that permission isn't granted, then we ask the service in question to remove the song."
Oh, and one other bit of irony? In looking up some of these parodies, I found this article, which notes that the key musical hook used by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are sampled from a 1970s track from The Moments called Love on A Two Way Street:
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Filed Under: alicia keys, empire state of mind, jay-z, parody, takedown
Companies: emi
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been hiding all this time.
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Disclaimer: I don't live under a rock, but I don't listen to that kind of music (punk rock is where my heart is). The parody was pretty funny, but I wouldn't listen to it more than once.
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I guess stranger things have happened, though.
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That's why a lot of early hip-hop has faced legal issues years after it was released. When albums like BIG's Ready To Die came out, nobody had really thought much about sampling so the album made it to the shelves without anyone noticing the copyright concerns. Years later (and years after BIG's death) that album was actually pulled from stores for awhile as the label retroactively sorted out licensing deals.
Another example is Kanye West's All Falls Down, which uses a chorus by Syleena Johnson. Though it was originally produced with a sample, when it came time to release the album the label discovered it was actually cheaper to hire Syleena to re-record the hook than it was to license the appropriate sample (about 10 seconds) from the existing recording.
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Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
Someone please get this rock off me. It hurts.
I didn't even click the video links.
You know, after shifting a bit to make this post, the rock doesn't hurt now. Never mind.
I'm going back where it's safe.
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sigh....
http://tinypic.com/r/2iqdamw/4
It's like having a youtube embed that says - to watch this video, go to youtube.com. But not telling you which video it is. In other words, f*in useless.
No faults to Mike on this. I know he's been on the receiving end of it before. Still damn annoying...
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But I Like My Rock!
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Never heard of it
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8CZyFM4b4
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Oh the noise...
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Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
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How about suing them for false statements I mean they already know the tools get it wrong but don't bother checking because there is no penalty for doing so apparently, despite the law being clear about copyfraud.
I think it is professional negligence when those people commit so many errors they are not layman, they are supposed to be trained professionals what are the excuses to get so many things wrong?
Have those professionals no obligation to check anything?
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I guess I live under a rock....
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the best one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtKsaB5xgxI
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That's Odd...
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The spoof writers wanted to release it as a charity single and the writers objected.
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