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Song rights

fernandovalente

fernandovalente

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 29, 2008
366
0
Third world **** hole, I mean, Brazil
Hey,

I'm creating a video for my new Mac app. I will publish the video on Youtube and on my site. I'd love to use a decent song on it, but I wanna make the things right. I saw a Tik Tok parody by Barely Political and that gave me an idea. The melody is exactly the same as the real song. I found this on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqdiEX6UsqI

Is that illegal to use the melody of a song on a commercial?
 
I believe there is something called "sampling" which is allowed, but that is very short.

Otherwise, be prepared to have your ass handed to you in court.
 
fernandovalente said:
Parody is not illegal.
Click to expand...
It isn't? Weird Al Yankovic always needed to seek permission on doing his songs. There was some legal headaches for him when Eminem first gave permission and then pulled his permission.

I have no idea whether parodies are allowed but I do see Weird Al always seeking it.
 
maflynn said:
It isn't? Weird Al Yankovic always needed to seek permission on doing his songs. There was some legal headaches for him when Eminem first gave permission and then pulled his permission.

I have no idea whether parodies are allowed but I do see Weird Al always seeking it.
Click to expand...

Does Al get permission to do his parodies?

Al does get permission from the original writers of the songs that he parodies. While the law supports his ability to parody without permission, he feels it's important to maintain the relationships that he's built with artists and writers over the years. Plus, Al wants to make sure that he gets his songwriter credit (as writer of new lyrics) as well as his rightful share of the royalties.
Click to expand...

http://www.weirdal.com/faq.htm

Some artists carve out careers by making parodies. One of the best-known examples is that of "Weird Al" Yankovic. His career of parodying other musical acts and their songs has outlasted many of the artists or bands he has parodied. Although he is not required under law to get permission to parody, as a personal rule, however, he does seek permission to parody a person's song before recording it.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody#Reputation
 
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