Long the staple of sketch shows and comedy performances, amusing parody versions of hit songs often had to be changed just enough from the original track to stay on the right side of the law (a different melody here, a new harmony there), but that’s all set to change.
Back in 2010, ‘Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)‘ debuted on YouTube, and re-tooled Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ iconic ‘Empire State of Mind’ to represent their Welsh locale. After racking up millions of views, it was pulled by EMI who cited copyright infringement as the reason. Now this couldn’t have happened in the USA – the country has a ‘fair use’ policy which allows parodies to be exempt from the usual copyright laws. This exemption is why artists such as Weird Al Yankovic can get away with having a career reworking songs such as Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, and why Nathan Fielder’s recent (and very high profile) Dumb Starbucks store was technically legal.
Thankfully, Parliament have now voted in favour of a law that will actually prevent parodies from being the target of copyright takedowns. Entitled The Copyright and Rights in Performances (Quotation and Parody) Regulations, the new regulations will come into force on October 1, and will allow far more creative freedom than has previously been considered acceptable.
It was thanks to the tireless efforts of the Open Rights Group that the law change has actually happened, but it remains skeptical of its implementation. “We will have to make sure the new parody right can be used and isn’t inappropriately challenged in the courts,” the group informed Music Week. “But it has to be said that getting parody onto the statute book is a major achievement for the government and those who supported the proposal, including campaign groups, and comedians and YouTube parodists who joined us in our campaign.”
