The Song Fight Bulletin Board

JoCo:


Glee:

When I first saw this I thought, here we go, another guy thinking someone famous copied his music, like "Creaky Boards" or whatever their name was.

But damn, this is not just an exact copy, but I think they actually USED the backing music. If you listen close, the same characteristics of the guitar playing is on both vids.
Did JoCo give permission to Glee to use his backing music? Is that even really a Glee track or just some guy that snagged it from creative commons and used the Glee pic? Many questions

JoCo had tweeted that he didn't give permission (I hate the whole breaking news "tweet" scene). Yet, I imagine he's registered his music for placement (I don't know this, but raising two kids in Brooklyn isn't cheap) so he wouldn't necessarily need to be in the loop until pay day. In any case, no news is bad news...did they credit the song at least?

I don't know if he's registered his music for placement or not, but so far the Glee music producers have said nothing except that they hadn't said anything about it. Also it hasn't aired as part of an episode yet, so there's no word on whether there's any credit yet either, but so far Fox and the Glee producers have not acknowledged JoCo at all.

If I were JoCo, I'd let it air. #1, great advertising and #2, once it airs, they can't pull it easily and it'll be a movie check for JoCo.

Does anyone know if JoCo used a CC or got a license to use the lyrics in the first place? A lot of artist don't care until money is made from the use of their music. This whole thing is exciting. Can't wait to hear more on it.

Wellp, it aired tonight, and still no word from Fox or the Glee producers about the situation.

If I was his attorney, I'd be jumping in the air saying whoo-hoo right now.

I'm not sure how the cover-of-a-cover thing is supposed to absolve Fox of anything. People have made the argument that the copyright office considers derivative works to only be defendable under the license of the original work, which is to say that Fox got the license from Mix-A-Lot and that should be enough. Sure, the words (even modified) came from Mix-A-Lot, but the music and arrangement and performance were COMPLETELY NEW, and didn't rely on the lyrics to exist at all. (Sure, it relied on the lyrics to make them FUNNY, but that's a different matter.)

I hate this country's broken copyright system. It seems like everything only exists to keep the people who already have the money getting even more of it.

It's hard to argue that Glee didn't used JoCo's song to make theirs when the Glee song actually uses a customized line JoCo added at the 2:17 per the link you posted above. (The Johnny C line)

But I see what you mean. The Glee people can get a license to use that song just like JoCo did.