NPR has an interesting story about “Weird Al” Yankovic’s attempts to parody James Blunt’s song You’re Beautiful on an upcoming album:
In a career spanning more than 25 years, pop-music parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic hasn’t exactly ranked among the music business’ fiercest iconoclasts: He doesn’t release his song parodies without the consent of the artists being parodied, and he’s rarely used the Internet as more than a tool to promote his projects and connect with his fans. But a music label’s efforts to block a (relatively tame) parody of James Blunt’s ubiquitous hit You’re Beautiful has Yankovic fighting back publicly, and using his Web site as a tool to do so.
Although Yankovic supposedly got an OK from James Blunt, Atlantic Records, Blunt’s record label, refused to give its permission. Rather than get his own record label involved in a pissing match, Weird Al is taking the high road and releasing the song to the masses on his official web site as as a free, DRM-less MP3. Go Al!
