Did The Simpsons use a song without paying the composer? - VIDEOS

If the Simpsons took the song off of YouTube, wouldn't it be up to Google to give them rights?

That Engadget article was written by an IP lawyer. Read it before you make assumptions.

IANAIPL, but logic tells me that the parody has to be "of" the thing being used. The parody was "of" the video, not the song. I think it is arguable that fair use does not cover using the song.

However, I do acknowledge that I don't know what arrangement exists between the artist and her label. Perhaps the label does "own" the copyright and they granted permission to Fox/The Simpsons. If that is the case, I would encourage the artist to end her relationship with the label so that she will retain copyright to all future work.

Parody - even without changes to music - are almost always considered Fair Use. Go look at the historical arguments around this. I'm not a lawyer, but even I know that. (Don't go by what bloggers such as engadget tell you, go talk to an IP lawyer.)

Pax,

MLO

Although Parody can be a basis for a fair use claim it does not automattically grant the user a waiver of copyright on the source material. Great explanation at: http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/21/know-your-rights-how-does-fair-use-work/

Perhaps the seeking of permission/compensation was a courtesy? I was under the impression that copyright cannot be violated by parody.

There's no parody of the music (which is hard to do when a song doesn't even have words) so as to give it first amendment protection. There's arguable parody of the premise of the pic-a-day video, but not a good argument.

I'll believe that the producers did something wrong when I hear there's been a lawsuit filed. Perhaps they broke off talks with the artist because she wasn't the one with the legal right to negotiate rights on the music, and instead negotiated with Deep Elm Records (see the copyright notice in iTunes). I don't pretend to know what Ms. Comando's agreement with Deep Elm Records is, so I'm just offering this as an alternate theory to assuming nefarious activities by Fox or the Simpsons producers. Generally when you license recorded music, you deal with the label, not the artist.

Please, like The Simpsons have ever been awful at getting all of their bases covered beforehand. While 'forgetting' is a stretch, I'm sure she'll be compensated and some sort of apology will be issued. Really basic stuff when you think about it.

And also, with the episode scoring 10.1 million viewers (great considering how Fox is chicken-pecking it's way through the episode lineup) it's not like she's suffering from not getting any exposure, that almost pays for itself anyway. But yeah I'd imagine she'd get some form of payment and the aforementioned issued apology. Not much of a headline here.