Glee Rips Off Jonathan Coulton

[SeaCalMaster]

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#115:
(2) A compulsory license includes the privilege of making a musical arrangement of the work to the extent necessary to conform it to the style or manner of interpretation of the performance involved, but the arrangement shall not change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work, and shall not be subject to protection as a derivative work under this title, except with the express consent of the copyright owner.

Really Cause I just read that and the melody is a very simple rap beat that has been slowed and is the string backing. The "Character" is the recognizable Lyrics that's what makes the song. Although the melody has been added to. Its still recognizably the original.

I find it amazing that you admit "the melody has been added to" and you still don't see how this qualifies as changing the basic melody. In any case, a rhythm is not a melody.

 

[Lalo Lomeli]

The first 13 episodes of Glee were okay I guess; but beyond that if you keep seeing it it's just sad.

 

[Furbyz]

It's already shown it works. I now know about him and i've never heard one of his songs until today. God bless the internet for bringing me new things.

You actually probably have heard one of his songs. He wrote Still Alive and Want You Gone for Portal.

I disagree with your opinion, though I do understand the notion. I mean, who doesn't have at least one thing that is just unequivocally not for them?

 

[JonnWood]

It's already shown it works. I now know about him and i've never heard one of his songs until today. God bless the internet for bringing me new things.

You actually probably have heard one of his songs. He wrote Still Alive and Want You Gone for Portal.

I disagree with your opinion, though I do understand the notion. I mean, who doesn't have at least one thing that is just unequivocally not for them?

I really hate it when people argue that piracy and copyright infringement are okay because they bring the original artist "more publicity". Really? When was the last time anyone paid the rent with publicity? Can you eat publicity? And what about the crux of the complaint, that someone has violated the creator's rights? Some artists don't mind piracy, yes, but only a small amount.

 

[talker]

I for one am a big Glee fan, (22yo straight male with a child). And honestly don't see the big problem with them covering songs. They definitely put a unique twist on each song which gives a clear distinction between their songs and the original. If I were to sing a song and people enjoyed it, would I be subject to a lawsuit because that song belonged to somebody else?

if you didn't have permission to use something that didn't belong to you, than the answer is YES!

stealing somebody's song is like ignoring a patent, unless it was sold to you, you can't use it without getting sued.

 

[Something Amyss]

Incidentally, you cannot copyright an arrangement, so there's no real legal problem here. No issue with "not getting his permission."

The U.S. Copyright Office disagrees with you.

The copyright law of the United States provides for copyright protection in "musical works, including any accompanying words," that are fixed in some tangible medium of expression. 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)(2). Musical works include both original compositions and original arrangements or other new versions of earlier compositions to which new copyrightable authorship has been added.

(emphasis added)

And the lack of legal victories really proves how that works out in reality.

 

[Lieju]

Some interesting analysis I found:
http://geeklikemetoo.blogspot.fi/2013/01/about-that-quack.html

Apparently they didn't just use Coulton's arrangement, they used his recording.
In any case, this is an interesting case. The copyright law is a mess, and if the rules are different for big corporations than individual people...

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Can someone explain to me in laymens terms but still well-detailed why people hate Glee so much?

 

[Lieju]

Can someone explain to me in laymens terms but still well-detailed why people hate Glee so much?

From what I gather, people here mostly hate it for the bad covers.

I know there are people who hate Glee for teh 'gay propaganda', but I doubt that's the main reason for the hate here.

 

[iRevanchist]

I for one am a big Glee fan, (22yo straight male with a child). And honestly don't see the big problem with them covering songs. They definitely put a unique twist on each song which gives a clear distinction between their songs and the original. If I were to sing a song and people enjoyed it, would I be subject to a lawsuit because that song belonged to somebody else?

If you were selling that song and selling it of as your own rendition without any permission or credit to the original artist: YES. Seriously, a major corporation stealing something from a relatively little known (outside the nerd community) artist is low. Really low. I hope JoCo sues their butts off and gets the money he deserves for putting up with Fox.

 

[Kirov Reporting]

Has it been broadcast yet? It's 1045 UK so just before 6 US et, I don't know what time it's normally on.

Very curious to see if they went ahead with it!

Used to like the show, have no interest in it now though. Haven't for a long time. Sounds like there are some real dicks in the team.

 

[Queen Michael]

I for one am a big Glee fan, (22yo straight male with a child). And honestly don't see the big problem with them covering songs. They definitely put a unique twist on each song which gives a clear distinction between their songs and the original. If I were to sing a song and people enjoyed it, would I be subject to a lawsuit because that song belonged to somebody else?

But they're not putting a unique twist on this song. The entire problem is that they're doing it like Jonathan Coulton did it, and trying to make it seem like they created the arrangement themselves. And if you were to sing a song and people enjoyed it, and you knew that people would assume that the arrangement was yours unless you explained to them that it wasn't, then keeping quiet about the truth of the sing's origin would be an immoral thing to do since you're trying to make it seem like you created something you didn't create.

 

[Kirov Reporting]

And if you were to sing a song and people enjoyed it, and you knew that people would assume that the arrangement was yours unless you explained to them that it wasn't, then keeping quiet about the truth of the sing's origin would be an immoral thing to do since you're trying to make it seem like you created something you didn't create.

Nailhead, meet hammer, I think you'll get along fine.

That's exactly it, granted Glee have done a lot of catchy reworkings of classic songs, sometimes to their benefit (usually interesting mashups, a concept they certainly didn't create) and sometimes to their detriment (many o' these).

But they at least had the fact that they'd created said remix, whereas this is a straight up cover of someone else's work without their permission. I don't know the full legalities of it, and if they had a deal with Sir Mentadent and that overrides JC's rights to refusal then fair enough - but I imagine he'd be aware of that, and his continued chagrin suggests that's not the case.

If I've heard correctly, Glee don't approach many people whose songs they use, and after the event, most people don't care because it boosts their sales. However, on general principle, I'd be pissed if my work boosted their sales if I didn't approve of their format or product, even if it gave me a little gold to boot.

That Johnny C bit? Christ Glee, at least try and hide it a BIT.

 

[iRevanchist]

UPDATE: They went along and aired it. The same autotuned travesty with a bunch of cheesy dance moves thrown in. Please don't google it--giving Glee more views is counter productive. As for Johnny C, he hasn't updated his site on the glee disaster since sunday, but according to his twitter he has legal news and is going to be posting it soon.

 

[Kirov Reporting]

has legal news and is going to be posting it soon.

I am pretty angry. I have news and will write about it soon.

Doesn't specify it's legal news, but I'm looking forward to seeing what it is.

 

[Zef Otter]

I'm going to get hate but I agree with Todd in the shadow

Glee = this gens mtv

 

[faeshadow]

Can someone explain to me in laymens terms but still well-detailed why people hate Glee so much?

The dialogue is lame and the plot is laughable?

In short...it's terribly written.

As for the topic, I find it pretty disgusting that Fox pulls this crap, with the way they treat fans who make fan videos on YouTube of their shows, and not for profit, either. They stomp these kids into the ground for making a fanvid, even to the point of getting their accounts banned on YouTube, but they have no qualms about profiting from someone else's work? Dicks.