Arghh, That Be Mine!

            Piracy can come in many different forms than what we are accustomed to seeing in the movies.  In fact, it occurs often in the very industry that brought you movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and others.  The record industry, however, “…was born of another kind of piracy, though to see how requires a bit of detail about the way the law regulates music” (Lessig, Free Culture, Pirates).

            According to the documentary film we watched in class about piracy in the record industry, the term to describe this action that was most common amongst those interviewed was sampling.  These rap stars, hip-hop artists, and undaunted DJ’s consider what they do ‘legal’ because although they may be taking the idea of someone else’s work, the final product is completely their own interpretation.

One music artist/comedian, who goes by the name of Weird Al, has made his name popular by sampling other famous rap artist’s songs and making parodies of them all.  What Weird Al does is take the same beat and rhyme scheme, but makes up his own story making it funny.  For example:  Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’ Dirty” was a very popular song that debuted in 2006.  Weird Al took the song’s rhythm and beat and wrote a completely new, catchy song.  The reason as to why Weird Al hasn’t been prosecuted for copyright is because the U.S. Supreme Court passed the copyright law that states ”…one does not need permission to record a parody” (http://copyright.gov/title17/ ).  Even though he isn't required to, Weird Al always asks the original artist for permission to record his parodies first.  As a matter of fact, most artists consider it a badge of honor when Weird Al asks to turn one of their songs into a parody (Wikipedia).  Both songs can be found on the following links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtwJvgPJ9xw Chamillionaire's Ridin' Dirty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw Weird Al's White and Nerdy