Licensed to Mash

According to the BBC, killjoys at EMI Publishing have removed from YouTube the spoof Newport State Of Mind, which parodies Jay-Z , “due to a "copyright claim".

I never understand the urge to ban as it often has the opposite effect, for example, the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen is “the most heavily censored record in British history” – but it has achieved near immortality for it. Banning ‘Relax’ didn’t do Frankie Goes to Hollywood any harm either. Maybe this is what EMI want – notoriety and more exposure for an okay song bludgeoned to death by Jay-Z (the solo Alica Keys version is far superior). More frightening would be the possibility that EMI, like most major record companies, are re-enacting the mass panic of peak oil (in their case peak sales) and are going to grab everything they can on the plummet downwards as they deluge us with an ever increasing array of shite music allowing creativity to go down the pan.

I don’t agree with bans but as I have said before this only relates to banning Tweenies from buying records without supervision…but that was merely to sate my aesthetic tastes. Newport State of Mind, a clear parody and tribute, only enhances the original giving it continued exposure, which tends to mean more records sold. If you aren’t being parodied, then let’s face it you or your song really have made it, as a thousand Lady Gaga spoofs and mixes can testify to. Some would contend that banning it draws attention away from the desperate plight of the people of Wales, which my mate Smiffy once described as a third world country (and on that day I found it difficult to argue). 

However on the flip-side EMI’s statement (of repression?) said "when a song is created based wholly on any of our writers' works, those writers need to grant their permission.”

Now this may just be me, but mash-ups are not “based wholly” on a writers work, being made up of two or more parts (especially if you are Earworm or Norwegian Recycling). Earworm has even done official mash-ups which get a fair amount of airplay on BBC Radio One (and cheer up my mornings no end).

I had hoped to release one of my own mashes but, as ever, they are in progress, so I leave you with DJ lobsterdust’s very silly but fun ‘I Will Survivor’ from AudioPornCentral's 2nd Birthday album. Enjoy.