{"id":12503,"date":"2006-07-06T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-06T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.driko.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/06\/free-weird-al-yankovic\/"},"modified":"2006-07-06T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-06T23:04:00","slug":"free-weird-al-yankovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.driko.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/06\/free-weird-al-yankovic\/","title":{"rendered":"Free “Weird Al” Yankovic!"},"content":{"rendered":"

NPR<\/i> has an interesting story about “Weird Al” Yankovic’s attempts to parody James Blunt’s song You’re Beautiful<\/i><\/a> on an upcoming album:<\/p>\n

In a career spanning more than 25 years, pop-music parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic<\/a> 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<\/i> has Yankovic fighting back publicly, and using his Web site as a tool to do so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/a> as as a free, DRM<\/acronym>-less MP3. Go Al!<\/p>\n

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