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Jonathan Coulton Offers Some Gleeful Turnabout

Posted by timothy on from the copyright-and-covers-oh-my dept.

The TV show Glee may have borrowed Jonathan Coulton's arrangement of "Baby Got Back" without asking him first, but he's got a response of the kind that it'd be hard for the show's makers to criticize without looking churlish. Borrowing it back, and using it to raise money for charity. As CNET puts it, "Coulton has foxily tossed up on iTunes his own version of the song and titled it 'Baby Got Back (In the Style of Glee).' He terms it 'my cover of Glee's cover of my cover.'"

4 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Re: So... by wilson_c · · Score: 4, Informative

    Publishing rights, which tend to make more money than mechanicals.

  2. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Royalties on every song sold, as Coulton states on his website.

  3. Re:Both songs suck. by bcrowell · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously - I just listened to it on Youtube and it's AWFUL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCWaN_Tc5wo

    The Glee version is only slightly different but equally putrid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yww4BLjReEk

    vs. the original version which is absolutely brilliant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY84MRnxVzo

    The Coulton version is a joke. I think you missed the joke.

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  4. Re:Am I missing something? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You are missing a few things.

    First, Coulton didn't just cover it. He modified it greatly so that the end result, while still obviously a version of the original song, was nonetheless a new work in its own right.

    Second, Glee is a TV show, and TV shows must license the synchronization rights to use a song. Period.

    Third, in addition to not licensing the song, the show didn't even bother to credit him. That's just plain old douchebaggery.