Oh snap. If you haven’t heard about controversy between singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton and the producers of hit television show Glee, then here’s the rundown. Several years ago, Coulton recorded a cover of Sir Mix A Lot’s ancient ode to the butt, ‘Baby Got Back’, and released it on the internet. This week, Glee featured a cover of the song using nearly the exact same composition, without so much as getting in touch with Coulton.
You can listen to the two versions below – it’s a blatant, clear rip-off. Coulton has even accused Fox of using some of his original audio in the television show’s version. After trying to get some clarity from Fox, Coulton posted a statement on his website indicating he essentially got a ‘fuck you’ from Fox. They won’t apologize, give credit, or pay him anything, even going as far to say he should be happy for the exposure. Read the full statement below:
“Well, they aired it, seemingly unchanged. And it’s now for sale in the US iTunes store. They also got in touch with my peeps to basically say that they’re within their legal rights to do this, and that I should be happy for the exposure (even though they do not credit me, and have not even publicly acknowledged that it’s my version – so you know, it’s kind of SECRET exposure). While they appear not to be legally obligated to do any of these things, they did not apologize, offer to credit me, or offer to pay me, and indicated that this was their general policy in regards to covers of covers. It does not appear that I have a copyright claim, but I’m still investigating the possibility (which I consider likely) that they used some or all of my audio. I’ll write something longer and more detailed about this when I can get my head together about it probably in a couple of days. Thanks for your support, but please continue not to burn anything down.”
Now, Coulton is shooting the fuck you right back at Fox. He’s released his version of ‘Baby Got Back’ on iTunes, with the smart ass title being ‘Baby Got Back (In the Style of Glee)’. The album art is Coulton with his hand making the ‘L’ on his forehead, replicating Glee. All proceeds through the month of February will be donated to The Save The Music Foundation and The It Gets Better Project. Coulton explained his reasoning a little more in a message on his website:
“I haven’t asked you guys to take any specific action throughout this thing, but now I am asking: buy the track, give it some stars, leave a comment (please be civil), and tell everyone you can. Call it a form of protest, awareness raising, viral PR hackitude, whatever you like. I don’t know how big this will get, but there’s a potential to make a lot of noise this way – imagine if this thing charts! And failing that, we will create some real world impact by raising a lot of money for two great causes that are directly related to the Glee brand. There’s your win-win.”
Hey Fox, it seems like EVERYONE involved would drop this thing if you just acknowledged the track and recommend your millions of crazy Glee fans purchase the song and support two great charities. But then people wouldn’t buy the Glee version because it’s THE SAME FUCKING SONG.
Moral of the story? Fox sucks. Seriously. These are the guys who cancelled Arrested Development. They clearly have no idea what they are doing.