Parodies of Popular Songs

We have been asked occasionally about the legalities of recording parodies of popular songs.  We think that parodies can be fun and a great way to share a Christian message with others. Therefore, although we are not in a position to give legal advice, we would like to offer the following helpful guidelines:

According to Wikipedia, "a parody is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject."  As we will discuss below, a parody of a song must use at least some of the music of the original song.

Why make parodies?

People often enjoyed listening to songs that have a familiar melody.  As the Christian band, ApologetiX, states, " we've noticed that ApologetiX CDs are more easily handed to non-churched friends to check out (as "sound-tracts"!), so we reach some folks that other Christian music doesn't."

Some artists have made careers by making parodies. One of the best known examples is that of "Weird Al" Yankovic.  ApologetiX has recorded at least twelve albums of parodies!

What makes a song a parody?  Is it really legal?

The ApologetiX website includes a discussion of this topic (click here). They emphatically state, "Believe us, if we didn't believe what we were doing was legal, ethical and moral, we wouldn't do it. However, that doesn't mean there's an easy answer to questions regarding copyright and parodies. That's why we employ a lawyer in Los Angeles who is an expert on intellectual properties."

It is important to do your best to ensure that your parody songs qualify as parodies before marketing them. The United States Supreme Court provided some guidence in a 1994 ruling (see http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/92-1292.ZO.html).  In this ruling, the Court stated that when a parodist significantly changes the words and meaning of an original song to spoof it, the parody becomes a new work. For the purposes of copyright law, a parody must make use of some elements of a prior author's composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on that author's works.  Therefore, you cannot just change a word or two and call it a parody or a new song, neither can you just steal the melody of a song and use totally different words that don't spoof the original in some way.  However, the parody must use at least some of the music of the original to "conjure up" the original.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parodies can be a "fair use" of an original song, requiring no permission or royalties. We should mention, however, that although an artist is not required under law to get permission to parody, both "Weird Al" Yankovic and ApologetiX seek seek permission to parody a person's song before recording it. This extra step helps maintain good relations with others in the music industry, and the parody even may be welcomed by the artist being parodied!

Besides the Supreme Court ruling, you can get more guidence at http://www.artslaw.org/PARODY.HTM