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You’re thinking about this wrong. Do I need to ask permission to impersonate Eminem during a comedy performance? How about during a musical performance? The a

You’re thinking about this wrong. Do I need to ask permission to impersonate Eminem during a comedy performance? How about during a musical performance? The answer is no. This is fair use 101. If you cover a song of his while doing an impersonation then this is covered by the performance fees the venue you’re playing at pays every year to ASCAP and BMI.

nailer 4y ago
Satire is protected under fair use so yes you don’t need permission for a comedy performance. A musical performance? Hell yes.
- williamcotton 4y ago
  No, you’re not correct. Cover bands don’t need to ask permission. The venues they play at should be writing down the songs they’re playing and submitting them to PROs, but the bands don’t need to do anything.
  - cj 4y ago
    Whether it's the band or the venue paying, someone is paying (which is the point).
    - williamcotton 4y ago
      Yeah, but only for the songs covered, not any originals that the cover band did in the style of anyone else. Which is the point.
      - nailer 4y ago
        > originals that the cover band did in the style of anyone else Interesting. I guess you consider the use of Eminem’s voice to be an ‘in the style of’. I think, being trained on Eminem songs, it’s more like a sample.
- tialaramex 4y ago
  Satire protects you only if you needed the thing imitated to make your point [and you have $$$ for lawyers to argue that] The example I like (even though Weird Al always obtains permission so doesn't need Free Speech protection) is "Smells Like Nirvana" compared to "Fat". Smells Like Nirvana is satire. The thing criticised is Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and the wider Grunge phenomenon it exemplifies. Al's song talks about how Kurt's lyrics are mumbled and hard to understand, "It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss / With all these marbles in my mouth", and about how it's too loud so it'll annoy your mom and dad, "We're so loud and incoherent / Boy, this oughta bug your parents". This can't work if Al uses Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" instead of Teen Spirit. "Fat" isn't satire. Michael Jackson wasn't obese or even overweight, and his song isn't causing people to eat too much junk food, Al's song is just using the outline structure of Jackson's "Bad" because that fits and his new song is funny. If his lyrics had fitted better to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" that would have been fine.
__alexs 4y ago
> Do I need to ask permission to impersonate Eminem during a comedy performance? How about during a musical performance? The answer is maybe. See the case I cited above. > This is fair use 101. Voices are not copyrightable so fair use doesn't seem terribly relevant here.
- williamcotton 4y ago
  Fair use is relevant for parodies that are not subject to copyright or royalties so it is indeed relevant, but you're right, the issue with Bette Midler is the common law right of publicity, of which David Guetta is not in the wrong because no one was tricked into thinking that he was Eminem. Even if David Guetta's DJ sets became nothing but Eminem songs it would be fine because he would still not be tricking anyone into thinking that he was Eminem.

nailer 4y ago

Satire is protected under fair use so yes you don’t need permission for a comedy performance. A musical performance? Hell yes.

williamcotton 4y ago
No, you’re not correct. Cover bands don’t need to ask permission. The venues they play at should be writing down the songs they’re playing and submitting them to PROs, but the bands don’t need to do anything.
- cj 4y ago
  Whether it's the band or the venue paying, someone is paying (which is the point).
  - williamcotton 4y ago
    Yeah, but only for the songs covered, not any originals that the cover band did in the style of anyone else. Which is the point.
    - nailer 4y ago
      > originals that the cover band did in the style of anyone else Interesting. I guess you consider the use of Eminem’s voice to be an ‘in the style of’. I think, being trained on Eminem songs, it’s more like a sample.
tialaramex 4y ago
Satire protects you only if you needed the thing imitated to make your point [and you have $$$ for lawyers to argue that] The example I like (even though Weird Al always obtains permission so doesn't need Free Speech protection) is "Smells Like Nirvana" compared to "Fat". Smells Like Nirvana is satire. The thing criticised is Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and the wider Grunge phenomenon it exemplifies. Al's song talks about how Kurt's lyrics are mumbled and hard to understand, "It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss / With all these marbles in my mouth", and about how it's too loud so it'll annoy your mom and dad, "We're so loud and incoherent / Boy, this oughta bug your parents". This can't work if Al uses Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" instead of Teen Spirit. "Fat" isn't satire. Michael Jackson wasn't obese or even overweight, and his song isn't causing people to eat too much junk food, Al's song is just using the outline structure of Jackson's "Bad" because that fits and his new song is funny. If his lyrics had fitted better to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" that would have been fine.

__alexs 4y ago

> Do I need to ask permission to impersonate Eminem during a comedy performance? How about during a musical performance? The answer is maybe. See the case I cited above. > This is fair use 101. Voices are not copyrightable so fair use doesn't seem terribly relevant here.

williamcotton 4y ago
Fair use is relevant for parodies that are not subject to copyright or royalties so it is indeed relevant, but you're right, the issue with Bette Midler is the common law right of publicity, of which David Guetta is not in the wrong because no one was tricked into thinking that he was Eminem. Even if David Guetta's DJ sets became nothing but Eminem songs it would be fine because he would still not be tricking anyone into thinking that he was Eminem.