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I'm currently working on a Parody of "Can't touch this" by MC Hammer for my church...(And yes, I said CHURCH)...and I want to see if I could publish it on here or maybe the video on Youtube? Could I get in ANY kind of legal predicament?

well if ur using the music you gotta get permission to use it on your vid so maybe is MC Hammer has an official website they my have an email. It's worth a try

I'm not USING their music, I'm using the tune (the NON-Lyric half of the song) and using my own words to it. And secondly, the Church Helpers will RECORD the performance of the song that *I* am writing, not one of Hammer's...I'm just waiting for someone with a definitive answer who is SURE.

Geez, the tune is also subject to copyright dude!!!! Google music publishing - you are sleepwalking into a world of pain. Unless the music is so old it is in the public domain which is not the case here.

If your question is "will I get away with it" the answer is probably yes, and even if not youtube will just take down your clip is someone bitches and send you a mail slap on the wrist. If your question is "could I theoretically get my butt sued to the next universe" then the anser is a definitely YES!!!!

ermine
Geez, the tune is also subject to copyright dude!!!! Google music publishing - you are sleepwalking into a world of pain. Unless the music is so old it is in the public domain which is not the case here.

If your question is "will I get away with it" the answer is probably yes, and even if not youtube will just take down your clip is someone bitches and send you a mail slap on the wrist. If your question is "could I theoretically get my butt sued to the next universe" then the anser is a definitely YES!!!!

IMPORTANT!! I AM NOT A LAWYER!
But as I understand it, parody is generally within "fair use", and is "OK". But you can always ask a lawyer to be certain!
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

Vanilla Ice got into trouble when he "created" a similar tune to that of David Bowie & Queen.

The difference is a single note.

youtube.com/watch?v=kk6NhjD3Dbg

I'll e-mail Hammer or one of his agents, tell them I still think his Pants were cool, and ask them about NOT suing me/my church/etc. Once again, thank you.

I take it MCH is the performer and writer of both the lyric and the songwriter? On the Cd it will usually say. There are three aspects to a piece of music

The mechanical rights to reproduce the actual performance (ie rip MCH's CD and duplicate/download). Not applicable in this case

The rights to the lyrics and music - applies in this case. the two often go together but not always, and are the song publisher, who can be reached here

http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=510086481&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=30&start=1

But as I understand it, parody is generally within "fair use", and is "OK".

If you read that site they explicitly state this condition

amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

so, like, performing the whole thing is not an applicable use of "fair use get out of jail free card". That site make a special point of saying that fair use is not properly defined. Translation: if you rely on it as a defense and you are unlucky you may get to work the definition out in court :roll:

I have too much of a reputation (That's probably only in my mind) on Youtube to be being banned for copyright infringement

I believe the normal way round this is to sign up a new account particularly for your dodgy deals. "On the internet nobody knows you're a dog"

Thank you SO much, ermine. I think I'll go Hammer's site (If it's still up o_O) and e-mail him or who ever replies to his e-mails (who might answer his phone too, but...you never know!) and ask him for the rights (or something) to be able to do a parody. Thanks. This will save me a lot of work in the end!

4dvil
Vanilla Ice got into trouble when he "created" a similar tune to that of David Bowie & Queen.

The difference is a single note.

youtube.com/watch?v=kk6NhjD3Dbg

Sure, but in that case he literally "sampled" the song, that is taking the actual recording, not re-recording it. When you use a tune for a parody and replay it yourself, I think you have to state "song X contains interpolation of song Y" like Canadian rapper Classified did with his song "Still Hip Hop to Me", which is basically Billy Joel's "Still Rock and Roll to me" replayed (not sampled) and with very different lyric. But I am no lawyer and I don't know if he had contacted Billy Joel before publishing the song, tho.

Draguinii
Thank you SO much, ermine. I think I'll go Hammer's site (If it's still up o_O) and e-mail him or who ever replies to his e-mails (who might answer his phone too, but...you never know!) and ask him for the rights (or something) to be able to do a parody. Thanks. This will save me a lot of work in the end!

you could also sing the melody backwards.
(unless it turns out to be into another great hit) you'll have a new song for yourself...

I think you will need to take permission. And it's better to take permission and be on the safe side

as far as I can recall MC Hammer was a very churchy religious type himself, so maybe when you contact his "people"
you could press the flesh as far as your 'parody' being for worship reasons and to 'bighten the lives of God fearing people'
etc, just use the language to suck up to them basically...

actually, I just realised the MC Hammer song "You Cant Touch This" was actually sampled on another song which I believe was a German/English release by a group called Falco, the song was titled "Der Kommisar".

Well, MC Hammer is no longer a recording artist, think he has a job in MacDonalds. Song is still subject to copyright tho...

lol@Mc Donalds.

Mantrata
Well, MC Hammer is no longer a recording artist, think he has a job in MacDonalds. Song is still subject to copyright tho...