Reply To: JoCo in the Media
As with most legal things, the answer is, “It depends.” Getting a “mechanical license” (a type of license that was originally developed with player piano rolls — of all things — in mind) for a piece doesn’t mean that one is forfeiting all of one’s rights in a cover or derivative work. In the case of a parody in particular (and I, for one, regard JoCo’s setting of “Baby Got Back” as a tongue-in-cheek parody), getting a mechanical license may not even be legally necessary, because parody is a “fair use.” However, it’s a nice way of giving something back to the person who provided the fodder for the parody, so in practice many parodists do it.
To complicate matters further, mechanical licenses cover publishing, but not use of a work in an audiovisual presentation such as a TV show or film. For these uses, one needs a “synchronization license.”
Al Yankovic makes a point of covering his derriere in the most legally complex, but also the safest, way. He does not use compulsory licenses at all. Instead, he gets a direct license — giving him explicit permission and laying out who pays whom for what rights — from everyone whose work he parodies. If he can’t get that license, he won’t sell recordings of the parody. However, he may still perform the parody in live settings (which one always has the right to do; again, this falls under freedom of speech and freedom of expression). For example, Al couldn’t secure permission for his parody “You’re Pitiful,” so he never sold a single copy of it. But he performed it and also gave a copy to Dr. Demento, who played it on the air. He later posted it on the Net for free streaming and downloads.
The advantage of Al’s approach is that it shields him against the vagaries of Congress (which might change the statute) and the courts (the case law varies from district to district).