In 2014 , " Weird Al " Yankovic’sMandatory Fundebuted as the No . 1 album on the Billboard 200 . It ’s Yankovic ’s first - ever chart - go past record album and the first comedy record album to hit routine one since 1963’sMy Son , The Nutby Allan Sherman ( featuring " Hello Muddah , Hello Fadduh ( A Letter from Camp ) , " which will be stuck in your head word as soon as you finish understand this parenthetical by ) .
OnMandatory Fun , Yankovic parodies Pharrell ’s " well-chosen " ( " Tacky " ) , Iggy Azalea ’s " Fancy " ( " ready to hand " ) , and Lorde ’s " Royals " ( " Foil . " It ’s about aluminum hydrofoil and storing remnant . ) The record album sold around 104,000 copies in its first week , but do the artists " Weird Al " lampoons get a cut ?
" strain parodies can be characterized as fair use , " says right of first publication lawyer Justin Jacobson of The Jacobson Firm . " This is different than record concealment songs , which would require the person covering the song to get a mechanical license through the Harry Fox Agency , permitting the creative person to create a unexampled version of the original song . "
Despite being in the clear , lawfully , " Weird Al " goes out of his way to prop up it up with the artist . " Al does get permission from the original writers of the songs that he parodies , " says the archivedofficial " Weird Al " website . " He find it ’s significant to hold the relationships that he ’s built with artists and author over the years . Plus , Al want to make indisputable that he cause his songster credit ( as writer of new lyrics ) as well as his rightful percentage of the royalty . "
Those royalty share can vary . In a 1991 police force journal abstract , " Stranger in Parodies : Weird Al and the Law of Musical Satire , " it ’s disclose that royalties are " done on a negociate basis with term of recompense varying from a flat fee buyout to royalty engagement . " Chuck Hurewitz , Yankovic ’s lawyer at the prison term , asserts that " Weird Al ’s substantial market achiever is responsible for the willingness of right of first publication owners to grant him permission to parody their melodious compositions , and has made it possible for Yankovic to bargain for a remunerative part in the right of first publication of the parody variation of the song . "
The only artist to constantly and repeatedly turn " Weird Al " down ? Prince . Do n’t hold your intimation waiting for " Raspberry Soufflé " to descend out .
