Pop Parody

As a child of the 90s I have an emotional tie with the punk-rock band, Blink-182. When I hear a particular song from Blink, I immediately have a memory that takes me back to my youth. One song that stands out to me is, All the Small Things. In particular, the hilarious video that Blink produced for the song. The video parodies the major pop videos of the time including Christina Aguilera’s, Genie in a Bottle, Britney Spears’, Sometimes, and The Backstreet Boys, I want it that way. The band pokes fun at many of their pop competitors in order to make a statement that they are a rock band and this new pop movement is ridiculous. All the Small Things made me look deeper into this concept of parody music videos.

All the Small Things by Blink-182

Of course one cannot mention parody music videos without mentioning the parody king, Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al’s success directly relates to his music videos that parody pop culture. In 1983, Weird Al released his first parody album. In the self-titled album, Weird Al spoofs Michael Jackson’s, Beat It with his first single, Eat It, which became extremely popular because of the music video. The Eat It music video is shot for shot identical to the original Beat It video, however Weird Al creates a comedic spin. Other hits that Weird Al has parodied include, Nirvana’s, Smells like Teen Spirit and Coolio’s, Gangsta’s Paradise. The king of pop culture satire has over 181,000,000 views on YouTube and over 50 different music videos.

Eat It by Weird Al Yankovic

Beat It by Michael Jackson

Recently, one particular group took the lead in satire videos, The Lonely Island from Saturday Night Live. Although these songs and videos do not directly poke fun at specific artists, the Lonely Island has created a whole new genre for comedic music by incorporating popular artists to be apart of the track/video. The most popular hit from Lonely Island, Dick in a Box features pop star, Justin Timberlake who has branched out from his original “pop icon” identity as an artist with a sense of humor willing to make a fool of himself. Other popular artists like Rihanna, Akon, Michael Bolton, and Justin Bieber have followed Timberlake’s lead by participating in Lonely Island’s comedic music video movement.

Dick in a Box by Lonely Island

As YouTube began to rise in 2006, parody videos have become a huge success for the website. Channels like Barely Political and College Humor have created some of the top parody music videos on YouTube. Much like Weird Al, these channels have taken the original satire route by creating shot for shot videos that make fun of a specific artist’s video. For example, Glitter Puke from Barely Political ridicules Ke$ha’s number one hit Tik Tok, and has over 100,000,000 hits. Many channels like this gain popularity from outside demographics of a particular artist. So in this example, non-fans (and sometimes even fans) of Ke$ha find Glitter Puke to be an amusing portrayal of her original video as well as her “party girl” identity.

Glitter Puke by Barely Political

Tik Tok by Ke$ha

I’ll leave this post with a quote by Charles Dickens, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” As long as people believe in this idea of humor, comedic songs and their music videos will be alive forever. 

Interview with Mary Cavallaro

Recently, I had the pleasure to sit down with recognized entertainment lawyer, Mary Cavallaro. We spoke in detail about the legal side of the entertainment industry, and some of Mary’s past experiences. Mary Cavallaro graduated from Villanova University School of Law in 1993, and began her law career as a national representative and a member for staff council for the American Federation of Television and Radio Arts (AFTRA). By 2006, Cavallaro was a partner at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, a law firm that provides representation to broadcast media talent and other media and creative professionals. For the past two years, Cavallaro has worked as the Assistant National Executive Director, News and Broadcast for the screen actor’s guild, AFTRA. Currently, she lives in Berwyn, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.

Miss Music Video: When did you decide you wanted to go into law?

Mary Cavallaro: “I decided to go into law when I was in college. Around my first semester freshman year, I was studying as a biological engineering major and decided to switch majors.”

MMV: Did you always know you wanted to be an entertainment lawyer?

MC: “Everything happened all at once. I enjoyed critical thinking and doing research to back up arguments. And because I was studying for my undergraduate degree at USC (University of Southern California), I was around film students. I took an introduction to film course and quickly became interested in the arts. It was a very natural process.”

MMV: What’s your favorite part about working in the entertainment industry?

MC: “I love that I can use my law degree to help creative people. Most lawyers don’t see clients and get to interactive with them on a daily basis. Most lawyers are very technical. The entertainment industry is very much about the people and the connections you make along the way. Working in this particular industry is very rewarding because I get to spend my days with very creative people.”

MMV:  What’s the hardest thing about being an entertainment lawyer?

MC: “It’s the hardest when I hear about someone losing their jobs. My job is to make sure my client’s jobs are secure. It’s hard when I hear about a [radio] station firing six different people, or an anchor being fired after only 30 days on air.”

MMV: What was it like working for Montgomery, McCracken, Walker, & Rhoads?

MC: “It was very interesting. A decent sized firm of about 200 attorneys with a variety of backgrounds. While working there I represented creative professionals, but I also worked with intellectual property, contracts, and labor. I was able to learn different aspects relevant to the entertainment industry. While working there my work changed day to day. I would spend a lot of days on the phone negotiating contracts, for long hours that when I got home I wouldn’t want to talk anyone. A lot of it was going over contract language, essentially trying to get the best deals for my client’s. On the production side, I would meet with distributors to make sure they were telling the client’s story right, especially with reality television. It was a lot of contract review and handholding. Client’s were looking to me for communication and to help them get through the difficult times.”

MMV: What does your average day look like today?

“Well the first thing I do in the morning is read my emails. I am responsible for the screen actor’s guild for AFTRA, so I oversee staff of 30 people who are negotiating contracts all over the country. I help address the issues in the contracts to make sure there is uniformity. My main duties are reviewing labor agreements, personal service contracts under personal agreements and make sure they are satisfactory, all while managing a staff.”

MMV: Sounds like quite the change from Montgomery, McCracken, Walker, & Rhoads, is there a lifestyle you prefer more?

MC: “Honestly, there isn’t really a preference. At my current job I get to set the standard for a large group and set the bar line so we can get more from a deal rather than less. It is very rewarding working so closely with a team, but not more rewarding than my previous experiences. I love my job.”

MMV: Okay final question. What is the weirdest case you have ever worked on?

MC: “Hmm… I’ve had so many that it’s hard to think of one that really stands out. Let me preface this story with saying that so many people are trying to get into the entertainment industry, and employers tend to take advantage of that fact. Many employers will treat their employees less than satisfactory, and employee’s deal with it because they know it’s a tough industry. I had one client who was a broadcast journalist on maternity leave, but her boss kept calling her to come into work. She had a couple weeks left to stay home to lose the baby weight before returning to work. A few days later my client came across help wanted ads for her position, I wont disclose how she found these ads, but basically it was her boss’ way of telling her that she no longer worked for them. Unfortunately for him this violates the family and medical leave act, but like I said employers assume in this industry their employees wont sue because it could tarnish their personal image. Moral of the story, if a woman just had a baby… leave her alone.”

I would like to send a special thanks to Mary Cavallaro for spending time with me and answering my legal questions. 

Lawsuits and Liabilities

Copyright infringement can easily become a huge issue in the entertainment industry. In particular, music videos can cause a lot of controversy because they technically combine two industries, film and music. The majority of lawsuits arise when an artist infringes specifically on the music. This in turn can affect the arrival and popularity of the artist’s music video. Other lawsuits can arise when the artist infringes on the actual content being portrayed throughout the music video. This type of infringement strictly affects the music video itself where as the song remains untouched. Currently there are several lawsuits involving copyright infringement within the music video industry, but first I want to mention some famous instances where infringement has shaped the music industry. 

Famously there have been many lawsuits dealing with copyright infringement within the music industry. For example, Vanilla Ice versus Queen and David Bowie, Johnny Cash versus Gordon Jenkins, and Michael Bolton versus the Isley Brothers. These famous examples question the music being plagiarized, not the video content. The most famous of these is Vanilla Ice versus Queen and David Bowie. The rapper sampled Queen and Bowie’s, Under Pressure without consent or license. The sampled piece of work, Ice Ice Baby, ended up hitting number one with only a slightly altered rhythm. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. This particular lawsuit greatly effected Vanilla Ice’s career and hindered the future of his hit, Ice Ice Baby. Since the settlement the original song has been made into many different versions, none of which sound like the original.

More recently the rap group, Beastie Boys, have been sued for alleged copyright infringement. The Beastie Boys, a group very familiar with copyright lawsuits, were recently sued for using two songs by the band, Trouble Funk, without permission. Apparently the song Shadrach by the Beastie Boys samples work from Trouble Funk’s, Say What. Tuf America, the company representing Trouble Funk filed the lawsuit a day before the death of Adam Yauch aka “MCA” of the Beastie Boys. The company is suing for copyright infringement, unjust enrichment and misappropriation. They are seeking punitive damages and a permanent injunction forbidding the rap group from selling tracks with Trouble Funk samples. Hopefully the lawsuit will be able to reach a settlement before heading to court. The Beastie Boys have been through enough this past year.

Touching more on the video content side, recently there has been one instance of copyright infringement that has made headlines due to its controversial content. In 2011, photographer David LaChapelle sued pop star Rihanna, Def Jam Records, and Black Dog Films for copyright infringement. LaChapelle claimed Rihanna copied the photographer’s work for her music video S&M. The photographer found Rihanna’s video to be very similar in theme and style to his past photo shoot for Vogue Italia. Specifically LaChapelle alleged, “the clip's director Melina Matsoukas was instructed to create a ‘LaChapelle-esque music video’ and that prints of his photographs were used in creating storyboards for the production.” He sued for 1 million dollars and a settlement was reached in October of 2011. The use of artistic vision is all very gray especially when dealing with copyright infringement.

Striped Farce by David LaChapelle, 1995

Playing with Products

In recent years major companies have branched into the wonderful yet annoying world of product placement, mainly within the movie and television industry. For example, Starbucks products dominated the big screen in the movie Fight Club. There isn’t a scene in the movie without a Starbucks logo or coffee cup present. Apple Inc. began product placing early with movies like Legally Blonde and television shows like the Office, Modern Family, and 24. Many of these large companies have perfected the art of product placement, and have been able to create advertisements seamlessly within television episodes and movies that span two hours. But how can companies place products within music videos that only last 3 to 5 minutes long?

Since the decline of MTV (where product placement wasn’t prominent), companies like Vevo and YouTube have been able to push music video producers and artists to consider product placement. For companies like Vevo, it’s all about the money. Since YouTube has partnered up with Vevo, product placement has skyrocketed. The Online Video Insider states, “Patrick Quinn, chief executive of research firm PQ Media, reported that product placement in music videos grew from $15 million to $20 million last year; meanwhile overall paid product placement declined 2.8% to $3.6 billion.” Vevo is one of the leading distributors for music videos and collaborates with large music companies (like Virgin Mobile) and their branding divisions. These collaborations are reflected within certain music videos, such as Lady Gaga’s video for Telephone.

Lady Gaga’s, Telephone, presents several different brands/products throughout the entire video including, Virgin Mobile, Coca Cola, Plenty of Fish, and Miracle Whip. Both Coca Cola and Miracle Whip are used seamlessly within the video. Diet Coke cans are used as Lady Gaga’s hair rollers in the jail cell scene. Most viewers wouldn’t see this product placement because only the “Diet” can be seen through Gaga’s hair, however the brand is still recognized by the silver can and Coca Cola font. So although it isn’t obvious placement, our mind recognizes this as a Coca Cola product, which adheres to product placement. I even had to re-watch the video to pick up on this product placement.

Companies have really utilized music videos as the new form of product placement. Because attention spans have become shorter, music videos are the perfect outlet for advertising a product affectively. Music videos are about the same length of a commercial and are able to grab the attention of a viewer based on their specific interests. Music videos also deliver qualitative results for a large company’s product or brand based on how many views a video generates on YouTube. Based off of Lady Gaga’s, Telephone views, the Coca Cola, Virgin Mobile, Miracle Whip, and Plenty of Fish brands have imprinted over 148 million times. If done correctly through music videos, companies can impact generations of fans through quick product placement. I think product placement is a combination of commerciality and like ability that companies should capitalize on (with Youtube or Vevo) before music videos becoming a dying outlet.

Since the new season of X Factor started today, I thought I would give a little reference to Britney Spears. Another example of excellent product placement comes from her video Hold it Against Me, which uses Sony electronics, Plenty of Fish, and Britney’s very own fragrance, Radiance. Take a look at how each product is displayed. It’s interesting because there is an obvious distinction between integrated product placement (Sony electronics) and apparent product placement (Radiance fragrance). Without knowing it, every electronic used in the video is from Sony, however is not obviously presented like Britney’s fragrance, Radiance. The Radiance fragrance is shot up close and personal. The brand has about a five second spot which doesn’t fit into the theme of the video at all, whereas the Sony electronics make up the entire video as well as the background shots.

As an avid fan for music videos and a hater of commercials, I actually don’t mind product placement. I hope in the future companies can perfect the use of seamless product placement where it doesn’t affect my mind consciously, only subconsciously. I understand product placement as a profitable outlet, I just hope it doesn’t become over saturated within the music video industry. I want to be able to watch videos in peace without seeing a Diet Coke can every 5 seconds.