From our Ears to Yours
This happened months ago, but I have just recently discovered the story of the song “If You Want It” from the California duo TV Girl, which heavily samples Todd Rundgren’s 1969 classic, “Hello, It’s Me.” I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like that song and TV Girl must agree, as they didn’t just sample it, they used it as a complete backdrop for their drumbeats, shiny keyboards, and reverbed vocals. Adding their own original lyrics, they basically turn it into their own song, singing…
“You wander into the bedroom,
You’re drunk, we’ve done this before.
…If you want it, you got it,
You only want it when you’re drunk,
My friends say you’re obnoxious,
You’re not so bad when we’re alone.”
A familiar story. Pitchfork love(d) it, while another music review site killed Pitchfork for only mentioning that they “cover” Todd Rundgren, not stating that they “rip him off.” Easy now..and to make this story much more interesting, Todd Rundgren issued take down notices to youtube and any blogs that were playing the song, distributed through Rhino Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. First, as the band states, they weren’t making any money off the track to begin with, and second, what is the story with “Fair Use” in music today? Can a band use a sample or can’t they? And if they can, how much can they sample it? And how much should it cost a band if there are profits, or should it cost anything at all? Is someone really suddenly not going to buy “Hello, It’s Me” because they hear this TV Girl song? Or does it actually increase the likelihood of more people discovering Todd Rundgren’s music? These are questions that surprisingly still haven’t really been legally answered, and it’s just going to be more and more of a problem in today’s rapidly-changing world of electronic music sharing, mashups, online radio, and bands forgoing record labels to take their music straight to the people.
Regardless, the record labels and big-time old-school music business machine do not like it. Listen to “If You Want It” below…while you still can.
Check out their latest, “Girls Like Me.” at http://tvgirl.bandcamp.com/
