Sanders, Charles J, and Steven R Gordon. “Stranger in Parodies: Weird Al and the Law of Musical Satire.” Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, ser. 3, 1990. 3, https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/iplj/vol1/iss1/3.
This source highlights a lot of the court cases, including Supreme Court cases, that defined the boundaries for parody music. It explains the difficult obligation of the courts to protect the rights of the artists who create original music that may be parodied, while also protecting the free speech rights of the parody artists. The source highlights the music and legality of many artists throughout the 20th century, including Weird Al who is arguably the most recognizable and long-lasting figure in parody music.
Parody and parody music have been around in several forms for several decades. Even though I am focused on the effect YouTube has had on the genre in recent years, this source is important because it focuses on the legal battles that many early parody artists faced. Most listeners, and many parody artists, in today’s world don’t stop to consider the legality of the music, and this is in large part because of the guidelines set to protect parody artists in the earlier days of the genre. I believe this to be an important element to consider while focusing on modern parody music and groups. In addition, this source focuses a lot on Weird Al, who became popular before the internet as well as very early in the internet age and was able to stay relevant into today’s culture. I plan on focusing a lot on how The Lonely Island shaped comedy and how YouTube impacted their success, but I think it is important to note that Weird Al was one of their predecessors and the similarities and differences between the two.
Boxman-Shabtai, Lillian. “The Practice of Parodying: YouTube as a Hybrid Field of Cultural Production.” Sage Journals, vol. 41, 27 Apr. 2018, pp. 3–20., journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0163443718772180.
This source describes the method and procedure for a study and interview with 22 artists who create parody music that they post to YouTube. The results focus a lot on the participatory culture of YouTube as well as the blurring of the line between amateur and professional content. It explains that all the YouTubers interviewed are amateurs in that they aren’t employed by a large production company, however amateur videos often feature professional level quality. The author also splits the motivations of the YouTubers into two groups; strategic parodists and passionate parodists. Those who make their videos to advance their careers in the film or production industry vs. those who make content primarily out of passion.
This is relevant to my project because it highlights the importance of YouTube, which is the most important element of my research project. It does this while relating it back to parody content creators, which is the same connection I plan on making with my project. Overall, it is an extremely helpful source because the content is very similar to the direction I wanted my project to go, and it offers helpful insight into why YouTube and parody music go hand-in-hand.
Ballard, Tom. “YouTube Video Parodies and the Video Ideograph.” Rocky Mountain Review, vol. 70, no. 1, 2016, pp. 10–22., http://www.jstor.org/stable/24898564.
This source defines ideography and video ideography while giving examples of what would and would not qualify under the given definition. It explains that a video needs to imitate the form of the original video as well as be recognizable as imitating the original video to be considered a video ideography as well as a parody. It then goes into further detail about what makes a parody effective, mainly the presence of ethos and recognizability. As an example, it references Weird Al’s song Fat as a very obvious parody of Michael Jackson’s Bad. It then goes into why YouTube is the ideal platform to create and spread video ideographs. The articles explain that YouTube is a good platform because it caters to audience participation and amateur video makers, who make videos in reference to popular original videos and gain popularity by piggybacking off the popularity of previously made videos. In other words, it is a good medium for amateurs and everyday people to gain popularity off of already existing content.
Similarly to the source that interviewed the parody YouTubers, this source is relevant and important to my project because it discusses the elements that make YouTube useful in making parody a popular musical genre. It focuses a lot on user participation and the ability of anyone to create and enjoy content for free, which is the aspect that I plan on exploring and highlighting in my project. In addition, the definitions for parody and ideography given in the article are helpful in identifying and examining the music from the artists I plan on highlighting in my project (The Lonely Island, Lil Dicky, Tiny Meat Gang).
Fox, Jesse David. “How The Lonely Island Changed the Internet, Comedy, and Internet Comedy.” Vulture, Vulture, 8 Feb. 2019, http://www.vulture.com/2016/05/lonely-island-changed-the-internet-comedy.html.
This article focuses on how The Lonely Island was able to use YouTube to change the course of comedy and what kind of comedy was produced/viewed as popular on YouTube and the internet. The article describes that although there were people making comedy on the internet before The Lonely Island, the trio was able to “make it work for a mass audience.” The article also focuses on their unlikely rise to SNL and how they were out of place in a cast dominated by improv comedy trained actors. Finally, the article discusses the legacy left by Lonely Island style comedy including similarities in rapper Lil Dicky and sketch shows Key and Peele, Kroll Show, and Inside Amy Schumer.
This is relevant to my research because The Lonely Island is going to be the main group I focus on in my project. This article solidifies that choice because it explains how they gave rise to other parody groups as well as sketch groups. It is also helpful to see the analysis of the author on why they became so popular and how the timing and user-oriented aspects of YouTube helped them turn niche and “weird” comedy into a global sensation.
Network, Under 30. “Why YouTube Stars Influence Millennials More Than Traditional Celebrities.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 20 June 2017, http://www.forbes.com/sites/under30network/2017/06/20/why-youtube-stars-influence-millennials-more-than-traditional-celebrities/.
This article highlights the shift from “traditional” celebrities holding power and influence to YouTube stars holding that amount of influence, especially within the younger generation (ages 13-24). They reference a study that reports 63% of the 13-24 age group would try a product recommended by a YouTuber but only 48% would do the same for a movie or TV star. The article gives several reasons for this shift including the fact that YouTube stars seem more relatable and less concerned about maintaining a perfect PR image. In addition, YouTube stars are more engaged with fans and interact with them more than traditional celebrities do. Finally, they cite the fact that many young people feel that YouTubers are the ones who influence popular culture and set trends. Overall, the article focuses on the fact that many people, especially teenagers and young adults, watch YouTube more than traditional TV or movies and this leads to a shift in which celebrities hold the most influence and power.
This is relevant to my project because I am examining not only the rise of parody music and its prevalence in popular culture, but I am mainly looking at the role YouTube played in making the popularity of parody music possible. YouTube is the primary focus of my project because without it, the big parody groups that have influenced the genre would not have been discovered. This mainly applies to The Lonely Island and the effect YouTube had on getting them to SNL, which resulted in a huge fan base for both the artists and the genre.
Dee, Johnny. “Rise of the Vidiots: Meet SNL’s the Lonely Island.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Feb. 2009, http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/feb/14/the-lonely-island-incredibad.
This article elaborates on the ideas that Samberg, Schaffer, and Taccone of The Lonely Island discussed in an interview with The Guardian. The article focuses on the rise of The Lonely Island and examines how they manage to create a lot of music that revolves around the same type of phallic “immature” joke while still making sure each song is original and unique. It also highlights how they were able to convince and incorporate celebrities into their songs. It also briefly touches on how YouTube allowed SNL to reach a broader audience than just the United States where it aired live. It just so happened that YouTube was expanding SNL’s global reach at the same time The Lonely Island was becoming popular on the show, and as a result, YouTube had a large role in creating success for the group.
This is a relevant article and interview for my project because part of what I am aiming to examine is why the parody genre of music became so popular and widespread. The familiar jokes yet unique musical stylings of The Lonely Island paired with the unexpected celebrity guests contributed a great deal to the widespread success of their music and shorts that aired on SNL. In addition, the article mentions how YouTube played a role in generating world-wide success for The Lonely Island, which as I previously mentioned, is the main focus of my project.
Digital Media and Culture 