And now for some good news about music being copied and adapted.
For several weeks, the top selling single here in the UK was Is This the Way to Amarillo?. This is a song recorded many years ago by Tony Christie, recently re-released with a funny video in which a popular comedian, Peter Kay, mimes the words, accompanied by a variety of UK celebs.
Just as the song drops from No 1 slot, three solidiers in Iraq make a spoof version – Is This the Way to Armadillo? – on home video. A shaky version is placed on the net… and demand promptly crashes many of the Ministry of Defence IT systems.
So how do people react?
Does Tony Christie appear on TV bemoaning the pirating of his song or loss of revenue? Does he heck. He’s delighted, appreciates the tribute and is glad the soldiers, doing a tough job, have had some fun.
Does the MoD get in a tizzy about indiscipline in the ranks and threats to national security? No, it has a good laugh and makes the soldiers available for media interviews.
And today’s question for the RIAA (conferring allowed)… so who’s lost out here?
(Here’s The Times‘ account)
Bonus Link: What Amarilloans made of the original video. “When they’re in here they hear that song and they start hooping and hollering. It’s the darndest thing we’ve ever seen in our life”
