Copyright infringement in GLEE? Baby Got Back by 'Johnny C'?

[Rubix he/him]

So, apparently in the next season of GLEE, they're doing a cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot's 'Baby Got Back', but the arrangement that they're using is VERY familiar to anyone familiar with the work of Jonathan Coulton. He did

back in 2006, which is very different than

. But strangely, if you listen to the GLEE version it's almost exactly identical to Jonathan Coulton's cover. The similarity is even more apparent when you listen to them on top of one another.

The cherry on top of it all? The original lyrics include "So find that juicy double/Mix-a-Lot's in trouble/Beggin' for a piece of that bubble", but when Coulton covered it, he decided to change the lyric to "So find that juicy double/Johnny C.'s in trouble/Beggin' for a piece of that bubble". The GLEE version for whatever reason decided to include the latter, despite the fact that they claim that they're covering the Sir Mix-A-Lot version. Also, at around the 2:40 mark on the joint audio, there's a duck quacking. If you listen to just the left audio (the GLEE version), I can hear a soft quack at that point, but maybe it's just me. Coulton's Opinions on the matter are reasonably angry 1st Tweet, 2nd Tweet.

And yes, before anybody tries to call me out on it, I saw this first on this Reddit post.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

[Eerongal he/him]

Making a cover of a song is allowed even without the permission of the author...There's no copyright issue (though might be royalty issues) if its a cover, even if you sing it 100% exactly the same....

edit: for references from wikipedia -

Since the Copyright Act of 1909, in the United States there has been a right to record a version of someone else's previously recorded and released tune, whether of music alone or of music and lyrics.^[7] A license can be specifically negotiated between representatives of the interpreting artist and the copyright holder, or recording of published tunes can fall under a mechanical license whereby the recording artist pays a standard royalty to the original author/copyright holder through an organization such as the Harry Fox Agency, and is safe under copyright law even if they do not have any permission from the original author. Other agents can also help facilitate clearance including Limelight, the online mechanical licensing utility powered by RightsFlow. The mechanical license was introduced by Congress in order to head off an attempt by the Aeolian Company to monopolize the piano roll market.^[8]

While a composer cannot deny anyone a mechanical license for a new recorded version, he or she has the right to decide who will release the first recording of a song; Bob Dylan took advantage of this right when he refused his own record company the right to release a live recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man".^[

[Rubix he/him]

Yes, but it's so alarmingly similar that Coulton is wondering if they used his backtrack. Not even sampling it, using it all the way through. While your point totally stands for recording a new cover, using the same backtrack... I don't think that's quite legal.