Hey, I even bought The Food Album! Part of my rationale was that even though Al didn't like the cheesy compilations (and there is nothing new on them) was that at least Al would get a couple of cents in royalties. Gotta keep our boy supplied in Hawaiian Shirts ya know?
BTW Al... If you get the new album out sometime before I die, I promise I will
buy a copy or 27! I'm just saying.
On the subject of MP3s. I have actually listened to a few WAY songs that I don't own. But they only stay on my hard drive when I actually do buy them. <Just got done deep-sixing the 2 or 3 that were still lurking on the hard drive. Now I am a legal beagle! All Al music on the hard drive is bought and paid for
>
Before the collapse of Napster, I did actually have a little collection of mp3s, some WAY, some not. But after reflection on the fact that it is an area where you really are taking money from the artists... I got rid of them. And most were of albums that at one time I had actually owned. On vinyl, but disappeared several years ago. Yup, the Bay City Rollers went bye bye and that really
hurt! (Hey, I was a young pre-teenybopper in the late 70s. But they were just so darn cute. Especially Ian. Sigh.) Well, now you really know to much about me!
As far as how Al feels about it, I went to the horse's mouth. (Lot's of things are attributed to Al that he had nothing to do with. If in doubt, just go to the source
http://www.weirdal.com)
According to Al (from the Ask Al Archives)he
does have a couple of problems with it:
Jeremy McCarthy of Fairfield, CT asks: Hey Al!!!!! What do u think about Napster? I just want to know if you approve.
I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'm concerned that the rampant downloading of my copyright-protected material over the Internet is severely eating into my album sales and having a decidedly adverse effect on my career. On the other hand, I can get all the Metallica songs I want for FREE! WOW!!!!!
Bill of Torrance, CA asks: Did you sing the following songs: Toast, Baby Got Jack, Ugly Girl, and Livin' La Vida Yoda. I'm asking because people download these songs and the title would say by Al Yankovic.
No, no, no, and no. This is actually my biggest problem with all those mp3-download services. A large number of the songs which are attributed to me are NOT by me at all. Some of the songs supposedly by me are, in fact, rather profane, and it disturbs me that some people might be led to believe that I'm responsible for them. Check the discography on my web site if you're ever in doubt as to whether something is really a Weird Al song or not.
Sorry for the long post.
I went to AlCon 3, I went out to Al-ifornia this past summer to see Al's week of shows at the OC Fair, I've got all the albums (minus some cheesy compliations), I've got a ton and a half of unreleased audio and video stuff, I have a website (frivALity), I've got UHF (VHS and DVD), WAY Live! (VHS and DVD), The Video Collection (DVD)...etc., etc., etc.
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