Weird Al Says "Twitter Saved My Album"

nudnik72 writes "Weird Al's latest album, Alpocalypse, was released today, but might not have if his fans hadn't taken his cause to twitter Al says. Yankovic had a well publicized disagreement with Lady Gaga's management over his parody of her song Born This Way. Within 24 hours of his fans spreading the word on the internet, Gaga's people reversed course and approved the parody, saying the whole thing was just a mix-up. The King of Pop Parodies explains that this wasn't the first time a music label and the parodied artist didn't see eye-to-eye."

The article fails to mention

[DontLickJesus]

A little show / podcast known as "Pop Culture Happy Hour" played a huge part in this as well.

Legally stream the entire album for free!

[TheSpoom]

Al released the entire Alpocalypse album for free legal streaming [exclaim.ca] if you want to hear it before you buy. It's a great album!

I preordered it (got the album a few days ago) and we're seeing a show in Toronto in July. Believe me, he and the band put on a hell of a performance.

Re:Legally stream the entire album for free!

[TheSpoom]

Also he recently released the video for Perform This Way [vevo.ly] (his Gaga parody) although fair warning, it's one of the more disturbing music videos I've seen. ;^)

You don't start an email in the subject field

[BarryJacobsen]

so don't do it on slashdot, either.

Re:Satire is Free Speech

[SkimTony]

Legally, you are correct. However, Weird Al has always had permissions to release parodies. It's not a question of legality, it's a question of being a nice guy.

Re:Legally stream the entire album for free!

[Dorkmaster Flek]

I saw him a few years ago in Toronto for the Straight Outta Lynwood tour, and he did play all his classic hits. I specifically remember Eat It and Amish Paradise both, and the encore was Albuquerque which was incredible to see performed live in its entirety. He opened the show with White & Nerdy and came out on stage riding a Segway. The show was fantastic, one of the best I've ever seen. There were costume changes between almost every song, and videos playing while they changed sets. It was a full-on multimedia show, not just a concert. If you get the chance to see him, do it. I'm seeing him again in a few weeks for the new tour. I'm really hoping he opens with the Gaga track and comes out of a chicken egg or something.

Record Label Owned By Sony

[Appolonius of Perge]

For what it's worth, the record label that published this, http://www.jiverecords.com/ [jiverecords.com] is, according to Wikipedia, owned by Sony: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jive_records [wikipedia.org].

This may or may not affect your purchasing decision.