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Video: David Byrne Performs Delightful Cover Of "Just A Friend"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 26, 2014
Modified Feb 26, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Feb 26, 2014
Modified Feb 26, 2014
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Last night, David Byrne headlined a concert at Le Poisson Rouge for Content Creators Coalition, a "group of artists, creators, and interested people" trying to raise awareness of and support for a radio performance royalty (more specifically, they're against how US stations screw performers out of radio royalties). To prove their point, Byrne and other musicians (including REM's Mike Mills, Cake's John McCrean, Tiff Merritt, and more) covered songs that were popularized by artists who were not the writers (see: Whitney Houston never got a royalty anytime "I Will Always Love You" played on the radio), which culminated in this gem of a performance of Biz Markie's "Just A Friend."
Last fall, Byrne railed against online streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify in an article for The Guardian, and he also plugged CCC as "an entity that speaks out on artists' behalf."
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biz markie
Content Creators Coalition
david byrne
just a friend
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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