Jewish Music Blog comments here. LIFE-of-RUBIN's take is here.
Miscellaneous comments:
LOR is correct. There was a Sameach logo on the box one of the chassidim was standing on last night. It's not there anymore. This is not the only Sameach related AKA-pella web item that's gone missing. In a since deleted post, referenced in the comments here, people involved with AKA-pella posted that Sameach has a policy of not allowing for the acknowledgement of which secular melodies were used in a project. IOW, the producers of AKA-pella, an album featuring Jewish lyrics set to such tunes as "Sweet Home Alabama", Van Halen's "Right Now", the "Theme from Gilligan's Island" and more, weren't allowed to credit the melodies sources in their album liner notes. An unusual policy, shall we say.
The video was filmed in Monsey in album producer Mo Kiss' father's Judaica store. Remember Moishy and Me?
Reading the comments on several of Jewish Music Blog's AKA-pella related posts, as well as on the Hashkafa.com thread linked by LOR, it's evident that some involved in this project are very thin-skinned. That's fine. But, it's pretty foolish to release an edgy album with marketing deliberately aimed at offending some people/groups, and then complain about being criticized. What kind of reaction were they expecting?
Finally, I'm interested in hearing other people's responses to this type of advertising. Share your thoughts, please.
UPDATE:
Sruly Meyer from Sameach writes:
Sameach Music does not have any policy refusing to allow credit to be given to an original composer, regardless of its origins. This situation was created by a misunderstanding of how much secular music was actually on the CD. Had Sameach known how prominently the secular music was featured we would have had an entirely different approach to this album. Sameach's policy towards using secular music is as follows. We strongly urge artists, present and future to only use original material. If secular music is being used as a parody similar to Shlock Rock or Variations that is different.
At this time I would also like to state for the record that Sameach Music is in no way involved with the marketing or promotion of this album. We were not at all involved in the artwork created for the ads or the video that was produced.
If anyone has any further questions about this, please e-mail me at SameachMusic@aol.com
