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Newport State of Mind forced off YouTube

This article is more than 13 years old
Music publisher issues takedown notice to video for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys spoof Newport State of Mind

Here is the spot where the video for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys spoof Newport State of Mind once lived.

Newport State of Mind once lived here
Newport State of Mind: the YouTube page

In place of the video, all we have is "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by EMI Music Publishing Ltd". The pink strip indicating a takedown notice is increasingly becoming the "blue plaque" of the internet.

Viral video: Newport
Newport State of Mind: the video

For the uninitiated, Newport State of Mind has been a viral video smash, celebrating all the finest parts of Wales from the A4042 to throwing up chips and curry in the back of a taxi. Its success has attracted coverage from the BBC and ITV to the Guardian and the Telegraph.

OK, it's a rip-off of the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song. But it has a significant amount of original work, video, rewritten lyrics and a good concept. Isn't that fair use?

It is still alive elsewhere on the internet, not least in Goldie Lookin' Chain's own parody, You're Not From Newport (see above).

But whichever way you look at it, Newport State of Mind was far more entertaining than Alicia Keys. Perhaps that's what really stung.

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