ArtistDirect Teams With Labels for New Lyrics Database

Music and entertainment site ArtistDirect will branch out and start posting song lyrics sometime this fall with the goal of becoming one of the Net's biggest and most accurate lyric sites. Unlike other sites -- which frequently take their (often-misinterpreted) lyrics from an aggregator or fan sites -- ArtistDirect is pursuing its own licensing deals with music publishers to ensure accuracy. ArtistDirect, which launched way back in 1997, already has deals in place with Universal Music Publishing and EMI Music Publishing -- according to Variety, 1 million EMI songs' lyrics will be included.

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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