August 11, 2010

By By Andre Paine, London

An Internet spoof version of "Empire State of Mind" that relocates the song to the South Wales city of Newport has been pulled from YouTube.

The video and reworked version of the song, "Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)," has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times since it became a viral hit last month.

The parody of the duet by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys was filmed by M-J Delaney and features rapper Alex Warren and singer Terema Wainwright. The Welsh take on the song got huge media coverage in the U.K.

However, EMI Music Publishing moved to get the song taken down from YouTube. The publisher represents four of the seven writers on the song.

"When a song is created based wholly on any of our writers' works, those writers need to grant their permission," said an EMI Music Publishing statement. "If that permission isn't granted, then we ask the service in question to remove the song."

Some YouTube users have uploaded the track again since the takedown, but it is likely any such uploads will soon be pulled. However, there are live versions of the song as well a reply from the Welsh group Goldie Lookin Chain.

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