Norwegian progressive pop band Maraton have taken to social media to set the record straight after some fans pointed out that Imagine Dragons seemingly copied their artwork.
Over the last few months, it’s almost seemed fashionable to hate on Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons. While Slayer’s Gary Holt called them the “shittiest band on earth”, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor stated they had replaced Nickelback as the “worst band of all time”.
However, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds took a stand against this hate, claiming he doesn’t “feel anger towards” the artists that share these comments, rather “more of a sadness that this industry embraces, even celebrates this mentality.”
“I wish it felt like a place where artists stood by each other and supported one another – regardless of our different tastes and voices,” he explained.
Now, before more misdirected hate was heaped upon the band, Norwegian rockers Maraton have taken to Facebook to explain away the notion that Imagine Dragons seemingly copied their album cover.
In a post shared on Tuesday, Maraton explained that the artwork to their single ‘Blood Music’ had been chosen months before it surfaced again for Imagine Dragons’ ‘Bad Liar’ single.
“Instagram is a wonderful place for art,” the band began. “We bought our artwork from an incredible artist called beeple_crap.”
“We contacted him and asked him if we could buy the rights of using these photos for our singles and album. After much consideration we found 5 pieces that really suited our music perfectly.”
“It is really not cheap to be a musician these days, and our budget was not something to brag about. We payed a one time fee for using his art, and did not think much more of it.”
“Suddenly we saw that Imagine dragons had a new single coming up with the same artwork, 6 months after our release,” they concluded.
“With no deal in hand giving us the exclusive rights for the photos, we can only say one thing. DAMN – They got good taste!!”
While we have to give them kudos for being so jovial and understanding about the whole matter, one fan of the group has noted that the artwork is also reminiscent of Tame Impala’s Currents.
Of course, given the nature of this artwork, we can’t say definitively if it won’t turn up on another release somewhere down the line.
Check out Maraton’s ‘Blood Music’:
