Arguably the world’s most recognisable garage rock duo, The Black Keys’ ongoing popularity has made them the perfect target for advertisers looking to give their commercials some much needed street cred by association, legally obtained or otherwise.
Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach have already defended the appropriate use of their music, settling a court case against pizza chain Pizza Hut and DIY hardware store Home Depot for ripping off songs from their 2011 record, El Camino. Now, The Black Keys are gearing up to do it all over again, citing more lawsuits against companies that are wilfully misusing their songs for advertising purposes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the duo filed a lawsuit in New York last week accusing Pinnacle Entertainment, a casino company, and Manhattan Production Music, a commercial advertising group, of unlawful use of ‘Howlin’ For You’.
The legal dispute over the song, taken from the band’s sixth studio album Brothers, involves two separate advertisements. One is an advert for Pinnacle’s L’Auberge Casino Resort, Lake Charles, that uses a soundtrack that is “substantially similar” to the Black Keys song. While the second commercial for a separate gambling establishment uses “infringing music.”
Pinnacle Entertainment has yet to comment on the lawsuit or the accusations of plagiarism, but the offending videos of the advertisements have since been pulled from YouTube.
Some new accusations have turned up in an exchange between a Pinnacle executive and an accusation from a fan of the Grammy Award-winning band, pointing out the similarity. A rep for the casino wrote: “we bought a licensed musical interpretation of the song (‘Howlin For You’).” Comments from the now-removed YouTube page for one of the advertisements also contains another casino spokesperson claiming it uses “a licensed track inspired by ‘Howlin’ For You’ by The Black Keys.”An advert for Pinnacle’s L’Auberge Casino Resort, Lake Charles, that uses a soundtrack that is “substantially similar” to the Black Keys song.
The band’s victory in their case against Pizza Hut and Home Depot was eventually settled out of court, but was clearly a hefty financial sum considering the pair were originally seeking damages to the value of $US 75,000, filing that the accused commercials were a ” brazen and improper effort to capitalise on plaintiffs’ hard-earned success.”
The Black Keys’ cases are unfortunately the latest in what is a commonplace occurrence in the music world, that isn’t necessarily restricted to internationally recognised acts.
While some receive generous pay-offs, as local Canberra band Tonk did when they discovered their songs were used not once but twice in the popular US sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Many more find their work plagiarised or used without permission.
Recently deceased UK indie act Wu Lyf were left fuming after one of their songs was used in a ‘sexist’ ad for Toyota without their consent. Even a most polite declination by Beach House over the use of their music wouldn’t satisfy. An ad agency persisted for weeks to use the dream pop duo’s “Take Care” in a Volkswagen commercial to no avail. So they did the next best (/worst) thing they could think of and created their own version of the track instead.
Many Aussie musicians have fallen victim to dodgy rip-offs and refused payouts, including John Butler Trio’s ‘Zebra’ being ripped off by a Superbowl commercial selling yoghurt, The Grates’ ‘Aw Yeah’ used to peddle Weet-Bix and GOD’s 1987 debut ‘My Pal’ closely referenced by Mercedes Benz.
The Black Keys’ legal persistence could well be set a strong precedent and socially acceptable benchmark if their latest lawsuits are also a success, standing up for the rites of artistic integrity need not be compromised in the name of flogging commercial products.
