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  • TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21 2006 9:00 AM

Bank of America U2 Rendition Results in Lawsuit

Submitted by Alyk

Edited by Alyk

Tags: Bank of America, U2, One, Lawsuit

A clip of two Bank of America employees singing a fucked up version of U2’s One spread like wildfire on the internet recently. The overhauled lyrics garnered fans worldwide (“its even better, now that we’re the same, two great companies come together, now MBNA and B of A”), but didn’t impress U2’s copyright attorneys.

While guitarist Jim Debois blissfully strummed away, corporate suit Ethan Chandler “sang” his own “Bank of America” lyrics in a slightly pathetic attempt to motivate employees.

On Tuesday, a lawyer for the Universal Music Publishing Group, a catalog owner and administrator, posted the text of a cease-and-desist letter in the comments section of Stereogum.com, a Web site carrying the video. It contended that Bank of America had violated Universal’s copyright of the U2 song.


The video appeared to be typical corporate, motivational, cheerleading, drink-the-Koolaid kind of bullshit, but U2 can argue Bank of America failed to get permission and failed to pay royalties while using U2’s intellectual property for profit.

If this were a church video or a nonprofit fund-raiser, I might think Bono needs to shut his big fucking mouth. Because this performance was to increase the earnings and profits of one of the largest, most evil banks in the world, I begrudgingly stand on the side of U2.

Damn you, Bank of America, for making me defend U2.

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everthere

everthere

Belgium
June 2004

NOV 21, 2006 02:16 PM

I just witnessed the raping of one of my favorite songs. Excuse me while I go wash my ears and eyes with soap... after I vomited.

RubberSoul

RubberSoul

Los Angeles, CA
February 2003

NOV 21, 2006 03:00 PM

That clip gave me douche chills. That guy clearly was serious. I think he thought he was doing something wonderful but it was the worst thing I have ever seen or heard. Everything about that was disgusting.

hadees

hadees

Austin, TX
December 2003

NOV 21, 2006 03:17 PM

Isn't that protected as a parody? Thats how Wierd Al was able to do Amish Paradise.

cupcake

cupcake

I'm lost
July 2002

NOV 21, 2006 03:48 PM

Haushinka said:
Becuase they gotta make money somehow off people since they "donate all their money to charities".




well put, lil' darlin.

Aaron

Aaron

Shakopee, MN
July 2004

NOV 21, 2006 05:13 PM

Snottlebocket said:
Man, that's just awkward, this sort of peprally thing is common in America?



Unfortunately, and the larger the company, the more ridiculous and wrong-headed the conferences get.

apesamongus

apesamongus

Atlanta, GA
July 2002

NOV 21, 2006 05:30 PM

Any lawyer who can't get that declared fair use deserves to be forced to listen to that guy sing on a loop.

juniper

juniper

Portland, OR
October 2002

NOV 21, 2006 07:04 PM

This reminds me of Starbucks' brainwash I've had to sit through.

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

NOV 21, 2006 08:53 PM

Johnny Marr and David Cross cover the terrible cover before the Modest Mouse concert this week:

Meli

Meli

Manchester, NH
October 2006

NOV 22, 2006 02:39 AM

FridgeMagnet said:
GIve me one giant sized fucking break. This lamewad crooning to his employees isn't going to affect the fucking revenue or profitability of BofA in the least. Second it wasn't created as a commercial and there was no paid media carrying the song. So it's not even like it was an ad hoc commercial.

I don't know if Bono or the rest of the band had anything to do with UMPG's reaction. But if they did, fuck them, and if they didn't fuck UMPG. This is ridiculous.



+1

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

NOV 22, 2006 04:53 AM

FridgeMagnet said:
GIve me one giant sized fucking break. This lamewad crooning to his employees isn't going to affect the fucking revenue or profitability of BofA in the least. Second it wasn't created as a commercial and there was no paid media carrying the song. So it's not even like it was an ad hoc commercial.

I don't know if Bono or the rest of the band had anything to do with UMPG's reaction. But if they did, fuck them, and if they didn't fuck UMPG. This is ridiculous.



I wonder, though, if Universal was worried that this was some sort of viral marketing campaign (though it's not). It's hard for old people to figure out the crazy, ironical intrawebs. I should know.

SivaDelFuego

SivaDelFuego

Minneapolis, MN
January 2003

NOV 22, 2006 05:16 AM

JimBarber said:
A couple of things about your post:

1. A cease-and-desist letter isn't a lawsuit. It's not even close.

2. I'm reasonably certain U2 had no idea that Universal Music's lawyers were going to send this letter. Part of the downside of selling or leasing your music publishing rights to a major corporation is that the corporate legal staff comes with the deal.

I'm not even sure Mr. Raul Gonzalez's boss knew he was sending the letter. When you're a low-level business affairs person at a major music company, you grind out the C&D letters all day every day.

Anyone who does this stuff for a living will tell you that copyright law is a mess and it's lagging decades behind technology.

IF Universal has a case, it's pretty weak.

The BoA guys were certainly within their rights of parody (yeah, that's the legal term) to perform the U2 song with alternate lyrics in a private setting. I'm sure whatever hotel or convention center they were in has blanket ASCAP and BMI licenses. No problems there.

If someone put the video of that performance up on YouTube as a joke, it's no more of a copyright violation than any of the other 37,000,000 music videos or homemade videos people post there every day.

If BoA posted it for viral marketing purposes, then they've altered the lyrics and made a commercial without permission. Then Universal and U2 ought to nail them to a tree.

And you don't nail anyone to a tree with a cease-and-desist letter. That's like telling someone you'll beat them up next year if they don't stop making fun of you today.



Smack on the money. Bono will probably learn about the cease and desist letter from the news, if he even ever does.

I love how all the counter-culture kids are so eager to find something lame about U2 to "see right through." Thank goodness that silliness has it's limits as it seems that even in the counter culture world, Bank of America is still just a little less cool than U2.

Uh... uh.. oh no... here it comes.... stand back... puke

SivaDelFuego

SivaDelFuego

Minneapolis, MN
January 2003

NOV 22, 2006 05:25 AM

hadees said:
Isn't that protected as a parody? Thats how Wierd Al was able to do Amish Paradise.



I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think Weird Al got permission from Coolio's record label and actually had documentation of having been given that permission. I think Weird Al actually thought he had Coolio's permission. Anyway, he asks everyone for permission and has to get it.

Copyright is enforceable for lyrics, but independent of that, it's enforceable by melody. That's how Hewey Lewis's Record Company could get on the ass of the Ghostbuster's soundtrack. I think it's seven notes in a similar relative progression, both in pitch and time. If you copy that from another artist, you're in deep shit.

apesamongus

apesamongus

Atlanta, GA
July 2002

NOV 22, 2006 05:30 AM

Sivacrom said:

hadees said:
Isn't that protected as a parody? Thats how Wierd Al was able to do Amish Paradise.



I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think Weird Al got permission from Coolio's record label and actually had documentation of having been given that permission. I think Weird Al actually thought he had Coolio's permission. Anyway, he asks everyone for permission and has to get it.


He does that because he's a nice guy and chooses to do it. He would never have to.

SivaDelFuego

SivaDelFuego

Minneapolis, MN
January 2003

NOV 22, 2006 05:45 AM

cupcake said:

Haushinka said:
Becuase they gotta make money somehow off people since they "donate all their money to charities".




well put, lil' darlin.



U2 doesn't donate all their money to charities. It's fun to think they're claiming they do that, because that gives us something to not like about U2 and to help forward our commitment to a cynical world view.

But I prefer a dose of reality. 1) They're loaded (and have been for some time now) and they own the property to prove it, 2) aside from homes in the South of France and in Ireland, they own or have money invested in a plethora of businesses throughout the world - unlike most musicians, they were smart with their money, 3) they blow their cash on their tours... or at least they did back in the 90's, 4) It's Universal that needs U2 and Universal is sending the cease and desist, 5) like his bleeding heart or not, no single individual in this lifetime has done more to help people in Africa than Bono.

Africa... It's not Bon's issue du jour, he's in it for the long haul. Every celebrity who goes there today is just following in his footsteps because somehow he made it "cool." He plays both American and capitalist politics to get support to empoverished people and the thing most cynics can't accept is that it's worked extremely well.

U2. What a bunch of assholes!

SivaDelFuego

SivaDelFuego

Minneapolis, MN
January 2003

NOV 22, 2006 06:00 AM

apesamongus
He does that because he's a nice guy and chooses to do it. He would never have to.



Fair enough.

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