Bank of America U2 Rendition Results in Lawsuit
A clip of two Bank of America employees singing a fucked up version of U2s One spread like wildfire on the internet recently. The overhauled lyrics garnered fans worldwide (its even better, now that were the same, two great companies come together, now MBNA and B of A), but didnt impress U2s 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 Universals 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 U2s 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.
