The Swarm

December 04, 2007

Indie Rock Universe Class Action: Should the bands used sue Camel and Rolling Stone over cartoon ad too?

TDS Editors

UPDATE: The Indie Rock Universe Strikes Back: Fucked Up and Xiu Xiu file class action lawsuit against Camel and Rolling Stone

UPDATE: Indie labels demand apology in open letter to Rolling Stone

UPDATE: Camel halts The Farm promotion, facing $100 million fines…

So if 8 states’ Attorney Generals are suing RJ Reynolds because they think the Rolling Stone ‘Indie Rock Universe’ cartoon is actually a Camel cigarettes advertisement, does that mean all of the bands who’s names/brands were used without permission will sue too? Would make one hell of a class action…

Or, as one Daily Swarm reader posted in the ‘Kill Rock Stars’ comments:

It’s one thing for the Lips and Dino Jr. to knowingly take Camel’s money; it’s another for a band that would never do such a thing to find itself “name-checked” (to use a word in the story) in this advertorial section. Does that imply that the group endorses the product? The argument could be made, if we buy that the section was all one big ad. I’d say that if a band was litigious, it could get some nice coin—and media attention underscoring Camel’s insidiousness—by threatening to sue.

UPDATE: From today’s ‘Kill Rock Stars’ comments:

I’m in one of the bands name dropped in this fold out ad. Nobody , at any time contacted my band , label or publicist. We were never asked if we wanted to be mentioned in a cigarette ad or if we minded to have our music on The Farm website. We certainly we\are NOT compensated in anyway.

I personally don’t smoke , nor do any of my bandmates. I already lost a parent to lung cancer and having my band associated in any way with Camel INFURIATES me.

Camel doesn’t care about indie music and neither does Rolling Stone. Both just want youth money and don’t care what ethics they breech to get it.

UPDATE: Might Real Music’s Rhapsody be on the hook for the Indie Rock Universe fiasco as well? The online version of the advertorial section included links to Rhapsody music service for streaming songs from each of the bands that are name-checked (still does). Did Rhapsody have permission to utilize these tracks in an advertisement? Some of the bands’ labels say “no way.” Real has an exclusive licensing deal with Wenner Media to operate rollingstone.com. Developing…

UPDATE: Toronto Star: Fucked Up vs. Big Tobacco:

Committed antagonists though they may be, the members of F——ed Up aren’t in the business of shilling for cigarettes. Selling cigarettes occasionally to make ends meet, maybe, but that’s another story. In any case, the band was still alarmed – along with the likes of Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie, Devendra Banhart and fellow Canadians such as Wolf Parade, AIDS Wolf and Black Mountain – this week to find an MP3 link to its song “Color Removal,” among others, hitched to the online version of Rolling Stone. It was part of an advertising feature touting the “Indie-Rock Universe” that some U.S. lawmakers claim is a veiled pitch for Camel cigarettes. Eight states had already sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco as of Tuesday over the original, illustrated print pullout because, they say, it violates a law that prohibits using cartoons to sell cigarettes. But the buzz on sites like TheDailySwarm.com is that bands and labels are now gearing up to file their own lawsuits because the online music provider Rhapsody surrendered their tunes to an alleged tobacco ad without their consent. F——ed Up, for its part, found out about the snafu from a member of AIDS Wolf on Monday and is now, says vocalist Damian Abraham, casting about for an entertainment lawyer. “We want to know if the bands can take legal action against Rhapsody, which illegally licensed the MP3s for the project,” says guitarist Mike Haliechuk.

Bands in Camel/Rolling Stone’s “Indie Rock Universe” ad:

!!!
1990s
A Place to Bury Strangers
A Silver Mt. Zion
Against Me!
AIDS Wolf
Andrew Bird
Animal Collective
Antony and the Johnsons
Arcade Fire
Architecture in Helsinki
Arctic Monkeys
Art Brut
Babyshambles
Band of Horses
Bat For Lashes
Beirut
Belle and Sebastian
Biffy Clyro
Bjork
Black Dice
Black Mountain
Bloc Party
Blonde Redhead
Boards of Canada
Bonde de Role
Boredoms
Boris
Bright Eyes
Brightblack Morning Light
Bucks and Gallants
Built to Spill
Cat Power
Celebration
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Coco Rosie
Comets on Fire
CSS
Daft Punk
David Pajo
Dean and Britta
Death Cab for Cutie
Deerhoof
Devendra Banhart
DeVotchka
Diplo
Dirty Pretty Things
Dirty Projectors
DJ Mehdi
Dr. Dog
Dungen
Ellen Allien and Apparat
Emily Jane White
Emma Pollack
Erase Errata
Explosions in the Sky
Fall Out Boy
Feist
Fields
Franz Ferdinand
Frog Eyes
Fucked Up
Fugazi
Ghostland Observatory
Girl Talk
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Gogol Bordello
Grizzly Bear
Guided by Voices
Guitar Wolf
Gym Class heroes
Handsome Furs
High on Fire
Home Blitz
Hot Chip
Husker Du
Inferno Friendship Society
Interpol
Iron and Wine
Jans Lekman
Japanther
Jesu
Joanna Newsom
Jose Gonzalez
Joy Division
Junior Boys
Justice
Kaiser Chiefs
Klaxons
Last Days of May
Laura Veirs
Lavender Diamond
LCD Soundsystem
Le Tigre
Les Savy Fav
Liars
Lightning Bolt
Little Claw
Low
M. Ward
M.I.A.
Mates of State
Matmos
Minus the Bear
Modest Mouse
Mogwai
Mountain Goats
Mum
My Chemical Romance
My Morning Jacket
Neutral Milk Hotel
New Pornographers
New Young Pony Club
Nirvana
Oakley Hall
Octopus Project
Of Montreal
Panda Bear
Panic! at the Disco
Parts and Labor
Pavement
Peter and the Wolves
Pissed Jeans
Pixies
PJ Harvey
Plain White T’s
Prinzhorn Dance School
Psapp
Radiohead
Ratatat
Ryan Adams
Scout Niblett
Sea Wolf
Shitdisco
Sigur Ros
Simian Mobile Disco
Sleater-Kinney
Sonic Youth
Sons and Daughters
Spoon
St. Vincent
Stephen Malkmus
Sufjan Stevens
Ted Leo
The Cribs
The Cure
The Decemberists
The Fiery Furnaces
The Fratellis
The Futureheads
The Go! Team
The Gossip
The Hold Steady
The Killers
The Magik Markers
The National
The Nightwatchmen
The Ponys
The Rapture
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
The Rogers Sisters
The Shins
The Smiths
The Stills
The Strokes
The Thermals
The Thrills
The USA Is a Monster
The World
TV on the Radio
Tyvek
Vampire Weekend
We Are Wolves
White Denim
White Magic
White Stripes
Wilco
Will Oldham
Wolf Eyes
Wolf Parade
Wolfmother
Xiu Xiu
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yo La Tengo


Post a comment


20 Comments

#1 An interested teen. says:

Has Camel posted their year end list yet?

#2 Gregg says:

To make a few more bucks Rolling Stone pushes a product to its customers that will kill them. This undermines the integrity of anybody knowingly associated with Rolling Stone, including subscribers. Now Rolling Stone is damaging the image and reputation of pretty much every indie artist that might have some success without the consent of the artists.
Rolling Stone: You are the very thing you taught us to fight. You are The Man, and I don't mean that in a nice way.

#3 Fozzy Bare? says:

RS and RJR deserve each other: one is killing music, and the other is killing smokers.

#4 Me, That's Who... says:

Who still reads Rolling Stone anyway? It's just a freakin' Bush Bash mag for arrogant liberals and has nothing to do with real music anyway.

Did you hear that? Bruce Springsteen just farted. I think that Bruce's methane actually CLOSES the Ozone Layer.

Their agenda for December:
Al Gore, iPods, an death to Christmas.

#5 blahblahblah says:

Cool or shitty bands sandwiched between cigarette, booze, military recruiters, emaciated people, shitty music purveyors, condom ads, weapons manufacturers is par for the corrupt course -- edit, advertorial or otherwise. And that cartoons are exclusively the province of kids is a wrong assumption - just ask Pekar or Crumb or some other comic genius about that and their first ammendment rights.

#6 k says:

Goodness I hate The Strokes.

#7 Thirteenburn says:

Whatever.

It sounds to me like more political correctness when it comes to smoking. Who gives a f**k if their names were mentioned? If it were my band, I would be grateful for the free advertising, regardless of who it was doing the advertising.

Open comment to Indie rock bands: Stop with the pathetic "Artistic integrity" crap and do what you all do best, which is make great music.

Jesus. What a bunch of whiny snot-nosed brats. Shut the Hell up and keep the PC BS where it belongs. It's bad enough to deal with it in politics, sports, movies, etc., I sure as Hell don't want to deal with it in my music. Music is an escape from the real world but cry-babies like all of you are ruining that for me.

Tell you what? I'll just never again buy any of the records of any of the above mentioned bands ever again. I'll make my voice heard with my wallet and go back to getting my music for free.

#8 Rhapsody fan says:

Rhapsody doesn't license mp3s, it's a streaming service.

#9 historylesson says:

Hey Thirteenburn: you don't like the "PC BS" and "artistic integrity crap" of the indie rock movement? Go and listen to a genre that wasn't built on the ideas of anti-corporatism and activist movements, dumbass. Before evolutionary black holes like you stumbled across internet culture in a Google search, you took your drip-cups to Aerosmith shows and rocked the hell out and left those who cared about artistic integrity and the separation of culture and corporate interests to our own devices. Daughtry's waiting with open arms, bro.

#10 historylesson says:

That was "independent culture" not "internet culture", BTW.

#11 A nerd says:

Legal question: if a big ol' corporation can't mention bands & stream music on their own site for marketing purposes... what about blogs that mention bands & stream music - and also accept advertising $$ from big ol' corporations? Is there a difference? Could a legal ruling against corporate marketing strategies wind up affecting the blogs?

#12 Sigh of Relief says:

Every rock band in existence just breathed a sigh of relief thanks to meathead Thirteenburn's promise to stop buying music. Since his brain stopped maturing at 13, he can keep living in his idealistic little world where no one has any thoughts other than to make music that rocks to keep him happy. When he grows up and creates something, let's see whatever killed his friends and relatives claim ownership of his creations and then let's watch him be grateful.

#13 slight correction says:

Actually, there are no bands mentioned in the Camel ad (for "The Farm"). All the bands mentioned are mentioned in the "Indie Rock Universe" cartoon, which is separate from the Camel ad. The online version of the "Indie Rock Universe" cartoon does not feature any Camel ads, or any other ads.

#14 Blacklung Lazybones says:

Camel has pretty good taste

#15 Your Employer says:

Wow, slight correction, you certainly are thorough, making your point everywhere! Are you perchance on the rollingstone payroll or just personally enraged by this injustice?

#16 Designer Drug says:

Man they should just be sued for that logo alone.

#17 Tiger says:

Rolling Stone hasnt been relevent in music since the 70's. Its just sad when they try to be.

Fall Out Boy and Xiu Xiu in the same "Indie Universe"???

Thats just blasphomy!

#18 Kick'nKids says:

Um, us Indie's always smoke Camels while reading Rolling Stone and listening to My Chemical Romance.

You guys dont get use!! but Rolling Stone RJR and Major labels understand. They think indepently like we do.

#19 kevin says:

who cares? why does is it such a big deal that they used bands' names? if anyone was stupid enough to start smoking after seeing an ad in rolling stone they deserve to die. this is just an asshole way to make money. fuck that. formed on anti-corporatism? you suck. using a class action lawsuit to get billions of dollars from corporations is just as slimy as the corporations themselves. being "indie" is about the music. not how much money you can swindle out of people b/c they used your name in the most read music magazine in the nation. has it ever occurred to anyone that part of the reason these bands don't make money is because people don't know about them? and it doesn't help that indie-snobs do their best to hide these bands from other people for fear of not being underground enough.

p.s. what's wrong with al gore?

#20 square man says:

The Law is the Law........Please......All this big companys DIDN´T know..........come on who are they ripping off.....other BAND that strived........This band panda are from Mexico they thought they would be in the clear.........heck we all know better.......and I GUESS THEY THOUGHT TOO.........I feel sorry for that band and their lawyer..........11million pesos plus all that they sold.........chemical and green had to fight to get wear they are.........not for some group from MEXICO were bribery is how it works.......the ol saying is with money the dog dances and without you dance like the dog.......good for them.......


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