Jack White Is Going To Sue The USAFR

[drumkitwes]

https://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=457410

Jack White upset with Air Force Reserve over Super Bowl ad

Feb. 8, 2010, 9:38 PM EST

WENN -- White Stripes star Jack White has taken exception to a TV ad which aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday -- because he feels it ripped off his "Fell In Love With A Girl" hit.

The rocker and executives at his Third Man Records have complained about the U.S. Air Force Reserve's apparent "re-recording" of the tune.

In an online post, White and the record label bosses write, "We believe our song was re-recorded and used without permission of the White Stripes, our publishers, label or management.

"The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve's presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.

"We have not licensed our song to the Air Force Reserve and we plan to take strong action to stop the ad containing this music."

[nunya]

Who?

Edited February 10, 2010 by nunya

[BADFNZ]

I think this is the band that opened for Jesse and the Rippers at the Smash Club.

[Toro]

Who?

First off...you had to edit a one word post?

Anyway, he's Johnny Depp's fat brother.

Can anyone find the ad? I found an entire page of Super Bowl ads, but that ad isn't on there. The ad was on YouTube, but it was pulled. I didn't see the ad during the game (thanks, AFN), and I don't listen to the White Stripes, but hunting for the ad I read some comments that said it was either the song or a dead ringer for it. Here's the White Stripes song.

And totally unrelated, here's another gem I found while searching.

[Guest Hueypilot812]

This guy might need to take a step back and talk to his agent. Many bands sell the rights to songs to studios that then turn out jingles and "elevator music", and then in turn sell those slightly altered songs to other media, like advertising companies. The AFRC didn't make the ad themselves, they signed an ad company to make it. The ad company then in turn uses one of many sampled songs that are produced specifically for ads, and this is probably among them.

This guy is just pissed because he is against the war and doesn't like the military, and his song (or a derivative of it) wound up in a military ad. Sorry, but once you let your songs go through some jingle mill, you don't have much say in what ads they appear in. There need not be an agreement in place between the AFRC and The White Stripes if the ad company used an already approved jingle from one of the legit sources.

[Guest Hueypilot812]

If you do a search for it on google (search for white stripes and air force reserve), some pages have the ad to play. It's a similar tune, but also different in places.

[Clayton Bigsby]

Considering Iraq is largely over, I find it incredulous people don't support kicking more ass in Afghanistan.

It's always the same, tired, weak-ass anti-Iraq arguments people use to oppose anything going on right now.

[nunya]

First off...you had to edit a one word post?

Eh, I made a Nacho Libre joke, but it wasn't as funny in writing as it was in my head, so away it went.

[PapaJu]

He had a potentially legitimate argument with copyright issues, but of course had to throw in the anti-military crap.

[mxfreak54]

found it on youtube, I read more post less so I don't know how to make the video apear in the thred, here is the link

whatch it for a couple seconds, the end of a dog treat add comes before the AF add

Edited February 11, 2010 by mxfreak54

[slacker]

Air Force Reserve pulls commercial that aired during Super Bowl

Air Force Reserve pulls commercial that aired during Super Bowl

By THOMAS L. DAY

The U.S. Air Force Reserve will not continue to use a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, according to a news release posted on its Web site Wednesday.

The advertisement featured a song that The White Stripes believe was an unauthorized re-recording of its 2002 hit “Fell in Love With a Girl.”

“As soon as we realized there was a question about our ad, we immediately pulled it and have no plan to reuse it,” said Lt. Col. Leslie Pratt, a U.S. Air Force Reserve Command spokeswoman. The advertisement is no longer posted on any Air Force Web site.

The Air Force Reserve Command is based at Robins Air Force Base.

Pratt said production of the commercial was contracted through an advertising agency, which then hired Fast Forward Music, a production company based in Utah, to provide the score. A Fast Forward Music spokesman told Entertainment Weekly the company hired a musician to provide the music and did not notice any similarities to The White Stripes’ song.

“We had no intention to use existing music from The White Stripes or any other performer,” Pratt said. “Any similarity to them or other artists was certainly not intentional.”

The White Stripes responded to the commercial by immediately posting a statement on their Web site condemning the advertisement.

“The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserves presenting this advertisement with the implication that we ... encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support.”

The statement added that the band “support(s) this nation’s military” but “we simply don’t want to be a cog in the wheel of the current conflict.”

[bfargin]

The advertisement featured a song that The White Stripes believe was an unauthorized re-recording of its 2002 hit “Fell in Love With a Girl.”

That part hit me, that song was a hit???

Edited February 11, 2010 by bfargin

[Steve Davies]

"The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserves presenting this advertisement with the implication that we ... encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support."

So the only thing that defines AFRC is the war in AFG?

Once can infer from his statement that he wouldn't have a problem with the ARFC using his music without permission when there is no war going on. I wonder if the defence lawyers will be able to make anything of that given that the advert has nothing to do with the war, does not mention the war or use it to apply pressure, and is in fact about telling people that they can have a good time in the Reserves.

As an aside, his music is shite.

[PapaJu]

So the only thing that defines AFRC is the war in AFG?

Once can infer from his statement that he wouldn't have a problem with the ARFC using his music without permission when there is no war going on. I wonder if the defence lawyers will be able to make anything of that given that the advert has nothing to do with the war, does not mention the war or use it to apply pressure, and is in fact about telling people that they can have a good time in the Reserves.

As an aside, his music is shite.

Don't go bringing logic into the fray now. Besides, I don't think the war would've figured into the defense...though I guess that's moot now.

[F16Rooster]

I think Jack White is pretty kick-ass. Definitely one of the few big artists these days that has a little originality. And who cares what his motives were for not wanting that music in that ad? It's his music, some jackass composer that the USAFR hired stole it, and he doesn't want it played. His perogative. My pappy told me don't judge music based on the viewpoints of the musician, 99% of them are nutjobs. Good advice.

More importantly, Danica Patrick is smoking hot and will be starting her first NASCAR race this weekend.

[airmanjerm]

He had a potentially legitimate argument with copyright issues, but of course had to throw in the anti-military crap.

They'll have a terribly difficult time trying to sue over this, although I agree it's pretty blatant.

First, the U.S. government (specifically, the U.S. Copyright Office) is the originating source for all American musical copyrights; second, the ad was a non-profit advertisement (and for a government agency at that). There's a section of US Copyright Code (Article 12) that also makes it possible for the government to, essentially, do whatever it wants with anything to which a copyright has been issued. That is, so long as the government's use "does not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author."

In the end they may try to sue anyway, but my guess is that ASCAP (the company that I believe manages their royalties and copyright) won't want to tangle with the U.S. Government. We've avoided problems like this in the past because it's extremely expensive to sue the government.

Their best bet would be to sue CBS....copyrights were definitely violated, and in this case the only people who really made money were (1) the hack that couldn't write an original 30-second rock ditty, and (2) CBS. That $2.3M price tag for Super Bowl advertisements was pretty much public knowledge.

Sorry for the lengthy diatribe...

Should be interesting to see how this one plays out.

[JeepGuyC17]

From the press release it doesn't sound like they plan to sue anyone for money, all it says is "we plan to take strong action to stop the ad containing this music". Since the AFR has already pulled the add, I would think the issue would be pretty much settled.

On a related note, I think White had a cameo as Elvis in "Walk Hard".

[LJDRVR]

Perhaps he'll be sued shortly since the bridge sounds just like "middle of the road" by The Pretenders.