not!
In case you didnt see it, Bank of America employees recently plagarised U2's song at a meeting/ceelebration of the merger with Capital One (I think). They basically rewrote the words of the song and sang their own version.
Imagine the cutzpah! Standing up in front of all your fellow workers, bosses and new worker drones to rip the soul out of a song that many of those present had a life afirming/changing moment while listening to. Oh yeah, and someon posted it to YouTube.
All good. Fifteen minutes of fame (well, maybe slightly longer...) until the Universal music lawyers come a knocking with their cease and desist. It seems that money cant buy everything, or maybe some Universal attack sharks actually have a soul after all!
Or maybe something else is going on here.
The Bank of America performance is a parody of the original U2 song, regardless of how dead-pan the two (w)bankers were in their delivery (and the singer wasnt too bad actually!)
Parody is allowable and covered by free speech and all that in the United States and I would hazard a guess everywhere else in the world. The fact that the bulk of the YouTube servers reside in the United States should mean that U.S. law covers them anyway.
So why did the lawyers think that it was OK to start throwing around legal documents with sharp, snappy words beginning in C and ending in T? (cease and desist..! dirty mind...)
Well, for a start, that is what lawyers do. They justify their existence by doing lawyery stuff.
Also, unfortunately, the music industry has initiated a reasonable revenue stream through the simple method of suing Joe and Jane Doe. This activity carries no extra costs such as R&D, packaging, producers, recording costs etc., its as simple as putting a coin in a vending machine and getting your crisps or chocolate bar.
The same logic might apply to the U2 parody sung by the Bank Employees.
When I first saw it I was both appauled and entranced and couldnt believe that they trod so roughly on my dreams. Now? I am behind them 100%
Legislation, not piracy is the biggest threat to the music industry today. It should be all about music - the leeches, sharks and hangers-on will drag the industry to a watery grave.
Hmm, not such a bad thing though - without the 'industry' the musicians would quicly fill the void left and create something that would take advantage of the internet, peoples attitudes, technology and create a new golden age of music.
Grab a guitar, get out on the streets and parody a famous song.
Do it today, do it for the musicians. All we have to loose is coked up record comany executives and god knows we dont need more of them.
