So while the rest of us were busy reading books/playing Yahtzee/waiting for The Wire last night, those music geeks actually tuned to the Super Bowl may have noticed, as Pitchfork did, that this “NFL On Fox” promo is backed by the big finish of the Arcade Fire’s “No Cars Go.” Turns out it wasn’t such an outre choice; the AF song fits the grunting gridiron heroics almost a little too well. And perhaps Fox’s clever ad department didn’t want to spoil the chocolate-into-peanut butter combination of epic Canadian indie rock and epic American sporting events by bothering to get the required go-ahead to use the tune?
We knew these guys were sports fans, but would Win, Regine, and the gang really sell their music to Rupert Murdoch so that he could advertise his football television program?
No, no they wouldn’t.
Turns out Fox never even asked the band if they could use their song, and they certainly weren’t given permission to do so.
Oh, News Corp, will you ever learn! Though Pitchfork, who we’re assuming talked to the Arcade Fire’s nebulous “people,” claim the legality of the clip is currently up in the air, some trigger-happy tabloids are already talking lawsuit, and though I’m no great fan of the AF’s particular rumpus, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Win (and the folks at Merge) eating a little better over the next 12 months thanks to a Fox-funded out-of-court settlement.
Yes, That Was An Arcade Fire Song In A Super Bowl Ad [Pitchfork]
OK, so I guess this isn’t something they’ve been playing all year, and I wasn’t just hearing things. It was driving me crazy last night.
@Felonious Monk: Just to set the record straight, of Montreal was paid for that parody version of their song in the Outback ads. It wasn’t a “sound alike” situation…
The only time an artist can really consider suing Fox is if they use their song in the pre-game show. Because while the show is 1. live, 2. only airs once, and 3. is newsworthy (I suppose), one can make the argument that the pre-cut package isn’t itself isn’t live, since it was cut at some ungodly hour a day or two before, so the ephemeral rule does not apply. There have been artists who have brought up this argument, but no one has brought a suit as of yet. Sure, there have been some strongly worded letters, but it’s been settled behind the scenes and their name put on a DO NOT USE THESE ARTISTS EVER AGAIN list to the producers and BAs.
As the bumper was clearly cut in the truck using highlights from the game currently being played, Arcade Fire can untwist their panties, if they are indeed twisted, because there’s nothing they can do about it.
I just thought it was AF embracing their ‘we’re the next Springsteen and have to remain oblivious to Murdoch using our music moment’.
It did make me laugh aloud when it played last night. The idea of Mac & Co. drinking better beer in Chapel Hill on the Fox account is a lovely thought.
@Guadalahonky: Don’t forget the sweet royalty checks that AF is going to get. Their song was played on the most watched TV program of the year.
I might be way off here, but if Fox can claim that as a bumper or part of the programming itself, I’m not sure they’d need actual “permission”.
It was definitely a bumper, not an Ad. And Fox did this all season long with a variety of artists. If Fox were infringing on some copyright or whatever (not a lawyer), I would assume this issue would have already arisen.
I watched this ad with the sound off, so I thought it was actually Fox’s ham-handed way of working its own Ironman promo into the evening.
@Dan Gibson: I agree. I don’t think there is anything that can be done if they are up on their BMI/ASCAP/SESAC stuff.
Quick, somebody create: foxsportsstolemyarcadefiresong.blogspot.com
@Jon Can Dance: Yes, Pitchfork went a bit overboard on this one. Apparently they haven’t seen a football game on FOX, well, EVER.
if it’s less than 10 seconds or so they don’t owe the arcade fire anything. Plus, it sounded a little bit different from the real song; I thought Fox ripped them off Outback Steakhouse-style.
@Felonious Monk: Could have been the version from their first album?
I’m sure they wouldn’t have whined if this had happened during the Grey Cup.
someone should explain the music industry to pitchfork
@Figgsrock: Wait a second! Pitchfork went overboard on something?
/black kids
@Lucas Jensen: Yeah, but I think BMI’s going to calculate this based on “Weekend daytime non-featured use” blah blah blah. They don’t weight by viewership, do they?