The Black Keys file two lawsuits after their song appears in a bank ad without permission.
While their single ‘Tighten Up’ has already been licensed to a bunch of commercial interests, it pays to pay the band, it seems.
Billboard reports that their label Nonesuch filed two lawsuits against ad agency Della Femina Rothschild Jeary & Partners on The Black Keys’ behalf.
Around the time of the Grammy Awards the ad agency put together a commercial for a New Jersey bank which the lawsuits claim featured “significant portions” of ‘Tighten Up’ without seeking or obtaining a license to use the song.
Nonesuch say they sent cease-and-desist letters to the ad agency and the bank following the airing of the commercials, but they were ignored.
So now it’s up to courts in Nashville and Manhattan, where the lawsuits have been filed, to sort out the mess.
We suspect the court cases and damages will cost the bank and the agency a lot more than if they’d just bought the damn song, much like Subaru, video game FIFA 11, Gossip Girl, films I Am Number Four and Bad Teacher did.
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