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Sigur Rós attack advertisers

Fri 1st Oct, 2010 in International News

In a blog post titled ‘Homage or fromage?’ Sigur Rós has politely attacked advertisers who rip off their music without paying for the copywrite.

According to the post, the band has “spent the decade since they were thrust into the spotlight saying ‘no’ to their music being used in advertising. Yes, they’ve done movies, TV and given music to charity “synchs” (as it is called when you “synchronise” music to picture), but despite rumours to the contrary they have never allowed their music to be used to sell anything. And they get asked A Lot. Sometimes they get asked, say ‘no’ and then a few months later an ad will suddenly appear that sounds strangely familiar.”

The post stresses that it’s “not suggesting anyone’s ripping anyone off here, or has purposely gone out to plagiarise Sigur rós music, because that might get us sued (which would be ironic). And in any case, you can get all the musicologists’ reports you like and all they will tell you is that the chord sequence is “commonly used” or the structure is a “style-a-like” and not a “pass off” rós.”

Suggesting that that has sought legal advice in an attempt to sue for copyright infringement, the post continues explaining that “that despite the fact that the two pieces are ‘strongly similar in terms of general musical style, instrumentation and structure’ and ‘created with a knowledge of and/or reference to the works of Sigur Rós in general and Hoppipolla in particular’, there is ‘insufficient evidence in the music to support a claim for infringement of the copyright’. In other words change a note here, swap things around a bit there and, hey presto, it’s an original composition. Inspiration moves in mysterious ways.”

So rather than seeking royalties the band has posted a series of “expensively produced, gorgeously executed examples of brands who you might feel are inserting a little too much fromage in their homage” as part of a name and shame attack. The section includes four soundalike versions of Hoppípolla and a song that sonds very similar to Go Do, the lead track on Sigur Rós frontman Jonsi’s solo album.

Listen for yourself – do these advertisers owe Sigur Rós compensation?

Hoppípolla