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Beastie Boys vs. Goldieblox

SnappingSnapping 995 Posts
edited November 2013 in Strut Central
Have any of ya'll been following this?



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/24/beastie-boys-goldieblox-girls-copyright-infringement-_n_4330583.html

So many crossing threads of copyright law, cultural significance, feminism....
It's hard to know what to think. Am I more pleased to see a parody of the crass original song? Or am I more offended by the unauthorized use of a song by a band that explicitly opposes commercial use of their work - for an obvious commercial!
Do laws protecting parodies protect the use of a song in an advertisement? Was the original song a parody of sexist attitudes or did it revel in them?
I know there are some here who know more about copyright law then me - who is in the right in this case?

  Comments

  • DjWilldernessDjWillderness 66 Posts
    its real amateur to release a commercial without permission for the music. to me golideblox looks like they don't know what they're doing. i'm confused as to why golideblox is suing the beastie boys. for what?
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    It's all just a ploy for them to sell toys. Right down to them preemptively suing and calling the song "highly sexist". They are trying to create buzz.

    While I thought the commercial was well done as a whole. Watching it made my head hurt with the lyrics about the colour pink. Only to be filled with tons of pink in the video.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Snapping said:
    Was the original song a parody of sexist attitudes or did it revel in them?

    It was without a doubt reveling in sexism. That aside, Goldieblox lost the moral high ground when they appropriated an artists work for their own profit, and their conduct has been both sanctimonious and greedy. Fuck them.
  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    Yes, fuck goldiebox.
  • GrandfatherGrandfather 2,303 Posts
    Oh they withdrew the lawsuit and pulled the video already. I guess they're sorry but they still acted dumb.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    Grandfather said:
    Oh they withdrew the lawsuit and pulled the video already. I guess they're sorry but they still acted dumb.

    those asshole, i guess they accomplished what they set out to do which is not to empower little girls and push back on gender stereotypes as the ad deceptively suggests but to get as much damn publicity as possible through any means possible. there is some old saying about "means" and "ends" that might fit here.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:
    Grandfather said:
    Oh they withdrew the lawsuit and pulled the video already. I guess they're sorry but they still acted dumb.

    those asshole, i guess they accomplished what they set out to do which is not to empower little girls and push back on gender stereotypes as the ad deceptively suggests but to get as much damn publicity as possible through any means possible. there is some old saying about "means" and "ends" that might fit here.

    I'm usually pretty good with sarcasm, but I honestly don't know how you actually feel after reading this.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    no sarcasm here. to be clear, think the company are the assholes all around in this scenario. fuck them and their fake empowerment and fake feminism, fuck them for trying to capitalize off the beasties without permission, fuck them for preemptively suing beasties when they are in the wrong. at it's core, this is really just about money by any means available. i am not anti-capitalist but the method whereby they achieved their goal is highly questionable and that's putting it lightly.
  • EL CHAMACOEL CHAMACO 96 Posts
    Unfortunately what they did was genius - create awareness for their brand
    days before holiday shopping kicks into high gear.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    VeryGoodPlusPlus said:
    Unfortunately what they did was genius - create awareness for their brand
    days before holiday shopping kicks into high gear.

    you call it genius, i call it chutzpah.
  • FrankFrank 2,370 Posts
    VeryGoodPlusPlus said:
    Unfortunately what they did was genius - create awareness for their brand
    days before holiday shopping kicks into high gear.

    Quite some parents with kids in the target age range for this garbage have more love for the Beasties than for some assholes peddling Chinese made plastic shit so no, I think what they did was rather stupid.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    crabmongerfunk said:
    this is really just about money by any means available

    Yup. And trading on people's ideals for commercial gain is absolutely foul.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    VeryGoodPlusPlus said:
    Unfortunately what they did was genius - create awareness for their brand days before holiday shopping kicks into high gear.

    I have no doubt this a big win for the toy company.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    DB_Cooper said:
    Snapping said:
    Was the original song a parody of sexist attitudes or did it revel in them?

    It was without a doubt reveling in sexism. That aside, Goldieblox lost the moral high ground when they appropriated an artists work for their own profit, and their conduct has been both sanctimonious and greedy. Fuck them.

    The Beastie Boys have also apologized (even in a rap) for their sexist talk in the past and I'm pretty sure they had completely cut that song from their set. Goldies claim of parody like they zinged the Beastie Boys is ridiculous and I'm sure they know it. I'm glad they pulled the commercial and time will tell if they have a good product or only specialize in explotation.
  • JustAliceJustAlice 1,308 Posts
    DB_Cooper said:
    crabmongerfunk said:
    this is really just about money by any means available

    Yup. And trading on people's ideals for commercial gain is absolutely foul.

    Except when it has to do with the environment, Then its ok.
  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    JustAlice said:
    DB_Cooper said:
    crabmongerfunk said:
    this is really just about money by any means available

    Yup. And trading on people's ideals for commercial gain is absolutely foul.

    Except when it has to do with the environment, Then its ok.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing
  • FrankFrank 2,370 Posts
    Do people really buy (into) this crap?

    They want to empower girls to become engineers?

    And to do this they come up with a line of flimsy, pastel colored shit that looks like it's made for 3 year olds. Yet according to their website http://www.goldieblox.com/ these useless assortments of crap are made for an age group of 6-8 year old -Girls, of course. That's how you "level the playing field"? By giving girls some baby colored stuff that looks "special needs" more than anything else?

    Now if you want your kid to, not to become an engineer, let's not be too ambitious, just a person with a normal, healthy, technical understanding then there's always Fischertechnik.


    This is from their line for 5 year olds. Note how this is not a gender specific product:







    This is a 6 year old Goldieblox "Princess":




    Goldieblox for age 8 and 9:






    An item from Fischertechnik's "advanced" line for age 7 and up:



    VS:




    Compare this:



    To that:



    People are fucking retarded. No wonder nobody knows how to do shit with their hands anymore. Give them a few more generations and motherfuckers will be done giving up walking erect and buy their kids little cream colored plastic wheelchairs instead. Oh, the humanity, just bring on the nuclear holocaust already and spare us further disgrace.
  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    Sorry, any sampling artist that gets asshurt over someone neglecting to seek a license to use their work, is fucking silly to me. As soon as an artist gets frustrated with someone sampling them, the united hip hop advocates of the world start crying "artistic license"...I am not on the toy's company side, but for a band who couldn't even make their landmark work in the 21st century wanting to jump on the intellectual property bandwagon is fucking absurd.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    The_Hook_Up said:
    Sorry, any sampling artist that gets asshurt over someone neglecting to seek a license to use their work, is fucking silly to me. As soon as an artist gets frustrated with someone sampling them, the united hip hop advocates of the world start crying "artistic license"...I am not on the toy's company side, but for a band who couldn't even make their landmark work in the 21st century wanting to jump on the intellectual property bandwagon is fucking absurd.

    Get real. The Beastie Boys were at the beginning of sampling. Over time they have had to back pay a lot for samples and now most artists pay sampling royalties and give credit were credit is due. If it was just a sample and had nothing to do with the original song I might agree with you, but you know that's not the case.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    Without quoting all of Franks pictures.....

    The message I see from the Goldie toys is "Your a girl, here's ribbon and a plastic drum. Don't hurt yourself."
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    The_Hook_Up said:
    Sorry, any sampling artist that gets asshurt over someone neglecting to seek a license to use their work, is fucking silly to me. As soon as an artist gets frustrated with someone sampling them, the united hip hop advocates of the world start crying "artistic license"...I am not on the toy's company side, but for a band who couldn't even make their landmark work in the 21st century wanting to jump on the intellectual property bandwagon is fucking absurd.

    I don't think they have ever had issue with sampling. Ad-Rock has stated in interviews that anyone wants to sample his stuff he's fine with. In the same interview he says that in the court case over Jimmy Castor Bunch. That he thought it was right that they paid.

    This is on some. They don't want their art to be used in a commercializing way.


    Edit. Looked for the video.

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