A Few Times Been Around That Track: Activision's Getting Sued Again For Band Puppetry
Activision just can't seem to stay out of trouble.
Not even two days after the rainbow-infused Band Hero started piling up on endcaps of stores worldwide, it's already got a lawsuit filed against it, and we've heard this verse before. The artist No Doubt is suing for unauthorized use of their name and likenesses.
While it's always fun to make a unique avatar of rock stardom and sing covers, and it's similarly fun to unlock in-game versions of actual artists during their songs, it doesn't seem like a difficult step in the coding process to limit these virtual versions of platinum artists to--I don't know--only playing songs they actually choose to play.
That's at the heart of No Doubt's outrage, no doubt, since they don't appreciate seeing their band "transformed [. . .] into a virtual karaoke circus act" who can "sing, dance and perform over sixty songs." Supposedly, they have an extra-special vein-bursting moment when the game forces Gwen Stefani's lips to utter forth the voice of Mick Jagger singing "Honky Tonk Woman."
The lawsuit might not smell of success, but it does smell like teen spirit. Only two months ago, when Activision released its sequel-tastic Guitar Hero 5, this exact same issue of celebrities-gone-marionette came up as well. Unfortunately, it was even more bizarre and sad then, since the virtual likeness lovingly created and then trotted out to bleat hits of every decade and genre was the late Kurt Cobain, who once lamented, "famous is the last thing I wanted to be." His widow was the first to raise an objection and come at Activision with lawyers a-swingin', but Kurt's old bandmates also agreed (with no lawsuit-happy motive) that seeing robo-Kurt like that was something he never would have wanted.
Regardless of what one believes about the hectic stupidity of a society addicted to lawsuits, these cases have merit, at the very least, in the eyes of those who adore Nirvana and No Doubt. Creating a successful band is as much about image and attitude as it is about music anymore, but once that image is solidified, it deserves to be considered as sacred as the songs crafted by that same artist. It's easy to imagine that artists signing on to have their likenesses used in a game which should be a tribute to music and bands did so only by assuming the negotiators at Activision understood what should, frankly, be a basic idea of why fans love the bands they do.
Activision's response makes no apologies, though. Let's see just how their defense rests, after the jump...
Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero - an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with it representatives, who collectively have decades of experience in the entertainment industry [. . .] Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit.Well, they make almost no apologies. Last month, a YouTube user was banned and his videos deleted for "copyright violations," even though they only contained footage of Guitar Hero, which by itself gets about a quarter-million video hits on the site. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that these particular videos featured the Kurt Cobain character cloned three times and jamming out to rap hits, like "Bring the Noize," and also Bon Jovi.
So it looks like Activision knows they give love a bad name with this potential for dearly departed or even alive and prolific artists to be mixed-and-matched into songs and styles their real-life counterparts would hate. Maybe it's a subtle commentary on how we're all becoming distant and desensitized by interacting via virtual spaces and online communities... or, more likely, it's someone at Activision deciding the way to get the most out of the money they spent on a particular artist's likeness by making sure it could be used in every possible way by gamers, whether loyal to the band's image and integrity or not.
And while I suppose there is a certain subset of gamers who only bought Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero specifically so they can pretend to be their favorite band even while playing hits from shamefully-unrelated bands, the simple fact that Activision has only offered legal platitudes instead of sympathy and restitution shows that these artists' trust in them to maintain a musician's image as part of their music was misguided.
And just as Bobby Kotick's simply unbelievable comments don't seem to make a dent on the sales charts, this matter of shutting up confused artists by waving a contract in their face will just look like a flash in the pan to most gamers. It's just disappointing to think that those musicians who want to see their craft represented through the medium of video games now have one less potential partner for the task who might actually respect them. At some point, all those musicians might be singing, "I've had it up to here."
faePuck
Posted to Music, Video Games on 5 November 2009
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: activision, band hero, kurt cobain, lawsuits, music, no doubt
I think these lawsuits are ridiculous. Sure it's ludicrous to see it happen, but crazier, more ridiculous things have happened in video games before... I mean - a PLUMBER jumps down warp pipes and rescues a princess, or a pie-sans-1-piece eats ghosts....
I think if they had a problem with any possible "defamatory" content that could come from such a game to begin with, OR if your image is JUST THAT PRECIOUS - why would you license yourself out in the first place? Oh. Right... Money.
I don't know what Mario or PacMan have to do with this.
I also don't have a hard time understanding why some people have a problem with their likenesses being made to do things they have a problem with. I thought the Kurt Cobain thing was tasteless, and I can see why No Doubt would have a problem being made to sing songs that they not only never wrote or performed but don't even like.
That said, I also don't see how they ended up in the game without knowing about that in the first place. If they signed and didn't read the fine print then that's one thing, as is if they've suddenly just changed their mind. As others have said on this I'm absolutely certain that Activision crossed their t's on everything about this and they have the license to have Gwen Stefani prance around singing Margaritaville if they want.
This might cost Activision on future Guitar Heroes.
Good news for Rock Band!
That said while I can understand their irritation I bet Activision is in the right as far as the contract goes. It's too late now and I think they should lighten up. It's just a game, and they could have done a LOT worse things with their avatars like go "Hot Coffee" with them. :P