Danish band Mew were recently approached by an advertising company, working for a Norwegian Pay-TV channel, for the use of one of their songs in an upcoming campaign.
"Can we use Comforting Sounds in the new Canal Digital ad?" they asked.
"OK, but you'll have to pay us some money" said Mew.
"Err, we'll get back to you" replied the advertising company, who then proceeded to get someone to knock up a just-different-enough-so-they-won't-sue soundalike tune for their shiny new ad...
If you ask me that's not really different enough at all, it's practically the same. The band thought so to, as did their record company and their lawyers (if your Norwegian is good then you can read more information on the Verdens Gang website).
Following some intense legal banter later a deal was struck so that the ad could be shown this one time, with Mew compensated for the possible copyright exposure. Should the ad campaign be re-run at a later date however the tune in question will be changed to something that really doesn't sound anything at all like Comforting Sounds. Which, by the way, sounds like this...
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