The Smiley Smile Message Board

Has anyone else seen this? First time I saw it was tonight, and it surprised me. I have it, and the link, but I don't want to post it to avoid any copyright issues and whatnot...Anyway it's "I Get Around", but it's a soundalike version and not the original. So it's the Beach Boys sound, and song, but just different enough to know it's not the BB's, and they'd do that to avoid paying much higher fees to use the original recording.

But I'm wondering - and maybe this is a question too big to ask - how does a song like I Get Around come to be used in a commercial for a cleaning product? Who gives the OK, who determines whether to pay for the original recording (as Nike did with The Beatles), or use a soundalike as they did here? Is this a Brother Records deal, or totally in the publisher's hands? Etc, etc, etc...

I'm just curious, I'm not voicing an opinion either way on the ad itself. It was startling, almost as surprising as hearing "In My Room" a few years ago selling paint on an ad.

And if in the future a Beach Boys 60's soundalike is being put together, and they need a guitar tone close to the original, look me up and I'll nail it. ;D Too much distortion on this Swiffer version...

Seeing this ad played a small part in this post:

The Swiffer ads have used pop songs for years.  They often use originals, so the Beach Boys must have wanted too much money or something.  I'm pretty sure Swiffer even paid Devo to re-record "Whip It" as "Swiff It," because it sounded like Devo.  That was for an earlier campaign.  The latest campaign is weird, featuring actors playing dust specks who fall in love with Swiffer sweepers as they're swept away and hauled into the garbage.  They've used what sounded like Heart's original "What About Love" and Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing."  "I Get Around" is the only one that sounds like a cover version by another band.  I'm sure the campaign was devised by people who had particular pop songs and concepts in mind, so they just had to approach the artists and get (or in this case, not get) the permission of the original artist to use the songs. Other ad campaigns with Beach Boys songs include the use of "409" for 409 cleaner and "Good Vibrations" for Sunkist orange soda.  I don't think any others used original BB songs, either.  It could be a case of the band not wanting to imply endorsement as well as asking for too much money for music rights.

Whoever is cutting these deals needs a timely visit from Runnersdialzero.

 Australian fans have been tortured by a national mega appliance retailer bludgeoning GV for several years now ("Come in and see the Good, Good, Good guys...")

Just hoping one of the local financial institutions doesn't hijack "Time to get alone"

And in Australia we have some half assed WIBN crappo jingle. flogging VW

I forget what it's for but in the UK there is a hideous cover of Wouldn't it be Nice being used in an advert.

TIIIIIME TO GET A PHONE
TO GET A PHONE
FROM VERIZON WIRELESS!!!

Just imagine if these assholes had been in charge of engineering or producing the originals. They would've tossed Brian out on his ass and opted for some guy who did this:

http://www.mediafire.com/?vl7dap2yumvaihj (http://www.mediafire.com/?vl7dap2yumvaihj)

Is this seriously how people hear the Beach Boys? For Christ's sakes.

Help us, Lord - I thought we had a lucky escape when Cadbury ditched their "WIBN if the world was chocolate..." run.

Haven't seen the VW one yet, selling TV immediately to avoid

Did you eye gouge these dudes - that's really, really...

lawlz, what?

I think BB songs appearing in adverts is probably Rondors fault.

Yeah, user error on that post; must use preview option. 

I was still in shock after listening to the sound bite (still am), and was wonderin' if you did indeed stab 'em in the eye.

The line should have read "really, really...the freakin' pits of any BB song abuse of ever heard" + some other useless guff

Haha, sorry, I wasn't clear - that may have been my attempt at imitating the typical "lol let's just do this in a silly voice lol lool" falsetto vocal in any given Beach Boys cover.

Also, I later realized that I sound like the mom on that 70s show, here. It was a good time. My recording equipment was already set. Okay.

Do some more covers because I thought it was funny. :lol

Ditto that comment, more please!!!  :-D
And, I bow before the master for foolin' my dumb ass (or getting me to fool myself) - DYN-O-MITE!

To respond to an earlier post  (no quote funtion on the mobile version of the board), wouldn`t it be Irving Almo/A&M (Rondor???) that gets paid for using the songs in the ads?

For all Beach Boys tunes included in the SOT sale, yes.  Since that includes most of the classics, it would be whoever the current rights holder is.  I'm not even sure if it was sold after Irving Almo to yet another party.  I know that Allen Klein's ABKCO company owns all the rights to the early Rolling Stones' songs and has control of their use in ads. 

The question is does the band get a yea or nay vote in any of this, or is it out of their hands entirely? Mike had an issue with how Al was billing himself in concert and forced the name to change, I'm thinking what if a band member strongly opposed a certain song's use in an ad campaign? Would they have veto power?

It's definately Rondor who owns the rights to the Sea Of Tunes catalog (well actually the Univeral Music Group who acquired Rondor), I remember first hearing there name during the California Gurrls (Sp?)/ California Girls controversy where they said they may sue Katy Perry for using lyrics to California Girls without permission.

Here be some links.

http://www.onamrecords.com/songwriters.php?ti=I+Get+Around&wr=&rb=ONAMRECORDS&via=searchbox&rb=&wild= (http://www.onamrecords.com/songwriters.php?ti=I+Get+Around&wr=&rb=ONAMRECORDS&via=searchbox&rb=&wild=)

http://www.universalmusic.com/corporate/news35046 (http://www.universalmusic.com/corporate/news35046)