Tom's 'ad it - General Motors Waits to see......

Spotted out on a trawl of the news sites in the World-Wide-whatever:


Tom Waits is weighing his legal options after General Motors "impersonated" his sound for one of its commercials in Europe.

Television commercials for GM’s Opal running in its Scandinavia region feature a soundtrack made, Waits claims, to recreate his signature sound. The commercials weren’t authorized, he said in a statement, and may invoke litigation from his camp.

“I have a long-standing policy against my voice or music being used in commercials and I have lawyers over there investigating my options,” he said in a statement.

The issue isn’t a cut-and-dried case of copyright infringement, however. GM didn’t appropriate one of Waits’ songs for its commercials. It produced a facsimile that, Waits claims, is close enough to profit from his musical reputation. Waits, whose last album was last year’s Real Gone, previously sparred with everyone from Frito Lay in the United States to Audi or Lancia in Europe for similar takes on his style in their commercials.

“If I stole an Opel, Lancia or Audi, put my name on it and resold it, I'd go to jail," Waits said. "But over there they ask, you say 'no,' and they hire impersonators. They profit from the association and I lose -- time, money, and credibility. What's that about?”

I'm sure we all wish Tom the best in stopping this profit-motivated pastiche. In an ironic twist I've lifted the story above from a news web-site and quoted it as my own. They'll be annoyed, people will be fooled and thereby help proving the point Tom is making. It's also due to the fact I'll usually not point people at sites with ads or too much flash - that's a trait copied far too much.....