Beastie Boys song used without permission in ‘Princess Machine’ video
Published November 25, 2013
The Internet was kvelling like crazy last week over the viral video from toy company Goldieblox, in which empowered cuties eschew princess merchandise for a Rube Goldberg-like “Princess Machine.” And when we say viral, we mean viral — it has been viewed over 8 million times.
It seems a couple well-known boys are unhappy with the ad — the Beastie Boys, actually. An adaptation of their song “Girls” is featured in the clip, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, GoldieBlox claims the band has threatened the company with copyright infringement. Goldieblox’s stance is that the song is a parody and therefore qualifies as fair use.
The Beastie Boy, meanwhile, claim they never, in fact, filed a complaint. They released a statement Monday saying that while they are “impressed by the creativity and the message” of the Goldieblox video, “make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product, and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads… When we tried to simply ask how and why our song ‘Girls’ had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US.”
They have a point — a rock solid one, at that. Unfortunately, our informal survey of Hanukkah gift purchases shows that their song has already helped move a whole lot of product.
The music is at least half of what makes the thing so great. See for yourself here:
