Tragically Hip for Ashley Madison?!

[Northern Wish]

A new radio spot for www.ashleymadison.com appeared this week on the Stern show. It features a hack rewrite version of New Orleans is Sinking, with the vocals being "If your marriage is sinking, Ashley Madison will help you swim."

I'm sure they got paid well for this, but it surprised me on so many levels. The first surprise is that The Hip don't seem to sell their songs here in Canada, and I thought they were generally unknown in the US so it seemed out of place. Second but most importantly the site is for people looking to step out on their spouse and The Hip are a group of family men so I just don't see how this got approved.

Everyone has their price I guess.

Anyways, nothing to see or read here really- I just found it surprising and wanted to share.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Guest

[Freak By Night]

I think that if somebody doesn't use the original recording and changes the music just enough, they don't have to ask permission or even pay a cent to use that song in an advertisement, movie, tv show, or whatever.

[Velvet]

Not sure about that FBN - otherwise you'd hear subtle rewrites of Happy Birthday all the time.

Ever notice how you never hear Happy Birthday on tv? Or say you're at The Keg; the employees always have their own birthday song.

If you sing Happy Birthday you gotta pay royalties.

[AD]

I wonder if the promo company found a song from 20 years ago from a band they hadn't heard of and thought they could sneak it by without asking? Doesn't seem too plausible given google and all, but there are plenty of dumb people out there.

People have posted this news on the Hip's Facebook so they are aware of it now (in case it was done without their knowledge)

Edited October 17, 2012 by Guest

[Booche]

[skelter]

Gord Sinclair is divorced on account of extracurricular activities ... FWIW

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I heard he sold the song for a free ashley madison account :surprise:

(photoShop to follow) :chug:

[Freak By Night]

Not sure about that FBN - otherwise you'd hear subtle rewrites of Happy Birthday all the time.

Ever notice how you never hear Happy Birthday on tv? Or say you're at The Keg; the employees always have their own birthday song.

If you sing Happy Birthday you gotta pay royalties.

Yep. I knew about the 'Happy Birthday' royalty thing. 'The Simpsons' even made a joke about that IIRC.

The restaurant where we celebrated my grandmother's 101st birthday almost killed her when they came out hootin' and hollerin' with their own birthday song. Poor old girl almost had a heart attack.

Back to the Hip though, this whole thing is kind of strange. I'm having a hard time believing they'd allow their song to be used in this manner. I'd like to find out what comes of this, and I'm sure you great folks will keep me updated.

[phishtaper]

We noticed the song as well. Ive always thot that AshleyMadison somehow cleverly skirts the rules and is able to modify the song just enough to not have to acknowledge it or pay for it. Maybe they only use a small portion? They've done the same thing with all sorts of other songs (albeit, none of which I can remember specifically right now). And some of them are classic enuff songs that I figured if the artists had a way of going after them to stop, they would have. I wouldn't assume that The Hip got paid or even had any say in it.