Now That Alicia Keys Is No Longer Blackberry's 'Creative Director' Can We Stop Using Pop Stars As Fake Creative Directors?

from the please? dept

Three years ago, we called out the stupid trend of big tech companies pretending that they'd hired some pop star as "creative director" after Intel had named Will.i.am to that role and Polaroid had done the same with Lady Gaga. A year later, we repeated what a dumb idea this was when Blackberry named noted iPhone user Alicia Keys to the same role. As we said, if this was, say, an actual music service, and the person was really involved, it might make sense. But the truth of all three of these situations was that they were little more than a promotional sponsorship deal pretending to be a "hire." And, this really discounts the hard work that actual creative directors do for these companies.

Either way, it should come as little surprise that Blackberry -- a company on the verge of not existing -- is now admitting that Keys is "leaving her role" exactly a year after it started. Let's be frank here: she's not "leaving her role." She had a one year endorsement/promotional contract, and that deal is now ending. The idea that she was actually employed as a creative director is clearly bogus. What did she do?

She appeared at numerous corporate events throughout the year and in some promotional material.

Right. Same exact thing as a typical celebrity endorsement deal.

For whatever reason, tech companies always seem to announce these things in January (often in conjunction with CES, which is taking place next week). Hopefully, this year, we can avoid such silliness. I don't want to hear about Justin Bieber becoming "creative director" at IBM or Miley Cyrus' new "job" as "creative director" at Microsoft.

Filed Under: alicia keys, creative director, endorsement, lady gaga, will.i.am
Companies: blackberry, intel, polaroid

Still A Dumb Trend: Pop Star Endorsements Pretending To Be 'Creative Directors'

from the how-often-will-she-be-at-the-office dept

Almost exactly two years ago, we mocked the ridiculous trend of big companies hiring famous pop stars as "creative directors." Polaroid had hired Lady Gaga to be "creative director" while Intel had named Will.i.am as "director of creative innovation." The latest example of this trend is Blackberry (they're no longer RIM!) announcing that known iPhone user Alicia Keys has been "hired" as "Global Creative Director." She claimed that she'll be working with app developers and providing various ideas.

As we said two years ago, it is a good thing that celebrity endorsers actually become more involved with the products they're endorsing, but it's somewhat insulting to suggest that these pop stars are actually being hired on as "creative directors." In fact, it's insulting to actual creative directors and the amazing work that they do on a daily basis. The value from a Lady Gaga, Will.i.am or Alicia Keys is in the publicity they bring, not in any sort of creative direction they provide (if any). It's also insulting to the intelligence of the public and the press who follow these things. If these were, say, music services, the position might be real, but in the three most high profile cases, it seems abundantly clear that this is just a way to make an endorsement seem like a bigger deal than it really is.

Filed Under: alicia keys, creative director, endorsements, lady gaga, will.i.am
Companies: blackberry

After Hundreds Of 'Empire State Of Mind' Parodies... Why Does EMI Suddenly Take One Down?

from the these-copyrights-will-inspire-you dept

Nearly a year ago, the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys collaboration Empire State of Mind was released. If you haven't heard it, you've been living under something of a rock: The song went from popular to ridiculously popular after Jay-Z and Keys performed it before game two of the World Series at Yankee Stadium: It also got a bit of a boost when Stephen Colbert took on the Jay-Z role and did a version with Keys, where he changed the lyrics to be about living in the suburbs:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Of course, that version -- a parody of the original -- was really just picking up on a popular trend showing up all over YouTube: people rewriting and performing Empire State of Mind with lyrics to reflect their own hometowns or other cultural groups. They were everywhere. A few months back, I remembered seeing one site list out 55 of the best such parodies (some much better than others), including all sorts of cities, big and small, as well as random other versions, such as College Humor's amusing Galactic Empire State of Mind, starring Darth Vader. So, it seemed a bit odd that, nearly a year after this phenomenon, yet another of these parodies, called the Newport State of Mind, about the Welsh town of Newport went viral, with over a million views, but such is life in the viral video world.

Even odder? Apparently EMI has issued a takedown notice for just that one video pulling it off YouTube. This is despite literally hundreds of Empire State of Mind parodies on YouTube. Those 55 best parodies? They're all on YouTube (with the exception of the Darth Vader one...). Honestly, I thought this had to be a mistake, or some weird Content ID error by YouTube. Considering the vast number of these parodies that have all remained up this whole time, would EMI really issue a takedown for this one parody?

However, EMI seems to have confirmed that it's taken down the video. According to the BBC report:

A statement from EMI said: "When a song is created based wholly on any of our writers' works, those writers need to grant their permission.

"If that permission isn't granted, then we ask the service in question to remove the song."

And what about all those other parodies? And, of course, at least in the US, parody is often protected as fair use. I recognize this particular parody was done in Wales, but, still, the decision to take down this one video seems really, really odd.

Oh, and one other bit of irony? In looking up some of these parodies, I found this article, which notes that the key musical hook used by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are sampled from a 1970s track from The Moments called Love on A Two Way Street: So, it's a bit amusing that EMI is complaining about others building on top of this particular work...

Filed Under: alicia keys, empire state of mind, jay-z, parody, takedown
Companies: emi