Adam Yauch’s Will Bans Use of His Music in Ads
Image by Getty Images
If you’d hoped to hear “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” in a coffee commercial, you’re out of luck.
Rolling Stone reports this week that a will left by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch , who died in May of cancer at age 47, prohibits the use of his music in ads. The will was filed Tuesday in Manhattan Surrogate court. “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes,” reads a copy obtained by Rolling Stone. The phrase “or any music or any artistic property created by me” was added in handwriting.
The will also names Yauch’s wife, Dechen, as the executor of his estate and leaves his $6.4 million to Dechen and their daughter, Tenzin Losel.
As the BBC noted, companies regularly exhume images of dead musicians, celebrities and historical figures in their advertisements, such as Apple’s 1997 Think Different campaign featuring John Lennon, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.
The BBC also reported that surviving members of the Beastie Boys, Adam (Ad Rock) Horovitz and Mike (Mike D) Diamond, took legal action this week against energy-drink maker Monster over allegations of copyright infringement.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, claims “executives have been using their tracks in a promotional video and downloadable audio file without their permission.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
