Levon Helm Loses The Weight
The former Band man fails in lawsuit to stop the song from being used in adverts
Ultimate Classic Rock reports that Helm filed a lawsuit against BBDO Worldwide, Inc. in 2004, claimed that the ad agency used the classic in a commercial for Cingular Wireless (now AT&T) without proper consent. However, an appellate court said the group’s 1968 contract with Capitol Records gave the label permission to use it.
Helm’s lawyer, John O’Neill, claims that the contract only allowed Capitol to promote the music itself, not as a tie-in to a product but a Manhattan court ruled on Thursday that the contract was valid and that the song could be used for commercial use if the record company allowed it.
The song was actually written by Robbie Robertson but Helm sings and plays on it and, as he said in 2006, "We didn’t make that song to be a f***ing jingle.”