The Associated Press (syndicated by CBS Marketwatch) reports that hip hop star Eminem’s music publisher Eight Mile Style is suing Apple over an iTunes ad spot that aired on television last year.
Apple’s multicolored iPod and iTunes ad spots featuring silhouetted dancers have become ubiquitous on prime time television now, but when Apple launched its iTunes Music Store, the company used a different advertising campaign that featured users singing their favorite songs aloud while listening to them on the iPod. The ads were posted to Apple’s Web site, and were even parodied by commercial music download service BuyMusic.com when it launched several months later.
Several popular songs were sung by the iTunes users in those spots, including one young listener who sang Eminem’s hit “Lose Yourself,” featured in the motion picture “Eight Mile.” According to the lawsuit, Apple did not receive permission to use the song. Also named in the suit is video music cable channel MTV, which aired the spots, MTV’s parent company Viacom Inc., and TBWA/Chiat/Day, the advertising agency that produced the spot for Apple.
The lawsuit, filed late last week in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Mich., said that Eminem has never nationally endorsed any commercial products. If he did, said the suit, he’d ask for “a significant amount of money, possibly in excess of $10 million.”