Get Rich or Ripped Off Tryin'

I've noticed a lot of commercials trying to go indie with some of my favorite songs, but rather than use the real songs, they butcher them (probably the same people who make that Kidz Bop crap). I did some investigating because it was bugging me and here's what I found:

This Outback Steakhouse commercial sounds a lot like Of Montreal's Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games). According to this Pitchfork article, Of Montreal was asked for permission to alter their song and okayed it out of curiosity.



And this LG washing machine commercial sounds like Jens Lekman's A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill (Live YouTube video since EZarchive is down). On May 16th he commented on the issue in his blog. They asked to use the song, and he instead suggested he record a similar sounding song for them. He sent it and heard nothing. They ended up recording their own remake of his song without his approval, and without any compensation.

I'm not sure which is worse, having your song associated with a product, or having a rip-off of your song associated with a product and you getting nothing. Probably the latter.