5 Aug, 2011
Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5 and coach on NBC’s reality series “The Voice,” is suing Activision, alleging overuse of his likeness in Band Hero.
Maroon 5—including Levine—indeed appears in this Guitar Hero spinoff. But the kicker? Activision got all the necessary approval from the band and Levine himself to use his likeness in the game. The permission allows Activision to use a digital version of Levine during gameplay of the band’s song “She Will Be Loved,” which Levine performed for motion-capture so his avatar could be created.
So what’s his problem? Well, his likeness appears in other parts of the game. Players have the option of playing as Levine in any song, including songs where the singer is (gasp!) female.
Levine learned that artists who agreed to such expanded use of their likeness got more money from Activision than he did. Feeling like he got shorted, Levine brought suit against the company.
He is suing for fraudulent inducement, violation of the common law right of publicity, breach of contract and unfair business acts or practices. In order to win, Levine needs to prove he sustained some sort of damages. For example, he needs to prove that use of Band Hero‘s Levine avatar during non-Maroon 5 songs has damaged his reputation.
Activision has not yet responded to these allegations.
Via Reuters.
This has been a problem with several people that signed on with Guitar Hero 5. I think the bigger question is why anyone would want to play as someone else in Guitar Hero 5 when they can play as their own creation, or more of a hoot, their own avatar on Xbox 360.
I agree!
I also feel like the artists who get angry about this type of “likeness use” overlook how much these games promote both the artist and the songs. There have been a ton of older songs that I go home and download after singing/playing along with them in Guitar Hero/Band Hero/Rock Band that I would otherwise never think about again.