It’s been a rough patch for the members of The Beastie Boys following the passing of MCA / Adam Yauch in 2012. And while they won’t be making music under the Beastie Boys moniker in the near future, that doesn’t mean that the surviving members aren’t still fighting for the music they created over the years.
Take their lawsuit against Monster Energy for example, a case that was initiated in 2012 and just netted the group $1.7 million for copyright infringement. From Pitchfork:
The Beastie Boys’ lawsuit against Monster Energy Drink was initiated in 2012 after the company included parts of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” “So What’cha Want,” “Make Some Noise” and “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun” on a promotional video on their website. They also allegedly included a 23-minute medley of Beastie Boys songs made available for download as an MP3. As Rolling Stone reports, the songs were taken from footage of a live set by DJ Z-Trip at the Canadian festival “Ruckus in the Rockies”, which was sponsored by Monster and held only a few days after Adam Yauch died in May of that year.
The timing of the lawsuit was particularly relevant as Yauch’s will specifically prohibits any company from using the group’s music for advertisements. Reportedly, the Beastie Boys sought up to $2.5 million for copyright infringement and false endorsement.
I doubt there was a bigger Beastie Boys fan than myself during my high school years. I basically did nothing but listen to their music and read up on the history like some maniac. It’s so bittersweet to read news about them now. That greatness is still there, but it’s mired by this loss.
I’m glad they won out in court and hopefully don’t have to battle too much in the future. I just sort of wish it didn’t turn out like this and we were talking about when the next Beastie Boys album was coming out.
(Via Pitchfork)
