For those of you who picked up a copy of the November 15 issue of Rolling Stone you will remember a four-page fold-out titled “Indie Rock Universe”. It was a nice little cartoonish editorial loaded up with little notes and drawings, music/cosmology and other nonsense. The piece drops a truck load of band names ranging from pseudo-obscure acts to a few that wouldn’t even meet the classification of “indie”.

Regardless of how legitimate the article is or isn’t, what has been upsetting readers, bands, and lawyers is that the fold-out is in between Camel Cigarettes’ “Farm Campaign”. The “Farm Campaign”’s catchy tag-line reads “Committed to Supporting & Promoting Independent Record Labels”.
Could this be a coincidence?
It certainly doesn’t look like one, nor do the bands featured in the piece think so.
According to the Daily Swarm. Xiu Xiu and Fucked Up just filed a class action lawsuit against everyone involved with the article, Camel cigarettes and their parent company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, The Rolling Stone, and their parent company, Wenner Media.

The law suit is stating that Rolling Stone created and presented the piece with full intention to tie it in with the Camel ad. The charges are “unauthorized use of artists’ names; unauthorized use of artist names for commercial advantage (right of publicity); and unfair business practices”.

Plaintiffs are asking for Rolling Stone to print a follow-up to the original (in equal size) clarifying that 186 band names were used for advertising without consent.
They’re also seeking to be compensated for damages. Which right now is being estimated at $195.3 billion if guilty.

Written by: B. Disco on December 21st, 2007 | Filed under Music News, News