PRESS
STATEMENT FROM MARCH 27, 2007
BY MANUEL GOETTSCHING'S MANAGEMENT:
For
the cover of his album "45:33" LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy has imitated
the
artwork of "E2-E4" and thus inappropriately exploits the reputation of the famous
original!
Manuel
Goettsching's "E2-E4" (recorded on the 12th of December 1981 and first released
in spring 1984)
is considered to be one of the "most influential compositions"
of the last 30 years and according to
US surveys also one of the most frequently
sampled tracks. But 80% of the samples and remixes are illegal...
and on top
of all that comes this plagiarism of the cover artwork:
LCD
Soundsystem's James Murphy has used the artwork of the cover of "E2-E4", and
unappropriately
claims for himself the prestige of the famous original, not missing a chance
to
tell the press that with "45:33" he wanted to create a work similar to Goettsching's
"E2-E4":
From
Wikipedia:
"45:33" is a song by LCD Soundsystem.
Commissioned by Nike,
45:33: Nike Original Run is an original and exclusive composition only
available
at Nike Music Store on iTunes.The publicity for the song described it as being
designed to
accompany jogging workouts. James Murphy later said this was a
complete lie on his part,
that he doesn't even jog, and that he had simply
used the opportunity to make a
record like E2-E4 by Manuel Goettsching."
(Quoted
from an interview with THE GUARDIAN, published on February 10, 2007).
Manuel
Goettsching was caught off guard by this "artifice" of a fellow musician when
journalists
and fans asked him how he felt about the astounding similarity
of the covers - the only difference
in the design being NIKE's logo on "45:33",
as well as of course the titles and artist's names.
Even the fonts used are
identical. 23 years after its first release, the famous "E2-E4" design exists
not
only on CD and LP covers, but is sold worldwide on all kinds of merchandising
such as
bags, jackets, shirts, towels and coffee mugs - in several color variations,
but always with light
and dark squares just like on a chessboard (the title
of Manuel Goettsching's album
"E2-E4" is a reference to one of the most popular
opening moves in chess).
When
Manuel Goettsching's management contacted Murphy about the unapproved and
(in
the context of competition laws) illegal usage, Murphy's manager Keith Wood answered
cynically
in an email “Anyone who knows Manuel’s cover art will know that the cover art
of “45:33” is
clearly not the same...” Murphy obviously shows no regret for
his inappropriate behavior,
and conveys that he is "upset", because he really
values Goettsching's work very highly, but sees no
chance to arrange for a
talk to clarify. But still Murphy does not miss any chance to keep on
advertising
his "45:33" with the reference to the legendary "E2-E4" so that more and more
fans
on numerous internet music blogs associate Murphy's recording with the
famous "E2-E4" -
incidentially just after the very successful recent release
of its 25th Anniversary Edition and
right before the unknown "45:33" will be
available in stores.
Even
though Manuel Goettsching was upset by Murphy’s cavalier attitude, he offered
to discuss the
matter with Murphy but until now has received no reply. LCD
Soundsystem is currently touring Europe,
North America and, recently played
in Berlin where Goettsching lives.
In
the meantime, NIKE's lawyers gave a statement which said that neither Murphy nor
his
management informed NIKE about the reference of "45:33" to the E2-E4 cover
and album, and that
the company plans to part with Murphy - they have to, anyway,
because their contract runs out
in a couple of weeks. Then, according to Murphy
in interviews, the album will also be released
in record stores, and not only
on iPods that sell with Nike's sneakers or on iTunes,
but also as a regular
CD. Of course this time without NIKE's logos in pink, which makes
the similarity
to E2-E4 even more obvious. All this seems well planned by Murphy, and he even
accepts
the trouble with Goettsching as a part of the deal.
This
clearly doesn’t qualify his album as a tribute to the great role model.
He's
just jumped on someone else's gravy train without buying a ticket.
What Murphy
is doing is exploiting the album's reputation for his own purposes illegally
in
the context of German Competition Regulations and also according to legislation
of other countries, too.