Wired has published a very interesting article on BuyMusic’s (BM) attempts to rip-off Apple’s iTunes Music Store (iTMS) ads. If that sounds familiar, it’s because we mentioned an article on the same topic from the Washington Post about an hour ago. Wired takes a different angle, however, and discusses such issues as copyright infringement, the nature of parody and homage, and includes quotes from several MacNN forum posters. The article also offers a quote from BuyMusic spokeswoman Stacey Doherty that we found fascinating. According to Wired, Doherty says that BM’s ads were intended to be a compliment to Apple. From Wired:
It’s no coincidence that the ads look alike. BuyMusic.com is intentionally mimicking its successful competitor’s campaign.
"Yes, there is a similarity between the ads," BuyMusic spokeswoman Stacey Doherty said. "It was meant to be a compliment to Apple."
[…]
Doherty says the point of the commercials is to entice people who own PCs, which happens to be almost everyone. "’Music for the rest of us’ (BuyMusic.com’s slogan) means everyone who doesn’t have a Mac, which accounts for about 150 million PC users," she said.
To remind you, BM has ads that show people singing along to pop songs while holding MP3 players, just like Apple’s iTMS ads. While the Wired article doesn’t mention it (the Washington Post article we mentioned earlier did), BM also has an ad where Drummer Tommy Lee smashes the same guitar Apple uses in its other iTMS ads. You can get more information on those ads in TMO’s coverage of this topic from last month.
There’s a lot more in the full article from Wired, as well, and we recommend it as an interesting read.