As if this problem isn't international...still, I'll write about what happens in the country I know.

It seems that TV-commercials in Sweden plagiarise known songs a lot more now than before. Rather than licensing the original track ““ that is, if they're allowed to ““ SAS has created their own version of Brian Eno & David Byrne's supreme song "Regiment", off the multi-layered masterpiece "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts". Check the original out here. Sadly, the commercial isn't available online.

Another big company, Dressman, has ripped off Beck's track "Sissyneck", which is from a masterpiece album namely "Odelay". When I confronted them with this, their Marketing Manager, Tomas Behring, said Dressman's version is original and made to evoke "a summery feeling with energy and joy but [sic] at the same time a manly rock light sound." ((My own translation; the original quote reads as follows: "Vi ville ha en sommrig låt med energi och glädje men samtidigt ett litet manligt light rock sound.")) Yeah, right. Nobody thought of the intro whistle, the drums, the singer's way of singing is extremely like Beck's "Sissyneck"? Come off it. Their idea of ripping Beck off isn't even original, as IKEA ripped Beck off a year ago for one of their TV-commercials.

Nycomed AB, a company that makes medicines, has blatantly stolen Carl Orff's "Gassenhauer". Check the company's ad here, and listen to Orff's track here.

Then I saw another commercial where they play "Mares Eat Oats", an old American track, which incidentally is the one that Leland Palmer sings having his hair just turned white. Click here to find the Swedish commercial, and see below to check the bit where Leland goes more insane than usual: