The Barnes Agency

[riflearm2]

Over the years, The Barnes Agency has been called out on here for directly copying other colleges' commercials/advertising/marketing. Most of the examples were blatant copying, and I am sure Marshall was paying for this product that was ripped off of other schools.

I am in need of a handful of commercials to be produced for one of my companies. While obtaining quotes from some producers, I came across this one that was done by The Barnes Agency. It is about the Huntington Chamber of Commerce. Does anyone recognize the music used in it? Do these guys do anything originally?

 

[johns1124]

Someone better call Warner Bros. I'm not sure they will care.

 

[Skidude13]

Sounds like a slight variation of the theme music from "We Are … Marshall." That soundtrack was written by Christophe Beck.

 

[muthed]

Truth be known, there are no original ideas. Somebody is always copying what somebody else has already done.

 

[goherd73]

Notice that it was produced by Barnes Agency and Casting Life Films. If you check out Casting Life Films you will see that one of their clients is Warner Brothers. Maybe that's the link?

 

[marshallisqbu]

Is it from Tyler Childers? @Sistersville111

 

[Sistersville111]

Most of Tyler's music is what he wrote.

 

[whf2]

You may or may not have a vendetta against the Barnes Agency, but the truth is that they are a seriously award-winning agency. Furthermore, there are rights granted every day to use music, etc.; which I know you know. Use them if you like, but no need to abuse them; particularly when they have given extensively freely to MU for years. Have you talked to them directly about how they could help you, or just decided to attack them first?

 

[riflearm2]

You may or may not have a vendetta against the Barnes Agency, but the truth is that they are a seriously award-winning agency. Furthermore, there are rights granted every day to use music, etc.; which I know you know. Use them if you like, but no need to abuse them; particularly when they have given extensively freely to MU for years. Have you talked to them directly about how they could help you, or just decided to attack them first?

I have no vendetta against them nor do I have a use for them. I wasn't looking at their agency- they just happened to be credited in a video produced by somebody's work whom I was looking at.

All I need to know is that 1) they have repeatedly been called out over many years on here for doing exact copycat ripoffs of other schools for their work with Marshall 2) they are using the biggest song from WAM and taking advantage of it to use in one of their videos.

#2 aligns with the number of times they've been called out for #1. No originality, exactly copying of work used either by or for other things.

Truth be known, there are no original ideas. Somebody is always copying what somebody else has already done.

Please keep your dumb comments on the Pullman board. If there are no "original ideas" and "somebody is always copying somebody else," copyright/trademark would be a useless concept and/or things like music/movies/advertising would all be litigated against.

 

[muthed]

I have no vendetta against them nor do I have a use for them. I wasn't looking at their agency- they just happened to be credited in a video produced by somebody's work whom I was looking at.

All I need to know is that 1) they have repeatedly been called out over many years on here for doing exact copycat ripoffs of other schools for their work with Marshall 2) they are using the biggest song from WAM and taking advantage of it to use in one of their videos.

#2 aligns with the number of times they've been called out for #1. No originality, exactly copying of work used either by or for other things.



Please keep your dumb comments on the Pullman board. If there are no "original ideas" and "somebody is always copying somebody else," copyright/trademark would be a useless concept and/or things like music/movies/advertising would all be litigated against.

The genius has spoken again

 

[Herdmeister]

I have no vendetta against them nor do I have a use for them. I wasn't looking at their agency- they just happened to be credited in a video produced by somebody's work whom I was looking at.

All I need to know is that 1) they have repeatedly been called out over many years on here for doing exact copycat ripoffs of other schools for their work with Marshall 2) they are using the biggest song from WAM and taking advantage of it to use in one of their videos.

#2 aligns with the number of times they've been called out for #1. No originality, exactly copying of work used either by or for other things.



Please keep your dumb comments on the Pullman board. If there are no "original ideas" and "somebody is always copying somebody else," copyright/trademark would be a useless concept and/or things like music/movies/advertising would all be litigated against.

why do you believe that they din't pay royalty fees to use the WAM music? You can use the Beatles singing "She Loves You" in a commercial as long as you want to pay the fees to ASCAP and BMI

 

[herdalicious]

I don't know about the present circumstances, but historically those who produce these materials for the athletic department have done so for in-kind trade in the form of program ads and signage appearances on LED boards.

It's not unique to Marshall - if you look at a lot of schools like Marshall who lack funding for their athletic departments, that's how they get this work done, which is why so many schools do the exact same things, over and over and over again.

Also, don't quote me on this, but I seem to recall there being some agreement between the school and the producers of "We Are Marshall" that we had the right to use the film in our marketing, which is why you see it in so many places.

 

[riflearm2]

why do you believe that they din't pay royalty fees to use the WAM music?

That's not what I said. I didn't say they infringed on any copyrights. I said they have a long history of either copycatting work from other people or copycatting their own work and then distributing the exact same thing to different schools in different years. It's unoriginal, lazy, and a rip off.

You can use the Beatles singing "She Loves You" in a commercial as long as you want to pay the fees to ASCAP and BMI

And SESAC.

The point isn't what they can or can't do. The point is that they continue to take ideas from others and use it in their own material. It isn't that they used a song created by somebody else. That's normal. It's that they used the WAM song - a song used for Marshall and Huntington in the movie - in one of their projects about Huntington.

 

[herdalicious]

Follow-up comment about advertising agencies (and internal marketing departments as well): plagiarism is widespread to the point of being so universal as to be expected. There's two reasons for this: 1) the lack of imagination among creatives and 2) the tendency for clients to specifically request things they've already seen.

Having a good idea in advertising is like ferrying a snowflake across a desert. If you're unlucky, the client crushes it for being a good idea that they didn't have; if you are lucky, the client adopts it to the point of taking sole credit for its invention. Your voice and opinion matter about 10% as much as their 8 year old daughter, and Addison/Addyson/Madison/Maddisyn can be a cruel bitch sometimes. If the idea survives to the point of execution, its disseminated as part of a campaign that all of your client's competitors see and say to their agencies, "Okay, now let's do that."

I think this dynamic probably applies to a lot of functions of a lot of different industries.

 

[MarshallManiac]

Having dealt with them in the past for some charity work, I can agree that they are pretty sketchy. In my experience they aren't great about following through with their promises.

 

[muthed]

Follow-up comment about advertising agencies (and internal marketing departments as well): plagiarism is widespread to the point of being so universal as to be expected. There's two reasons for this: 1) the lack of imagination among creatives and 2) the tendency for clients to specifically request things they've already seen.

Having a good idea in advertising is like ferrying a snowflake across a desert. If you're unlucky, the client crushes it for being a good idea that they didn't have; if you are lucky, the client adopts it to the point of taking sole credit for its invention. Your voice and opinion matter about 10% as much as their 8 year old daughter, and Addison/Addyson/Madison/Maddisyn can be a cruel bitch sometimes. If the idea survives to the point of execution, its disseminated as part of a campaign that all of your client's competitors see and say to their agencies, "Okay, now let's do that."

I think this dynamic probably applies to a lot of functions of a lot of different industries.

As I said earlier, there are no original ideas. What's being done now has most likely been done by somebody previously.

 

[mlblack16.]

@MichiganHerd don't you work for a marketing company? Why don't you offer some assistance ITT?

 

[Sistersville111]

Buy slogan's and put them anywhere Tyler Childers is because once he gets the go on performing concerts he will sell out all over the world. Hottest act in Nashville. Watch out for Billy Strings too

 

[ATOesMU]

Or.....maybe the choice of music was a conscious decision by Chamber, City and University leadership to use music that is already associated with the City, is recognized by many people, and is quite moving/emotional to help strengthen the “Huntington Brand.” Just a thought.......

 

[riflearm2]

Or.....maybe the choice of music was a conscious decision by Chamber, City and University leadership to use music that is already associated with the City, is recognized by many people, and is quite moving/emotional to help strengthen the “Huntington Brand.” Just a thought.......

Uhh, yeah, that's the point. It's easy to copy another thought instead of creating your own. The Barnes Agency seems to have a long history of doing that based on the numerous posts about them over the years on here.

 

[ATOesMU]

You expect ad agencies to create/commission new music for every commercial they put together?
Again, it SEEMS this was a conscious decision to link the Chamber, City and University through music and style, and not freewheeling “copy-catting.” There’s a difference - subtle, yet still a difference.

 

[riflearm2]

You expect ad agencies to create/commission new music for every commercial they put together?

No, and this has already been somewhat addressed in this thread. Herdmeister brought up PROs (performance rights organizations) and the need for businesses to pay their fees in order to broadcast copyrighted music (think along the lines of a shopping mall, sports arena, doctor's waiting room, bar playing music). All of those pay an annual fee to PROs for the right to broadcast music. PROs simply "manage" or administer the fees owed to each rights holder for their work. They only have licenses available for certain types of broadcast.

What Herdmeister seems confused about is public performances/broadcast compared with sync licenses. Sync licenses are needed for things like television shows, movies, commercials, video games, etc. PROs, in almost all cases, don't handle sync licenses. They can pay out on sync licenses, but they aren't in control of granting or allowing them.

Ad agencies aren't expected to create new music for every commercial. But they also aren't expected to copycat a song that was used for one thing and use it for something very similar. Doing so is simply lazy and unethical (assuming they didn't ask the person who had the idea for permission).

It would be like Seagram's Gin using the song "Gin & Juice" by Snoop Dogg in a commercial then having Tanqueray use the exact same song in one of their commercials. It's lazy and copycatting. Knowing the previous incidents of The Barnes Agency having taken the lazy/uncreative way out, it isn't surprising.

 

[i am herdman]

Heard MLB was starting back up in July.

 

[GreenDuke]

Heard MLB was starting back up in July.

Lol.