The Verve
On their song "Bittersweet Symphony," the British rock group The Verve sampled an orchestration from Andrew Loog Oldham's version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," the rights to which are owned by Klein's ABKCO Industries. Before the release of the album, The Verve negotiated a licensing agreement with Klein, who administered The Stones' catalogue, to use the sample (or at least the compositional rights to the sample). In 1997, The Verve's album Urban Hymns peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard charts. A bitter legal battle ensued, resulting in The Verve turning over 100% of the royalties to ABKCO. Klein argued that The Verve had violated the previous licensing agreement by using too much of the sample in their song. Capitalizing off the success of the song, Klein licensed The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" to Nike, who proceeded to run a multi-million dollar television campaign using The Verve's song over shots of its sneakers. Klein also allowed the song to be used in advertisements for Vauxhall automobiles. (Additionally, though the song was authored by The Rolling Stones, the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra performed the sampled recording, and also filed suit upon the success of the song.) When "Bittersweet Symphony" was nominated for a Grammy Award, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones were named as the nominees, rather than The Verve.
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