As for i Tunes’ policy toward soundalikes, an Apple spokesperson offered the following statement: “ Cover songs are submitted to the i Tunes store like any other. The artists for all songs are clearly labeled.”

Terry Perusini, president of Legacy Entertainment, which has produced tribute albums of songs by Pink Floyd, Nelly Furtado, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Queen, among others, dismisses the idea that consumers are being duped into buying music they don’t want. “In the eight years we’ve been doing this, we’ve sold hundreds of thousands of these things, and I’ve had only one complaint,” he says. “Some out there create packages with the intention to deceive people, but I make them aware it’s a tribute. I don’t want to piss people off by trying to fool them.”

Perusini says the only real complaints he gets are from the major labels, whose sales reps have tried to convince retailers that his products infringe on their copyrights and trademarks. Perusini insists “there’s nothing legally wrong with” Legacy’s tributes; the labels just want to bully him off their retail turf.

“A few years ago I did a Lion King tribute, and the cover had a lion on it,” he says. “Disney sent me a letter saying the lion infringes on their copyright. It was just a damn clip-art lion. I was like, ‘You don’t own every lion.’ But do I really want to go to court and fight this? I don’t need the aggravation. So I just changed the cover.”

Infante says that while he “can’t comment on any company using bullying tactics,” as far as “American Boy” goes, “Suffice it to say, the phone has rung a couple of times.”

Estelle and Kid Rock declined to comment for this story, as did representatives from their label, Atlantic, several other major labels, and the Recording Industry Association of America. For his part, Jenkins says that Countdown actually has a very fruitful relationship with the majors, who frequently license the company’s covers to put together compilations they release overseas. Jim Woodford, group president for SBI Group, a leading licensor of soundalikes and instrumental tracks, points out that major-label artists often use SBI’s backing tracks onstage.

Soundalikes have been used extensively, though with decreasing frequency, on video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Members of the Romantics sued the companies behind Guitar Hero last year over the inclusion of a soundalike version of “What I Like About You” on Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. But the judge found that the game’s makers were appropriately paying royalties to the song’s publisher and tossed the case out of court. Beyond this, soundalikes are frequently licensed for commercials, TV shows, and films. Supervisors on these projects turn to covers when getting the rights to use the original becomes too costly or time-consuming, or is blocked by the artist.

“We were approached by a film company that wanted to put a cover of ours into a trailer for a major film,” says Jenkins. “The original artist would not grant any rights to it. They came to us and we licensed a cover to them. The artist wasn’t happy about that. He threatened legal action, but there was nothing he could do, because there was no implication that it was this particular artist singing this song.”

Such synchronization projects, as they’re known, make up about 15 percent of Countdown’s business. Of course, that means 85 percent of their soundalike revenue comes from the general public.

“The typical consumer is the mother who is 32 to 45 and likes music, but doesn’t want to spend a lot of money,” says Jenkins. “They listen to the radio but don’t pay attention to who is doing the song, necessarily. A lot of parents also buy these for their kids. This is a business that fills a need.”

STATUTE OF IMITATIONS
More weird moments in rock copycatting

E

It’s fitting that a nut who camped out in Canada pretending to be David Lee Roth (above left) would be brought down by another nut—of the edible variety. When David Kuntz (above right) was pulled over for speeding by Ontario cops earlier this year, he blamed his lead foot on a peanut allergy, then convinced hospital reps—and some of the media—that he was Diamond Dave. The ruse unraveled when the real Roth went public with the assertion “The only thing I’m allergic to is criticism.”

I

I

The Zombies made some of the most memorable music of the ’60s but never achieved pinup status, so it wasn’t difficult for five faceless dudes to pass themselves off as the real thing on a 1969 tour that coincided with the chart success of Odessey and Oracle, an album released after the actual band split up.

You know you’ve fallen on hard times when you exit one of the world’s biggest bands only to have a homeless guy steal your identity—and many find it easy to believe you’re sleeping under a pier. That happened to Peter Criss in 1991, when an L.A. drifter named Christopher Dickinson claimed to be the former Kiss drummer, finally coming clean in a joint appearance on Donahue.

I

I

JOHN SCIULLI/ WIREIMAGE; THE HAMILTON SPEC TATOR

On September 9, Atlantic changed course and returned Estelle’s “American Boy” to i Tunes. The next day, Studio All-Stars’ cover disappeared from the retailer’s Top 100. The track had sold in excess of 30,000 downloads during its run, but One Media’s Infante wasn’t about to change his business model on account of it. “We put songs up for sale, and Joe Public decides if he wants to buy them,” he says. “There’s no marketing drive; they’re not advertised. They’re just there.” By September 22, Cleopatra’s version of “All Summer Long” (credited to the Rock Heroes) was No. 11 on i Tunes.

As for Joe Public being hoodwinked, Madacy’s Jenkins believes Joe Public needs to take some responsibility for his own actions.

“Part of the problem is, people are just not paying attention,” he says. “They go to i Tunes, see ‘All Summer Long,’ and assume it’s Kid Rock. They listen to it, and it sounds like Kid Rock. So can you say the customer is dissatisfied? No. They got what they were looking for—something that was close enough.”

Is it a crime when someone steals stolen property from a thief? The members of Killing Joke certainly seemed to think so when they ranted that Nirvana’s “Come as You Are” ripped off their 1985 song “Eighties.” The point would be valid—if not for the fact that “Eighties” is a virtual rewrite of the Damned’s “Life Goes On,” from 1982.

Rule No. 1 for aspiring impersonators is to know whom you’re ripping off—something Ken Grimley ignored when he tried to pass himself off as Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley in 2007. Grimley was busted when Galley (who died in July) paid a visit to his home, only to have the copycat offer him a photo signed “Mel.”

I

Todd Rundgren has toured with Ringo Starr and recently played two weeks of Sgt. Pepper’s tribute concerts, but aping the Beatles was a career path he first explored on the 1976 album Faithful and then on Utopia’s 1980 Deface the Music, a clever collection of not-so-thinly disguised Fab Four pastiches.

I

Not every musician gets angry at impostors. Take MF Doom, who has one on his payroll. Fans at some dates on the recent Rock the Bells tour voiced outrage that the masked MC was not only lip-synching but appeared “about 100 pounds lighter” than the real Doom. DAVID SPRAGUE