The Black Keys' songs have been used in many commercials, just look at this list from wikipedia:
‘Girl Is on My Mind’ was used in a 2006 Sony Ericsson advertisement, starring the tennis players Ana Ivanović and Daniela Hantuchová.
Girl Is on My Mind’ was used in a 2006 Victoria’s Secret commercial featuring Heidi Klum.
‘10 am Automatic’ was used in the video game MLB ’06: The Show, and was also used in a 2007 American Express commercial starring Shaun White.
‘Your Touch’ was featured in a 2007 Lee’s jeans commercial,
‘Strange Times’ was used in Grand Theft Auto IV on the in-game radio station Radio Broker.
‘Just Got To Be’ was used on the soundtrack for the video game NHL 08
I am sure other songs were also featured in a few car commercials (Mazda and Subaru), as well as a Zales Diamond ad, and I am just talking about commercials and games, since their contribution to film and series soundtracks is also impressive. They have no problem with their music being used as long as they are paid, ‘As long as your art is pure, who cares where it is?’ declared Patrick Carney in a 2010 interview.
Whether you agree or not is irrelevant, it’s their music, they do whatever they want with it and they are not the only ones. I would even say that this tactic had helped them to be where they are now: Coachella headliners, do not forget!
But the Black Keys are now suing two big corporations, Home Depot and Pizza Hut for using elements of two of their songs without their permission: ‘The Lonely Boy’ was used in an ad promoting power tools, and ‘Gold on the Ceiling’ in a yummy pizza ad!
According to the Washington Post, ‘the cases seek unspecified damages of more than $75,000 a piece and an order preventing the continued use of the songs in the commercials’.
I don’t know how this happened but that was the risk of the game, after being such a commodity for commercials and ads of any nature, may be corporations thought they could freely use any Black Keys song, because at the end who would be able to see the difference?
But Dan and Pat saw the difference! The Black Keys are two ferocious business partners, they still know how to make money during these hard times for musicians. As for Pizza Hut and Home Depot can we blame them for wanting a piece of the Black Keys when everybody already got one? The funny thing is that these two songs have already been used in many commercials (With Dan and Pat’s approval of course) as ‘Gold On the Ceiling’ was used in an NCAA commercial, while ‘Lonely Boy’ appeared in an HSBC rugby promo.