What Is a Sound-alike?

A sound-alike is a piece of music or a vocal performance deliberately created to imitate an existing track, artist or voice that could not be licensed, coming as close to the original as possible without copying it outright. Advertisers use sound-alikes to evoke a famous sound at lower cost, a practice that carries serious legal risk.

Sound-alike in Practice

The practice became legally hazardous through two landmark American cases. In Midler v Ford Motor Co (1988), Ford’s agency hired one of Bette Midler’s former backing singers to imitate her recording of Do You Want to Dance after Midler refused the advert; the court ruled that a distinctive voice is protectable and Midler won damages. In Waits v Frito-Lay (1992), Tom Waits won a multimillion-dollar award over a Doritos radio advert that imitated his gravelly voice. Sound-alikes often begin with temp track love, when a team falls for an unlicensable reference. The safer route is to brief a composer on the feeling the reference evokes and create something original.

Famous Example

Midler v Ford (1988): Ford’s advert imitated Bette Midler’s voice and lost in court