MIA. vs. MAN RECORDINGS
August 14th, 2008Okay peepz, here´s a nut to crack for all of you. There´s a German band called MIA. which has come up with a new logo that has a pretty obvious resemblance with the logo Man Recordings uses since 2005.
First, a few explanations. The symbol we use on our records, on the website and some of our T-Shirts – in abstract form – represent the three letters MAN. The logo also symbolizes a waveform, the basic graphic display of a sonic signal. When looking for a logo for our record label, we played around with the letters “MAN” noticing that in pairs, the three letters consist of four triangles which could be displayed in a waveform too – thus the Man logo which until now only few people deciphered as symbolising both MAN as well as the waveform. We use this as our company´s logo from release #1 and IT`S OURS!
MAN REC classic logo, in use since 2005: 
MIA.´s new logo, first released in 2008:
MIA.´s old logo:
Now, about MIA. : They do a kind of pretty non-funky, middle-of-the-road electro-rock in German language. German kids love ´em but if you know the music from the Neue Deutsche Welle, which MIA. heavily plunder, MIA. is kind of lame. Plus: People in Germany always confuse them with our favourite UK darling M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam). So this band is kind of a big pain in the ass. We don´t need further confusion or desire any association with the band MIA. – and we prefer to be the only label using this logo.
Check the MIA. website and see what I mean:
http://www.miarockt.de/
Man Recorder readers, Man Recordings fans, supporters, haters, what time is love? Is this a coincidence? A matter for the legal department? Should we care? Should we sue? Your comments are warmly welcomed.
P.S. Some additional trivia: There´s even another MIA in Germany, Berlin based Techno DJ MIA (Michaela Grobelny) which spells her name as “M.i.a.” Can you dig it? Total confusion, arrghhh!
Tags: Logo Clash, M.I.A., Man Recordings
August 14th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
don’t care. mal ehrlich daniel, wenn du es nicht hier im blog ausgebreitet hättest, wäre doch kein mensch darauf gestoßen. die zielgruppen von MAN und MIA sind doch völlig andere und kommen sich daher nicht in die quere. und was interessiert mich schon MIA? sollen sie doch machen was und wie sie’s wollen. solange sie nicht über MAN instrumentals singen (und ich glaube kaum, dass das passieren wird) würde ich versuchen mich so wenig wie irgend möglich mit deren output zu belasten. :)
August 14th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
hmm. you clearly have a case to complain. i never realised the wave/man link but now that i do its pretty awesome.
however if you say that “mia” is a bit shoddy, i doubt anyone is going to buy one of their records thinking its yours and vice versa.
either way, your record label is fucking awesome and a personal favourite of mine. cannot wait till the tigrona/rose funk mundial series.
keep up the good work.
x