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Snowbunny
06-01-2005, 05:17 PM
It took over 30 years for a Nick Drake song to be used in a commercial, but only a year for Devandra Banhart to market his song to a corporation.

What do you think of this trend of using little-known artists to sell products on television? Do you like it? Does it work? Do you have a favourite?

Every time a new commercial comes out (IPOD and cars especially), there are a flurry of requests on message boards to learn the name of the band and the song used in the ad.

Is this the marketing department's sneaky way of getting you to visit their website? I know I visited a running shoe website for the first time soley to find out who did the song. I never would have otherwise.

But I'm guessing the ploy works even better for the bands than the product, cause I can remember a bunch of the band's names, but not what they were selling in the commercial.

But that's just me. I'm weird. I know. :cool:

DarrenH
06-01-2005, 05:50 PM
Commercial music in advertising is a joke. I think it sucks. Applebee's is the worst. I reach for the clicker immediately when their lame adverts appear. Car adverts are second. Jeez, it's just a freeking automobile for chrissakes. And overpriced at that. All of them. My father retired from GM, 42 years of service, and he may lose his pension. Dirty bastards.

But the most ridiculous commercial I ever witnessed was a diaper ad for toddlers using the song "You've Got The Power" as it's jingle while these innocent babies are shown (at the very end) pulling up their diaper panties. How freeking lame.

Hyfi
06-01-2005, 06:55 PM
I know I visited a running shoe website for the first time soley to find out who did the song. I never would have otherwise.

And you thought nobody would notice how clever you are.

Just think, if Nick Drake had a butt like Joss Stone, he could sing GAP commercials.

Dusty Chalk
06-01-2005, 07:14 PM
I wouldn't know, I don't watch television.

...much.
What do you think of this trend of using little-known artists to sell products on television? Do you like it? Does it work? Do you have a favourite?Moby is the king of selling out. Not only did he go from living in his mother's house to envied mogul based on his marketing of every single track from Play, that was also his creative peak.

And yeah, I would trade places with him in an instant.

tentoze
06-01-2005, 08:04 PM
And you thought nobody would notice how clever you are.

Just think, if Nick Drake had a butt like Joss Stone, he could sing GAP commercials.
At this point, not without sounding a bit tired, I would think...

Stone
06-02-2005, 04:50 AM
I've heard both a Black Flag song and a Cramps song in commercials in the past couple of years. I just about fell out of my chair when I heard the songs in commercials, but thought it was cool that they were getting some exposure, even though part of me regards this as "my" music and would like to keep it that way.

Ex Lion Tamer
06-02-2005, 06:20 AM
I like it. Especially if I'm watching TV with an indie-hipster-defficient person who says, "hey that song sounds cool", and I can identify the band for them (happened with Kings of Leon in VW commercial, and Modest Mouse in another car company commercial)

Troy
06-02-2005, 07:15 AM
MGH and I went off on this subject recently. He was defending Pete Townshend for selling Who songs for commercial use. Hell, I'm not even sure if they're his to sell anymore. But Pete was fervently in favor of selling the songs, his argument being something like "if you think that using a song commercially ruins the song's iconic status for you, then it really wasn't that important for you anyway."

Huh?

I think it sucks too. It DOES dirty the song's purity and purpose.

It's about art vs. commercialism. Regardless of medium, if the piece is created as pure art and is later used commercially it cheapens the artistic integrity of the piece. Especially to later generations that only see that piece as it was used commercially. For them, the work has lost it's context and meaning.

Remember Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling with a vacuum cleaner? Everybody under the age of 30 at the time was like "Who is this guy? How stupid." It was a disgusting misuse of Freddy's talent and it colored a generation's perception of what fred Astaire was about. And it's not like Fred had any say in the matter.

Nick Drake is dead. I wonder how he'd feel about his songs being used in car commercials? I suspect he'd hate it as much as Astaire would hate the vacuum commercial.

But I tell ya, I'd sell one of my songs in an INSTANT. Of course, Pete has a LOT more money than I do. My songs aren't icons of a generation either, so no one would mind me hocking them.

Snowbunny
06-02-2005, 09:15 AM
And you thought nobody would notice how clever you are.

Just think, if Nick Drake had a butt like Joss Stone, he could sing GAP commercials.

Heheheh... I'm sure everyone here has noticed how clever I am at some time or other. :rolleyes:

I heard a comedian talking about the people who always feel the need to point out their unintentional pun. Since the phrase "no pun intended" is so annoying, he suggested that everytime you made a pun you should emphatically state "pun intended". ;)

Its almost as annoying as people doing the "quotey" thing with their fingers.

Snowie

PS: Cactus is well but didn't bloom this year. What do you feed yours?

Swish
06-02-2005, 09:23 AM
especially stuff like that insipid "Like a Rock" from Bob Seeger used by Chevrolet. How crappy can you get? I have found some to be very nice actually, like "Pink Moon" that Snowflake refers to in her original post. It fit the commercial very well, and if it got more people aware of Nick Drake, then it's a good thing IMO. I'm sure the heirs of his catalog were very happy about it since he was certainly an underappreciated artist when he was alive. I also thought the commercial that used The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize" was excellent. Was it Sony or IBM? Gee, I remember the commercial but not the product! How funny is that! Penn & Teller were in it, too, and it was pretty amusing.

In general, I'm against artists selling out, especially the top 40 stuff that wasn't good in the first place and now we have to be assaulted all over again via television. As if it wasn't bad enough hearing the dreck while in shopping malls or record stores.

Swish

BinFrog
06-02-2005, 09:27 AM
You know it's kinda funny. I have always been adamently against selling good music to commercials. I mean, what do I care if Britney Spears or Michael Jackson sells a song to a car company, but leave the good bands out of it. I hate Michael Jackson for selling The Beatles' "Revolution" to Nike. I hate him enough for owning the songs to begin with, but that was just a desecration of everything that song stood for. It was a travesty. But slowly I've heard more and more songs I like being used over the past few years. It all started when I made fun of my roommate 8 years ago when an Allman Bros song was used. He swore no band he loved would ever do that, and I did too. He was an Allman Bros fan and I swear when he heard that commercial for the first time he was in major denial. He swore it came from outside! But sure enough we saw the commercial again and there it was. I thought I had won. My 2 favorite bands, Rush and Pearl Jam, would never do that, right? I mean they are both largely against commercialization of music and are both fiercly independent, right?

Well that all changed a few years ago when Nissan got a hold of "Tom Sawyer". I was livid, to begin with. But then I read an interview w/ Neil Peart where he mentioned the fact that if he didn't sell the song, the record company could just let someone cover it and then Rush wouldn't see a dime. He thought he'd better at least see something come out of it if it was going to be used anyway. That sorta made sense. Then of course I started hearing Zep and Who songs in different car commercials too. I could do without the sudden onslaught, but I suppose artists have the right to make some money too. I am torn though between what I said above, about Revolution being desecrated, and the fact that songs being used 20-30 years after their original release just don't have the same social significance they once did. They are just great songs now. I mean, isn't the 'revolution' over? I digress. Do "Rock and Roll" or "Happy Jack" really lose their historical and/or personal meaning to anyone just because they appeared in a TV spot? "Rock and Roll" still rocks. "Tom Sawyer" still gives me chills. "Revolution" still has a powerful message. Turn the TV off or change the channel for 30 seconds if it bothers you.

Of course, I am still clinging to the hope that PJ will never be in a commercial. Apparently they were approached by Viagra to use "Alive" in a commercial. Hah! Eddie was approached by The Gap to do a commercial a few years ago and he said he would do it only if he was allowed to say "All of the money I made in this commercial is going to charity". They did not let him, so he declined.

I can't help but wonder if I would have ever heard of Nick Drake had "Pink Moon" not been dug up by Volkswagen. Someone in their marketing dept has good taste. And now I've had the Pink Moon album for 2-3 years now and I think it is brilliant, timeless, and absolutely gorgeous.

So there is my take. There are good and bad aspects. I have lightened up a little I suppose. Music will always be music no matter how you look at it.

Stone
06-02-2005, 09:27 AM
It's about art vs. commercialism. Regardless of medium, if the piece is created as pure art and is later used commercially it cheapens the artistic integrity of the piece. Especially to later generations that only see that piece as it was used commercially. For them, the work has lost it's context and meaning.
* * *
But I tell ya, I'd sell one of my songs in an INSTANT. Of course, Pete has a LOT more money than I do. My songs aren't icons of a generation either, so no one would mind me hocking them.

I'm not sure I understand. If it's pure art, isn't it then somehow cheapened by selling it on a CD and receiving royalties for performance and/or songwriting? And do you really think a 16 year old kid (who isn't a music geek) is going to have any clue about the context and meaning of the song (assuming he or she ever hears it in the first place outside of a commercial)? How many kids do you think know "Happy Jack" is even a Who song though it is used in a Hummer commercial?

BinFrog
06-02-2005, 09:31 AM
Let me also state that as much as I was against commercialization of music, I did submit a 1 minute piece I recorded last year to the local radio station when they had a contest. The contest was to send in a clip that a local car dealership could use in one of its spots. If yours was chosen you got $1000. I took a 4 minute piece of mine and just chopped it down to 1 minute. It's a hard rock station and the dealership owner told people to send in music that was appropriate for the station. I chose the first song I ever recorded on my multi-track recorder. It's just me and my guitar (with lots of pedals and effects) & a synth, plus a drum machine. I chose that song because it was pretty hard and because I wasn't as proud of it as the stuff I recorded later on when I got more skilled at using the recorder. It was never going to make it to the CD I eventually want to make for friends and family. It was a fun little song, but otherwise a throw away. I figured why not?

I didn't win, but I hope someone enjoyed it!

Troy
06-02-2005, 01:05 PM
I'm not sure I understand. If it's pure art, isn't it then somehow cheapened by selling it on a CD and receiving royalties for performance and/or songwriting?

I see your point. What I mean: is that the piece was not originally intended to sell Hummers, Viagra or VW's. The piece was originally written as a song for a song's sake. Art for art's sake.

The CD (or LP, 8-track etc.) is merely a carrier, a device used to present the piece.

Is art pure anymore if you accept payment for it? Yeah, sure, artists have to eat too. But is it still pure if it's meaning has been completely subverted to sell some product unrelated to it's original context? There's the rub.


And do you really think a 16 year old kid (who isn't a music geek) is going to have any clue about the context and meaning of the song (assuming he or she ever hears it in the first place outside of a commercial)? How many kids do you think know "Happy Jack" is even a Who song though it is used in a Hummer commercial?

None, and that's exactly my point. To them it's "that stupid Hummer song." What was Happy Jack originally about?

Happy Jack appeals to 50 year olds anyway. You think the GM ad team cares if 16 year olds "get it"? They can't afford Hummers anyway. And the Led Zep for Caddy, etc., this stuff is pointed DIRECTLY at it's target demographic: Middle-aged men trying to relive their youth.

MomurdA
06-02-2005, 01:50 PM
I was kind of upset when i heard 'Surfing on a Rocket' by Air for a Nissan Armada on tv. Then i realized that all anybody wants is $$, even 'pure artists' who claim to never sell out.

Troy
06-02-2005, 02:36 PM
I was kind of upset when i heard 'Surfing on a Rocket' by Air for a Nissan Armada on tv. Then i realized that all anybody wants is $$, even 'pure artists' who claim to never sell out.

Love that song.

But has "Surfing on a Rocket" reached the mythic staus with it's target generation that "Happy Jack", "Won't get Fooled Again", or LZ's "Rock and Roll" did with it's?

I couldn't possibly because SoR is only a year old, it never gained the chance to reach that sort of status. Now it never will.

It's a different world today and music means something different to today's younger generation than it did to the boomers.

Hyfi
06-02-2005, 03:01 PM
PS: Cactus is well but didn't bloom this year. What do you feed yours?

I think it has a lot to do with the amount of light they get. Too much is a bad thing. I water them thoroughly once a week and give them Miricle Grow from time to time. I have recieved a few more verieties since last we spoke. They all bloomed from Thanksgiving to Easter again this year. My M-in-Law has a nice one I gave her years ago that has never bloomed. It is in a room that gets too much light and no fresh air.

Hey, I still can't believe they lasted the journey and live on. The mother plant they came from is about as old as I am.

Hyfi

Dusty Chalk
06-02-2005, 09:00 PM
It's not so much the "selling out", as associating discordant images with a song. The same problem as music videos -- if it's not what you pictured, then it's just wrong.

Slosh
06-03-2005, 03:00 AM
I heard Pinback's "AFK" in a video game commercial on G4. I didn't actual see it because I was doing something else in the next room when it came on but my ears perked right up.

Snowbunny
06-03-2005, 07:00 AM
I've heard both a Black Flag song and a Cramps song in commercials in the past couple of years. I just about fell out of my chair when I heard the songs in commercials, but thought it was cool that they were getting some exposure, even though part of me regards this as "my" music and would like to keep it that way.

Yeah, I feel the same way, Stone. What does surprise me is that after a song plays on a commercial, it doesn't seem to do much to increase the popularity of the band.

Given my druthers, I'd rather see lesser-known artists from the past used by the marketing machine. Like the Kinks, for example.

That HP printer commercial totally brought their music to this generation's attention. Myself, I had just heard it for the first time ever, when Davey sent me a copy of Village Green Preservation Society and I had to mute the tv anytime the commercial came on. Which seemed like every 5 minutes!

Snow

Great sig line for a guy named Stone, btw! But what's with the kodiak?

KEXPMF
06-05-2005, 05:18 PM
On one hand it does make me get sick of the song after I hear it too many times (luckily I don't watch too much TV)..... on the other hand... I can't help but thinking there are some very cool people who like the same music I like, who've gotten themselves music supervisor jobs, and when I hear small bands I like on a commercial... part of me is happy for their payday (as opposed to some crappy band getting the $).
As bummed as I was that I can't bear to listen to the Von Bondies "C'mon C'mon" anymore or the Iggy's "Lust for Life" or the Vines "Ride" (due to the car commercials on the radio)... I got over it and knew there was still a ton of other good music.

Stone
06-06-2005, 04:48 AM
Great sig line for a guy named Stone, btw! But what's with the kodiak?

It came from this album:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg200/g225/g22596qz9oa.jpg

Stone
06-06-2005, 04:49 AM
Is art pure anymore if you accept payment for it? Yeah, sure, artists have to eat too. But is it still pure if it's meaning has been completely subverted to sell some product unrelated to it's original context? There's the rub.

I guess I understand this, but what is the original context? Obviously there's a big difference for something like "Happy Jack" that was released over 30 years ago, and a Shins song that came out last year. Maybe using the Shins song in the McDonald's commercial is part of the context of the song, just because of the culture of our society at the moment.

ForeverAutumn
06-06-2005, 05:04 AM
I don't really have problem with artists selling their songs for commercial use. Like Troy said, artists have to eat too. If that's what has to be done in order to get the public to hear their art, then that's what has to be done. The money they earn will help pay the bills and allow them to continue their art.

Do I like that it's this way? No, not really. I would much prefer that these bands be heard and recognized by the public for their talent, for the art's sake, but that isn't happening. Last year, Do You Realize , was used in a car commercial. None of my friends had ever heard the song before seeing the commercial. But after the commercial came out, they all walked around the office humming it. I would much rather hear a great band like The Flaming Lips on a commercial to help get the public's attention, then to see them disband because they can't afford to continue.

If an artist is selling out by letting a song be used in a commercial because that wasn't the original intent for the art...would it be better if they wrote an original commercial jingle instead? Would we have The Shins wasting their talent on an original ditty written specifically for McDonalds? Would that be better or worse?

How do you feel about bands that sell their songs for movie soundtracks? Is that any different?

3-LockBox
06-06-2005, 09:32 AM
Do I like that it's this way? No, not really. I would much prefer that these bands be heard and recognized by the public for their talent, for the art's sake, but that isn't happening. Last year, Do You Realize , was used in a car commercial. None of my friends had ever heard the song before seeing the commercial. But after the commercial came out, they all walked around the office humming it. I would much rather hear a great band like The Flaming Lips on a commercial to help get the public's attention, then to see them disband because they can't afford to continue.
How do you feel about bands that sell their songs for movie soundtracks? Is that any different?

That's the rub...if it seems like a sell out, it is, but how is it any different than a movie soundtrack? Because its selling something.

On the other hand we can applaud those who don't do it, though they maybe broke and years removed from relevance or hipness. I guess I'd rather have my favorite band sell songs to commercials and support themselves, rather than see them struggle and fade. That's another good reason to like prog acts; they have fans around the world that support them and aren't limited by the demograghics of one country.

ForeverAutumn
06-06-2005, 10:20 AM
That's the rub...if it seems like a sell out, it is, but how is it any different than a movie soundtrack? Because its selling something.


The song itself isn't selling something, is it? It's really just providing the soundtrack for the commercial. Are you going to run out and buy a Mazda or take your family to McDonalds (in your new Mazda :D ) just because The Flaming Lips or The Shins provide the soundtracks for the commercials?

If you follow Troy's logic then a movie is just as bad as a commercial. The song was sold for something other than it's original intent...unless the song was written specifically for the movie.

Put Michael Jackson or Britany Spears in a Pepsi commercial holding up the can and that, to me, is selling out. They are actually seen hocking the product, purposely trying to influence a targeted market to purchase it. But using a song as a backdrop for a commercial? I just don't see anything wrong with that.

Dusty Chalk
06-07-2005, 04:54 AM
Are you going to run out and buy a Mazda or take your family to McDonalds (in your new Mazda :D ) just because The Flaming Lips or The Shins provide the soundtracks for the commercials? You'd be surprised. In the same way that I refuse to buy anything as a result of spam or popups, if I like a commercial, and I'm in the market for its product, and the product does not suck to high heaven (E.G. I might be in the market for beer, and I like Budweiser's commercials, but I'd never drink the stuff), then yeah, I might buy it.

shokhead
06-07-2005, 06:08 AM
Like i've said before,you guys dont know who has the rights to these songs. And if the Artist does,it isnt a sellout,its his to do as he likes and any of us would do it for some bucks.

daigoro
06-13-2005, 02:44 PM
I hate for ANY quality music to be used in commercials. It is the best way I know to make you hate a song that you love next to over playing by the radio. One of the perks of listening to smaller bands is that you used to be able to avoid both these pitfalls.

Now you can't turn on the TV without hearing Modest Mouse or Massive Attack. Ugh!! And you may as well never buy a Tarantino soundtrack cuz you'll be hearing ALL of it as bumper music within weeks of its release. On that note, I can't even watch Kill Bill now without having flashbacks of car commercials. Way to ruin a great movie!

I think now is the perfect time to kill my television set once and for all!

MomurdA
06-14-2005, 02:02 PM
Seriously, I hear that song from Kill Bill at LEAST 5 times a day, and I watch tv for 2 hrs a day at the most.

KEXPMF
06-14-2005, 02:37 PM
You'd be surprised. In the same way that I refuse to buy anything as a result of spam or popups, if I like a commercial, and I'm in the market for its product, and the product does not suck to high heaven (E.G. I might be in the market for beer, and I like Budweiser's commercials, but I'd never drink the stuff), then yeah, I might buy it.

I was SHOCKED to find myself absolutely enjoying a Budweiser commercial the other day. I was driving in Kansas City and listening to a song that stopped me in my tracks. I said, "If this is a real song... I'm getting this immediately. I was that catchy." Yes, a Budweiser song, in this snob's ears. It really got to me. But about 1/2 way through it, the music snob pessimist in me said, "WAIIIIITTT A MINUTE...OH NO. Somehow, I have a feeling this is going to be a beer commercial" (the lyrics just had that 'vibe' for some reason). And I was right.
It made me think, "What a bummer... this band, probably some unknown, obscure, starving little band, could have probably had a huge radio hit on their hands but they gave it to Budweiser."
I'd love to find out who the band was though. Maybe they have another jem up their sleeves.

Dusty Chalk
06-14-2005, 08:30 PM
Yeah, there was a Sprite commercial like that a couple years back, too.