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  1. #1
    Forum Regular Snowbunny's Avatar
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    Songs on Commercials

    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.

  2. #2
    In perfect harmony DarrenH's Avatar
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    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.
    Let the midnight special shine a light on me.

  3. #3
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    Nice work

    Quote Originally Posted by Snowbunny
    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.

  4. #4
    Crackhead Extraordinaire Dusty Chalk's Avatar
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    I wouldn't know, I don't watch television.

    ...much.
    Quote Originally Posted by Snowbunny
    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.
    Eschew fascism.
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  5. #5
    Toon Robber tentoze's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hyfi
    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...
    ----Never Off Topic, Never Rude-----

  6. #6
    Stone Stone's Avatar
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    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.
    And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew.

  7. #7
    Forum Regular Ex Lion Tamer's Avatar
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    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)
    "I don't know. A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof, and when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." The Right Honourable JC.

  8. #8
    Close 'n Play® user Troy's Avatar
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    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.

  9. #9
    Forum Regular Snowbunny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hyfi
    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.

    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?

  10. #10
    Rocket Surgeon Swish's Avatar
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    I think most of the songs used are a joke...

    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
    I call my bathroom Jim instead of John so I can tell people that I go to the Jim first thing every morning.

    If you say the word 'gullible' very slowly it sounds just like oranges.

  11. #11
    Forum Regular BinFrog's Avatar
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    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.

  12. #12
    Stone Stone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy
    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?
    And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew.

  13. #13
    Forum Regular BinFrog's Avatar
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    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!

  14. #14
    Close 'n Play® user Troy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stone
    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.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stone
    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.

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    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 $$, even 'pure artists' who claim to never sell out.
    "Flouridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face."
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  16. #16
    Close 'n Play® user Troy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MomurdA
    I was kind of upset when i heard 'Surfing on a Rocket' by Air for a Nissan Armada on tv. Then i realized that all anybody wants is $$, 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.

  17. #17
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    dead mice

    Quote Originally Posted by Snowbunny

    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

  18. #18
    Crackhead Extraordinaire Dusty Chalk's Avatar
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    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.
    Eschew fascism.
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  19. #19
    Indifferentist Slosh's Avatar
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    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.
    Originally Posted by Troy: She has that same kind of cleft-pallet, slightly retarded way of singing that so many other people find endearing.


  20. #20
    Forum Regular Snowbunny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stone
    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?

  21. #21
    Forum Regular KEXPMF's Avatar
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    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.
    "If everybody asked you to look at their website, you'd never have time for your own blog."
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  22. #22
    Stone Stone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowbunny
    Great sig line for a guy named Stone, btw! But what's with the kodiak?
    It came from this album:

    And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew.

  23. #23
    Stone Stone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Troy
    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.
    And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew.

  24. #24
    Musicaholic Forums Moderator ForeverAutumn's Avatar
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    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?
    Last edited by ForeverAutumn; 06-06-2005 at 05:16 AM.

  25. #25
    Suspended 3-LockBox's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn
    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.

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