This would be such a great subject for debate.

I could be wrong, but I'm sure Sunday Channel 4 youth programming T4 is using Trans Am as their advert intro/outro music.

Low were used on a documentary about boxer "Prince" Naseem Hamed a few years back. Also, there was this docu-soap thing on ITV where they trained a load of Newcastle dockers to perform a ballet and when the time for the final performance arrived they danced to "Mountain Waltz" by Quickspace!

Not gonna beat Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown" on that Wanadoo ad the other month.

origin98 wrote:i just heard a pinback track on a commercial, but i don't know wut...

The song is "A.F.K." from their most recent record, Summer In Abaddon. It's for the new Nintendo hand-held thing.

Theswede wrote:I have given up, all of this. I do find it hilarious that both MTV and VH1 insist on filling their tv shows and several ads with music that they never ever would play on the air. I do recall hearing tracks by the American Analog Set incessantly last summer or so, whilst teenage gals and Jock fuckerfuckfuck dudes were all like "lets raid rooms/and be depraved on spring break while sensitive indy rock that i could never appreciate, let alone notice wafts through the speakers of a generation slowly selling itself to McDonald’s and continue to force feed shit into my puerile lives filled with inane ring tones and bullshit cinema that only shines the light on the unfortunate failure of my parents generation to raise me correctly, which in itself is an unfair statement, as one could argue that the failure truly lies in the generation prior paving the way for a generation born into a world of privilege that will be next to impossible to afford to live in without the diminished returns from our rich parents, because our education comes second to my tan and 'hooking up' and Shit". Say that without breathing.

I need a nap

Somewhat well-said. I agree with most of your points, as I agree with CRabbit that this would make an excellent debate topic. Heck, why not start now?

I think the moment you license your music to sell something other than itself is the moment I lose respect in you. I have this crazy image of musicians actually caring what they sing/play about. At this point, it's just williful ignorance if you can't see how commercial culture turns everything into product. So, please by all means - associate yourself with a bank ad. Forever more, I will associate you with a bank. How subversive.
Yawn.

I see a differentiation between having songs licensed for commercials and writing music strictly for commercial use. I'd argue that the first is the lesser of the two, and the second sounds like fun, pending creative control.





Faiz

I can't wait for the day for some corporate fuck to come along and pay me for a commercial. I sure as shit know that top 40 radio aint gonna play my music, and my ambient wall of saxaphones and bass clarinets aint going top 40.

Pay me motherfuckers now so i can go get me some schoeps, gefells, royers, some 2 grand preamps, a mellotron, and press some wax. I'll whore my music if it supports my gear habbit.

If your like me living check to check and budweiser offers you serious jack to use your tune, and you turn it down, you are a lot more holy than me. I want more gear. Driving a truck aint payin for RCA 44's or U47s, so if bud light will, show me where to bend over.

It's like what Bill Hicks said about willie nelson. If you got a lot of $ and still sell your tunes for $, then you are sucking satans pecker. If your broke like willie , do what you got to do.

Mr. Posa, I must cast a disagreeing vote your way on this subject. I think people make music for as many different reasons as there are people making music.

Also, in the cases above where the musicians in question have made their song and THEN after the fact it is licenced and used for an ad, how does that affect them? Yes, it may affect the way they are perceived by others but really, if that is what makes one do things or not do things, what is the point to begin with?

Personally I would rather good music that I like fill the small spaces of the everyday rather than bad music that I do not like.

If licencing music for ads comes off as 'selling out' and not remaining true to the cause, I wonder what you think of musicians and bands that charge cover for shows, make and sell CDs and records, sell hoodies with their logo on it. Or if a band becomes popular and makes more money per show than say a less popular band. The fact of using or selling music for other uses does not bother me in the least. It is the dishonesty that often accompanies it. I think if you want to portray yourself to be against the man but are actually in bed with said man, that is a drag. I think there is a lot of pretending in the music business and that is the stuff that makes me wince. But if one is honest about what they are doing, I have not problem with it.

I will take it a step further. I MAKE music for use in commercial/spot/etc. For work I take direction from other people to make music that THEY want. I do not do this instead of making music that I like. I do it in addition to making music that I like. It is a separate action, just as eating a sandwich is or throwing a ball, or shoveling coal. I would rather do this than shoveling coal. I enjoy this type of work. I find much pleasure making this type of music, just as I find pleasure making music that is for me and my love of finding melodies and squeezing sounds out of instruments that are new and unfamiliar to me. Both of these actions bring me joy. One of them fulfills my need to live a creative life. The other pays for the things my family wants and needs. I do not demonize it for this reason. I think one must be honest and on the level about what you are doing and don't pretend to be doing one thing when actually you are doing something else. I try to be as honest about what I do. Making money and earning a living doing what you like and are good at are not by definition bad things. I will actually argue they are very very good things.

I am also not too interested in how I am perseived by others as far as my music making is concerned. I have always been in bands that are more disliked than liked. It has not stopped me from doing what I like to be doing at all.

I have always been in bands that are more disliked than liked.

for what it's worth i've liked most of the bands in which you've been.

Thanks. Nice of you to say.

kerble wrote:I see a differentiation between having songs licensed for commercials and writing music strictly for commercial use. I'd argue that the first is the lesser of the two, and the second sounds like fun, pending creative control.

Fair enough. I'll go along with the distinction, but I'm still pretty violently opposed to artists (visual as well) letting their work be attached to other products after the fact.

Mayfair wrote:Also, in the cases above where the musicians in question have made their song and THEN after the fact it is licenced and used for an ad, how does that affect them? Yes, it may affect the way they are perceived by others but really, if that is what makes one do things or not do things, what is the point to begin with?

I'm not going to articulate this very well, but I'll try: it isn't that it affects the perception of others, but it affects the meaning for others. For instance, it's taken me a long time to disassociate the song "Good Vibrations" from orange soda. I don't want any more good songs to be associated with products. And speaking of product:

If licencing music for ads comes off as 'selling out' and not remaining true to the cause, I wonder what you think of musicians and bands that charge cover for shows, make and sell CDs and records, sell hoodies with their logo on it. Or if a band becomes popular and makes more money per show than say a less popular band. The fact of using or selling music for other uses does not bother me in the least. It is the dishonesty that often accompanies it. I think if you want to portray yourself to be against the man but are actually in bed with said man, that is a drag. I think there is a lot of pretending in the music business and that is the stuff that makes me wince. But if one is honest about what they are doing, I have not problem with it.

I think those examples are all part and parcel of the initial product, the band and the songs. Some people choose not to sell shirts, some choose to keep ticket prices low, some welcome bootleggers, some prosecute, etc. It's all in service of the initial product. I object to bands trying to branch out, by using that product to sell other products.

And Mark, I hope I haven't offended you - I think it's great that you are able to make a living making music for commercials. I probably used to be the guy shouting "sell-out", but I'd like to think I've grown up a bit.

capnreverb wrote:If your like me living check to check and budweiser offers you serious jack to use your tune, and you turn it down, you are a lot more holy than me.

I haven't been in the situation yet (the budweiser thing: I'm living check to check quite a lot), but I don't want to lose control of what my music is used for, so I'd like to think I would turn them down. It's easy money, sure, but at what cost? Don't forget the other Bill Hicks bit about him being offered a commercial: "Do you see how that would make every word I said a hollow, empty promise?"