Monday, June 22, 2009
News Selling Out
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 2:46 PM
Slate has a little mediation about The Black Eyed Peas' recent shilling for Target, and what it means for the idea of "selling out."
But to retire the very concept of "selling out"? To dismiss the notion that an artist's reputation could ever be sullied by wanton greed? Nuh-uh. I can't allow it.First, I still hate when a piece of music I love—something that stirs profound emotions—gets directly associated with a brand or product. I want to believe that the art means just as much to the artist as it does to me. When a deeply moving song gets sold for an ad, it's like finding out that the cute girl you've been having long, philosophical conversations with at the coffeehouse spends her weekends turning tricks. Call me sentimental. Call me naive. It's just how I feel, and that will never change.
Second, and more important: We as a culture must reserve our right to shower disdain on the Black Eyed Peas.
That second point is inarguable, although the analogy just before it, about a cute girl who is also a whore, makes me want to slap the author a little bit. But I have encountered TV commercials that make me like a recording artist just a little bit less. "Bag of Hammers" by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down appearing in a Clorox commercial:
...really made me less excited for the band.
But musicians have to eat, too, and the music business isn't doing as good a job with that as they used to do. I wonder if the idea of a band selling out will ever come back into fashion. It won't be anytime soon, at least: I just discovered jinglicio.us, which lists pop songs that appear in movies, commercials, and television shows. It's kind of an evil blog, but the out-front business-speak of it all—"The energetic song is a great fit for the quirky scenes with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds."—has the kind of auto accident honesty that makes me want to become a devoted follower, just to see how soulless it can all get.
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1
Fuck it.
Get paid.
Why shouldn't musicians eat, pay rent and have health insurance?
Don't want to hear there song in McDonald's commercials? Try not ripping their entire discography from piratebay.
Until then, wear do I sign?
Get paid.
Why shouldn't musicians eat, pay rent and have health insurance?
Don't want to hear there song in McDonald's commercials? Try not ripping their entire discography from piratebay.
Until then, wear do I sign?
3
Oh my god, is it 2002? Are we talking about blink-182? This conversation is so fucking outdated that to listen to people argue it is to listen to people who are culturally irrelevant. They also probably think the Beatles are STILL the best thing to ever happen to music. Christ.
5
@1 - your statement is sadly irrelevant, as no artist makes their living on record sales. It's the labels that take home 90% of record sales revenue, and the artists get paid via touring and - you guessed it - advertising placement.
While I do think it's a sad thing to hear a favorite song being cashed in on (and while I think Black Eyes Peas can't sell out when all their music is good for is commercials), this is sometimes just the way of things.
What I'd really love to see is ad agencies taking interest in an artist's body of work and commission new pieces of music for their advertising. That way, our beloved mixtape songs aren't sullied, the artist still gets paid at the end of the day, and the superfans can go hunting for the secret music-for-advertising projects of his beloved act.
While I do think it's a sad thing to hear a favorite song being cashed in on (and while I think Black Eyes Peas can't sell out when all their music is good for is commercials), this is sometimes just the way of things.
What I'd really love to see is ad agencies taking interest in an artist's body of work and commission new pieces of music for their advertising. That way, our beloved mixtape songs aren't sullied, the artist still gets paid at the end of the day, and the superfans can go hunting for the secret music-for-advertising projects of his beloved act.
6
I was a little taken back when I heard the Cave Singers on a commercial. At least it was for the Washington State lottery. Keepin' it local.
7
Well, Target pays the Black Eyed Peas who pay their manager who kicks the shit out of Perez Hilton, so all the badness of being paid for their music kind of evens out, doesn't it?
8
This whole period of artists selling their singles to commercials as just another revenue stream will probably play itself out just like record sales have. In case you haven't noticed, any form of mass entertainment that relies on advertising to pay the bills is currently struggling with that model. And I think the little bump a commercial gets from the presence of a recognizable pop song gets diminished when it becomes a thoroughly unremarkable occurrence.
In the long run watering down the impact of music by allowing it to be used to sell soap does have an effect on its future value. I don't hate musicians for trying to get paid, but I don't think hip music in soap commercials is going to save the rock-star paycheck.
The bands trying to pretend they can write jingles and still have "cred" are pretty funny too.
In the long run watering down the impact of music by allowing it to be used to sell soap does have an effect on its future value. I don't hate musicians for trying to get paid, but I don't think hip music in soap commercials is going to save the rock-star paycheck.
The bands trying to pretend they can write jingles and still have "cred" are pretty funny too.
9
@1 - your statement is sadly irrelevant, as no artist makes their living on record sales.
Bands that release their own records do.
Bands that release their own records do.
10
fuck. the black eyed peas sold out when they took fergie on. signing up a piece of ass to make them more marketable.
11
As a general rule, I don't really care one way or the other about music I like being in ads. But the commercials for whatever hotel chain that have like the world's worst version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" drive me crazy.
12
Most fairly run independent labels offer their bands a 50/50 artist/label split, so the argument that "bands don't get paid for record sales anyway" is ignorant.
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with doing commercial work if the company is socially responsible and the product is ethical. People who do commercials for hummer and help encourage yuppies to fuck up the planet are jerks, though.
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with doing commercial work if the company is socially responsible and the product is ethical. People who do commercials for hummer and help encourage yuppies to fuck up the planet are jerks, though.
13
I'm with Kevin; I tend to judge songs in commercials on a case-by-case basis (some combination of how bad does the artists probably need the money/how shitty is the company being advertised?). So in the above-mentioned case of Cave Singers/WA Lottery, no big deal, good for them. My all-time worst-case what-the-fuck-was-she-thinking ad, though, has to be Cat Power for DeBeer's. Ugh.
14
@9 - I never said bands didn't make money on record sales; it's making a living on record sales alone that has long been an unobtainable goal for all but a select few (and even Madonna and the Stones have to tour now and again).
@12 - You make a good point,and I totally agree with you about socially responsible placement. These folks still aren't making a living off of record sales alone.
@13 - Agreed. Ugh.
@12 - You make a good point,and I totally agree with you about socially responsible placement. These folks still aren't making a living off of record sales alone.
@13 - Agreed. Ugh.
15
@14 - i'm glad this point was brought up. most modest, fiscally responsible, and mildly popular bands with fair indie deals DO see quite a bit of revenue from album sales, or at least they did in the earlier part of the decade. please do not mistake the major label royalty example for being the universal model. Jade Tree, as one example, set up their album budgets so they would recoup after selling less than 5000 copies, and they boasted that most of their artists were able to live off their music after selling more than 10,000 copies. yes, tour revenue is the bread and butter for most bands, but a good chunk of that revenue comes from selling merch... like cds and vinyl.
16
You know about the other band that recently made a deal with Target, right?
Pearl Jam.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/excl…
Pearl Jam.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/excl…
17
Paul,
Thanks for the mention of my lowly (and apparently very evil) blog - www.jinglicio.us.
Would love to know if others think my blog is evil? just bad? or somewhat entertaining? Also, I'm unclear why so many people (especially expressed here) hate hearing good music in commercials?
I consider music one of the highest arts, which is why I love it when a good track can transform a scene in a movie or even a soulless commercial into something a little more memorable. Hence jinglicio.us.
Also, just wanted to throw in my 2 cents:
In my humble opinion, the only evil in music is maintained by major record companies, the big ones in particular (smaller indie labels are much healthier). They have a *proven* track record of stifling musicians access, creativity, and freedom to make a living. Record contracts are notoriously backwards and unbalanced. So, the burgeoning digital distribution model is finally loosening their death grip on the music industry.
What I hope to see in the near future is the explosion of more music where good musicians can make a modest or even great living by selling music direct to fans, earning additional money by licensing their music to paying advertisers/entertainers/agencies/etc, and "selling out" the old fashioned way: live in concert.
Here's an interesting article on how getting 1000 True Fans can make a independent musician successful. A good read, interesting perspective.
Thanks again, and don't be a stranger
Thanks for the mention of my lowly (and apparently very evil) blog - www.jinglicio.us.
Would love to know if others think my blog is evil? just bad? or somewhat entertaining? Also, I'm unclear why so many people (especially expressed here) hate hearing good music in commercials?
I consider music one of the highest arts, which is why I love it when a good track can transform a scene in a movie or even a soulless commercial into something a little more memorable. Hence jinglicio.us.
Also, just wanted to throw in my 2 cents:
In my humble opinion, the only evil in music is maintained by major record companies, the big ones in particular (smaller indie labels are much healthier). They have a *proven* track record of stifling musicians access, creativity, and freedom to make a living. Record contracts are notoriously backwards and unbalanced. So, the burgeoning digital distribution model is finally loosening their death grip on the music industry.
What I hope to see in the near future is the explosion of more music where good musicians can make a modest or even great living by selling music direct to fans, earning additional money by licensing their music to paying advertisers/entertainers/agencies/etc, and "selling out" the old fashioned way: live in concert.
Here's an interesting article on how getting 1000 True Fans can make a independent musician successful. A good read, interesting perspective.
Thanks again, and don't be a stranger
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