Advert Break

There was a time where a credible artist, who was known for creating music simply for the joy of making a racket rather than the money would rather chop off their right arm than sell their music for an advert.

Music was all about making sure you had fans and that people were listening to your music for the joy of it, nothing more nothing less. Yet now it seems artists are more than willing to give up their music for major television ad campaigns. Sometimes they're prodded by the label, willing to make more records sold. Theres a hush of "You could be the next Caesars!" as you hear the money rolling for that 30 second clip on an iTunes advert. Or sometimes the artists are tempted themselves to gain a few more fans who could really enjoy their music. Then theres the love of the product. Some people just like Coke and want to add their creativity to the advert, why can't anybody see that?

Last week Arcade Fire, a band nationally known for using Wake Up on every BBC advert of 2004 (they gave up this gauntlet to Sigur Ros in 2005) decided to use Rebellion (Lies) on an advert campaign for the charity Red. Now this is only in the states and the band are justifying themselves by stating its for charity, musics ultimate trump card.

Now personally I find nothing wrong with selling your music for an advert. The circumstances are usually what defines whether the public are willing to back the move. Arcade Fire is unlikely to ruffle many feathers (mainly because of the reason above) but some have been so kindly received.

When Jack White decided to soundtrack a Coke advert with a newly written song many people ultimately saw White as selling out. It could have something to do with White's image, which does relate a man who likes his vinyl and old principles. He is also quoted as saying he would never use one of his songs on an advert.

Aside from the big acts deciding to soundtrack adverts the independent artists have also decided they would like to participate and pay off their advance while their at it. Devendra Banhart used his track on a Cathedral Cheese advert stating that the reason was he loved cheese (you can't fault him on that) and Jim Noir's world cup advert gave him financial stability and a pair of world cup tickets.

So is selling out such a bad thing? There will always be the old music fans who believe sound tracking an advert is the ultimate sell out. A company has bought an artists music rights, yes but when looking a Jim Noir's reasoning behind the decision its hard to fault. Sometimes backing an advert can attract just the right fans, and improve your fan base.
Recently when Owen Pallet was asked to play his song used on an Orange ad campaign he declined saying, "No, it doesn't belong to me anymore, I sold it."

What the moment didn't focus on was the fact that that spectator probably discovered his favourite music of the year, simply because of Orange, and I'm sure hes not the only one.