To sell or not to sell?
I can remember the first time I heard Man In The Box by Alice In Chains. I was probably 15 or 16; watching MTV one afternoon after school and recall feeling sort of uneasy about the images I was seeing. But the song stuck with me. Who doesn’t know the opening riff to that song?
And Nevermind by Nirvana–another discovery made by watching the MTV. The mocking of a high school pep rally–how appropriate!
The list goes on–Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine, Belly, L7, The Breeders, Tool, The Beastie Boys…all great bands…all now lying peacefully in the Graveyard of Grunge.
I grew up on 90′s music. It had a very real, very emotional impact on my music tastes and habits that I now have.
But somethings different these days. I don’t want to get into a “these kids today” rant; it’s not my point. Because it’s not the kids fault.
It’s not the kids fault that a good portion of their music is featured in a Volkswagen commercial or a WB sitcom.
It’s not the kids fault that some bands that decide to licsence a song to be used in an M&M’s commercial will likely turn on thousands of kids to that band; while at the same time pissing off someone like me.
But that’s the point, right? Who cares if ONE guy like me decides to not listen to a song anymore once it’s made it to the marketing mainstream.
It seems like most people I talk to don’t agree that it’s a very bad thing for a band to allow a corporation to use one of their songs.
Chrysler offered Springsteen twelve million dollars to use Born In The USA in one of their commercials.
Bruce said no.
But Zeppelin–Led Fucking Zeppelin–let Cadillac use “Rock and Roll” to sell their cars.
What the fuck?
Sure, the timing’s right. All of the kids that grew up listening to Zeppelin are now in their late forties and fifties and have that kind of income to be able to buy that Cadillac. But don’t they get it? Don’t they understand that Cadillac is zeroing in on one of the most powerful emotions known to man…people fall in love with a song. When you fall in love with a song, it’s a lot different than falling in love with a girl. Most of us can agree that girls come and go–but your favorite song never changes. It’s always there for you and you don’t mind sharing it with your friends.
The thought process, it seems, must be that some fifty year old watching a golf game on CBS one Sunday afternoon sees the Caddy commercial–hears the song and is immediately brought back to the first time that he heard the song. The first time he fell in love with that song. And while he’s remembering falling in love with that song, he’s now associating it with Cadillac. A fucking car.
I dunno, man. Maybe I’m old fashioned. People seem to think that a band needs a break like that to make it in todays market. But I disagree. I still believe that a band CAN make it the old fashioned way: Writing great music, performing kick ass shows, touring relentlessly and selling merch.
It worked for the past 50 or so years–why’s it gotta change?
I emailed Bob Lefsetz, music industry veteran and publisher of the Lefsetz Letter, to see what he thought about the recent surge in popular music being used to hock products. Here’s an excerpt of what he had to say:
“I’m gonna say it again. Most music sucks. The fact that you can’t get arrested, that nobody is interested in your music, that you’ve got to get a day job is almost ALWAYS because you just don’t have it. You need talent to make it. Oh, unless you’re one of those autotuned wonders purveyed by the major label like we’re giving a shit. Marketing has eclipsed talent. It’s just that simple. Believe me, if I come across ANYTHING good I’m going to tell you and everybody else I know. That’s how it is today. With word of mouth options so vast on the Internet. It’s human nature, we want to tell people. But not believing this, with their heads so far up their asses they can see no light, those in power want to do everything the same old way.
I’ve got to ask you, ever wonder why essentially no band other than Pearl Jam still HAS a career fifteen years on? Could it be that they all whored themselves out to such a degree that nobody cares about them anymore?
Hell, if you want to make money, be the Goo Goo Dolls. Change from punk to pop and rewrite the same damn song every time and just PRAY that one’s a hit. But if you want to have true longevity, if you want someone to see you live, people have to BELIEVE in you!”
That’s all I’ve got to say about this.
There’s too much crossover. Music is supposed to be music and advertising is supposed to be advertising. It’s like mixing Church and State.It just shouldn’t happen.
That’s what she said.