Premier Rock Forum

ticdouloureaux wrote:tom waits adamantly opposes his music being used for commercials and what not, reason is this, doesnt want his songs to be associated with orange juice or sneakers or anything else, because, after seeing one of his favorite beatles tunes used in i think a sunkist add, now he says when he hears it he can only think about crappy orange soda.........and if you havent seen coffee and cigarettes yet, go see it......the waits and iggy pop segment is hilarious................so what are you saying? the drumming on my records suck? so what are you trying to say? im like a taco bell kinda guy? just go see the flick. youll understand.

Mr. Thomas Waits also brought legal action against the Muppets. Now whenever I listen to Tom Waits I think about how he brought legal action against Jim Henson.

I intend to make music for a living through TV, commercials, and movies. My situation is a little different than what is being discussed here since I'm not in a semi famous band selling my six-year-old song to an ad agency. I would be making music intended to be used by an ad agency. I often struggle with the issue of artistic integrity myself. The fact of the matter is I love making music. And at this point my music doesn't leave the room I am now sitting in. Why not do it for a living? If I want to be in a kick ass rock band, I can do that as well.

All of that aside, I would like to ask your opinions on specific examples. A few I have noticed are:

Magwai's Summer used in a Levi's commercial

Tortoise's Tin Cans And Twine used in a Calvin Klein commercial (I think it was CK it was a while ago)

John Zorn's The Heist in a Microsoft commercial

I think you should do what you want to do and what you know to be right. If people think you are a sell out, that is their choice. Probably says more about them than it says about you.

For me, I love to make music. I make music by myself, I make music with bands and other people, I help bands record their music, I buy music, I listen to music, and I pay to see music being played. Beyond my family I would say my everyday life is centered around music. I also make music for use in commercials, spots, and soundtracks as well as sound design. I enjoy making music for myself as well as making music for someone else’s specific use. They are often two different ways of creating but I enjoy both just as I enjoy cooking for others and painting for myself. I enjoy recording and creating music for an income and I also enjoy recording and creating music for a passion and expressive outlet. I do not see how those two are at odds with each other if you are honest with yourself about what you are doing.

The whole stigma of 'selling out' seems to me an exercise of maturing young adults that look at what they do (and others around them) and ask themselves why they do it. I am all for that. I wish more people thought about their motives when they acted. But you must be honest with yourself about what you do and why you do it. I mean, we all know careerist 'indie' bands and I certainly know 'professional musicians' in the business that have more drive and passion for music than most 'indie' bands I know. One must be honest. If it is about getting laid, be honest about it. If you signed up with a major label and now you pretend to hate singing to the masses and lowest common denominator, I find that ridiculous. If you pretend to be railing against 'the man' while bedding down with him, that dishonesty colors everything you do.

gcbv wrote:Dear Shagboy:

I have the uncomfortable notion that you are Moby, using a pseudonym to purge your guilty soul.

love, gage

OH...MY...GOD...! I'm so gonna run and tell all my friends that Moby is on this board. All my friends just love you so much. You were great in "Powder".

Rog wrote:

For example: Couch Flambeau allows All-State Insurance to use
"We'll Go Through The Windshield Together" in a spot for auto
insurance. This would not be selling out.

That would be killer.

If more people listen to The Kinks "... Are The Village Green Preservation Society" because of the commercial that uses "Picture Book", I think it's a good thing.

LAD wrote:Mr. Thomas Waits also brought legal action against the Muppets. Now whenever I listen to Tom Waits I think about how he brought legal action against Jim Henson.

No he didn't. He sued a couple of companies (Fritos, Audi) that asked to use his music and when denied, went ahead and made sound-alikes.

Fellbrick wrote:All of that aside, I would like to ask your opinions on specific examples. A few I have noticed are:

Magwai's Summer used in a Levi's commercial

funny you should mention mogwai - they're one of those bands that seem to crop up as incidental or advertising music quite consistently. "kids will be skeletons" featured on one of the final episodes of "sex in the city", and currently here in the UK "hunted by a freak" is being used to promote the E4 digital/satellite channel.

i've no idea how the band deal with this. as a listener, my reaction is excitement at hearing a band whose song i recognise and like on prime-time tv, and a certain snobbery at being able to know a song that a majority of other viewers may not.

if i then strolled into HMV or Virgin and saw large cardboard display stands telling me to buy those songs as CD singles, or buy the "new" (read: re-released 18 month old) album "featuring this song as featured in the ad", i would be hugely disappointed that this had happened, because i would assume that the band had allowed this to happen and that they felt comfortable with the whole marketing idea.

of course, so far this hasn't happened...

as for people who write music specifically for TV/radio/film, i once knew someone who intended to do this for a living, and she worked incredibly hard for it - not so much writing the music, but more the hauling her portfolio around london from agency to agency to agency, phone calls, presentations, waiting for people with too much gel in their hair to "get back to her" and so on. when she finally got taken on for an Cathays Pacific airline ad, i felt very happy for her.