8 Responses to “Selling Out”

1. #1 by MRambler
   December 16th, 2005 at 6:32 pm

   At least Paulie sold out to the company I have my Roth IRA with – Fidelity Investments…… It’s been a long time since the Nike commercial using The Beatles version of “Revolution“…… Ah, Another One Bites the Dust, or so it seems…..
2. #2 by TTop
   December 18th, 2005 at 9:26 am

   These days I’m much more pragmatic about music in commercials. People say it’s “selling out,” but I’m just not so sure about that. There are so many artists and musicians these days that most of them can’t make a living via their craft. Even artists who obtain some measure of success, say a hit album, have absolutely no guarantee that they will have another hit or for that matter even make any money from the hits they’ve had (such are some of the awful contracts with major labels).

   Considering all of this, and considering that licensing a song for a commercial could bring in a year or more worth of income, it’s very hard for me to fault an artist that would go for that. Hmm, I can take this $80,000 (or whatever) to allow my song in a commercial (which might actually increase my fanbase and my longevity as an artist), or I can turn it down based on some vague “selling out” principal. Being a professional musician is all about selling — selling your music. You sell concert tickets, you sell records, you are trading your craft for money so that you can continue to pursue your craft full-time. Why is selling your song to a commercial any different?

   That being said, there are some situations that seem a little more “sell-outtie” then others. Like allowing your lyrics to be changed to push a product. Or writing songs that seem specifically targetted to end up as commercials (think something like Smash Mouth’s “All Star” — you know “Hey now, you’re an All Star, get your game on, get paid”). Or Moby recently made an album called “Hotel” which was released and marketed in conjunction with the “W” Hotel chain. Or the Ford Truck dude (“I’m a Ford Truck Man”, blah blah). Those seem a bit like artists who are writing their music specifically to sell it to commercials. But I suppose music does need to be written for commercials and I don’t necessarily fault those who make their living that way, but I have a hard time taking them seriously as artists.

   And hey anon, learn to put hyperlinks in your posts! 😉
3. #3 by J.J.
   December 18th, 2005 at 9:26 pm

   I disagree with TTop, Being a musician means that you are doing something that you like to do and are good at not just selling yourself, if you have talent it will sell itself. The greatest musicians have a very solid following and longevity and don’t whore their music out to every Madison ave yuppie that comes along with a blank check.
   Sadly there are not but a handful of artists that fill that criteria today. If you have true musical talent it will sell itself. I am getting tired of the media telling me that I am supposed to like this artist and buy his or her latest offering based on the fact that if you don’t buy this today you wont be cool tomorrow.
   So yes I have a problem with the artists Selling out. Music should be entertaining, Insightful, and have a message or special meaning to the listener and artist if not it’s just corporate Blah Blah Blah. As for the contracts that the artists get from the record execs. shouldn’t they learn from those that have come before, If they get a crappy contract it’s only their own fault. Remember that music execs are people that can’t make it on stage or never have been there.All they care about is their bottom line. I would rather put out an album that is substantial and musically tight and sell 10 copies than sell 100,000 copies of crap.
   Neil Young said it best, Ain’t singin” for Pepsi, ain’t singin’ for Coke [sic] this song is for you.
4. #4 by Sunn
   December 19th, 2005 at 12:20 pm

   |.| Rockin’ in the Free World. Did anyone catch Neil On SNL over the weekend. I was going to watch, but fell asleep instead (gettin’ old when you can’t stay up late enough to watch SNL.
   In the bands I was in in the 60’s & 70’s there was always disagreements with band members over cover material chosen to be played. Some wanted to play the “hits”, so we would get more gigs, others wanted musical integrity. Seems to be a fine line these days.
5. #5 by anon
   December 21st, 2005 at 5:26 pm

   Oh, hyper #*!#** the links.
6. #6 by J.J.
   December 22nd, 2005 at 3:03 am

   Sunn:I know what you mean, In our band we have almost came to blows over what we will work up next. The fine line for us is do we play what we want to or what the drunks in the clubs want to hear.As for SNL we had a gig Sat nite and my VCR messed up(Possible operator error Hmmmm) so I will have to catch it on the rerun. I would love to hear about some of your band exploits in the 60’s and 70’s sonetime. Was it connected with a band that included our esteemed host MRambler? or if not did you cross paths back then? If you are in the OKC area I would like to invite you out to hear our band sometime, Contact me on the side and I will give you some info about us if you are interested. jimgates.1@juno.com
7. #7 by Randalf the Grey
   December 24th, 2005 at 3:14 am

   Both TTop & J.J. make some good points on this subject. Personally, it doesn’t matter to me if artists sell out
   in this way as long as the music in question isn’t something that I like to listen to. I’m kind of picky—no,
   let’s say discriminating—about what I listen to. That’s one reason I don’t listen to radio. I’ve never liked
   the idea of someone else deciding what I’m going to hear.
   I like perhaps 30% of the material which Kansas produced. Dust In The Wind used to fall into that category until
   that damned—is it Nissan ?—commercial came out. (I always hit the mute button.)
   On the other hand, as far as I’m concerned, Toby Keith can sell every one of his “compositions”. He’s just Barry
   Manilow with a big-ass hat.
   Michael Jackson should be sodomized with a broom handle for dealing the Beatles catalog the way he has done. About
   twenty years ago I heard Michael say, “God sent me for the children”. Now, I can see that I took that remark out
   of context. But I digress. One problem is that many artists don’t own the rights to their own compositions. But
   it’s kinda hard to feel sorry for Sir Paul, since he let the rights to his songs slip through his fingers at least
   twice by being excessively frugal. And it’s not like he’s ever been short on funds.
   I’m no expert on copyright law, but isn’t it true that all copyrighted material will eventually wind up in the
   public domain ?
8. #8 by J.J.
   December 25th, 2005 at 9:17 pm

   I must agree with Randolph in his comment “Personally, it doesn’t matter to me if artists sell out
   in this way as long as the music in question isn’t something that I like to listen to.” But I try to listen to only what I call quality music, Meaning something that it took a real musician to create, not what was made in a studio using studio tricks and software. But I stick by my comment, Writing for commericials exclusively is one thing, writing something that you feel and trying to convey a message to your audience and then having it be used to sell soap is wrong.

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