Singalong or sellout?

by Cate Masters

Recently, a commercial caught my interest. Believe me, this doesn’t happen often. Not because of the product, but the music. It saddened me because it was a musician I admired, and my first reaction was: Noooooo! Not Ray LaMontagne! Selling out? I love his song Trouble, but now will forever associate it with the image of a dog. Travelers Insurance used it to illustrate their ad.



But is it really selling out? Other commercials have led me to find new artists I’d never heard of. When Volkswagen used a haunting melody in their ads years ago, it drove me crazy. I loved that song! But I had no idea who sang it until a friend happened to lend me a CD by Nick Drake. “Pink Moon” was the Volkswagen song, and I could finally hear more than 30 seconds’ worth. Since then, I’ve been able to forget (or nearly) the VW link, and appreciate the song for itself. Though he’d long since passed away, Nick Drake found many new fans thanks to that commercial. Which, by the way, invokes the song very well. Don’t you think?



Others (at least one, anyway) have had that same thought, and one even compiled this list of songs VW used in their commercials. I had no idea it was so extensive. Though some contain barely snippets of songs, as this one (though it’s very funny):



As is this VW one:



An article on CNBC noted that auto makers in particular like to use rock music because “As soon as you hear it, it puts an instant image in your head. And puts it in an instant context.” Which is why, for music lovers, it can really damage the “instant image” delivered whenever they hear that particular song – it’s the wrong context.

But is it really a horrible thing? Some bands such as R.E.M. refuse to lend their music to market a product, and I respect that. But if Radio Shack hadn’t played The Raveonette’s The Christmas Song, I might never have heard of them either.



Having grown up with the music of The Beatles, I became possibly the youngest Beatlemaniac at age 4. So when their songs appear in ads, it angers me. Curse you, Michael Jackson, for buying the Fab Four’s music catalog! It seemed an underhanded deal at the time, because MJ knew Paul wanted to buy it. So to lose control of his own work irritated me. I’ll probably never forgive Michael for selling out, especially when it wasn’t truly his to sell. George Harrison discusses use of their songs here. Though the following commercial was pretty cool to watch and obviously applied to the product (and is this what the game is like, does anyone know? It would be one game I’d love to play, if so!):


The Beatles: Rock Band - Television Commercial - More amazing videos are a click away

Over the years, commercials have applied songs to their products that seem head-scratchers. Slate devoted a column to it, and came up with some great examples.

This blogger is clearly offended by the practice. Squidoo has lots more videos, some clever, some not so much.

For me, then, it depends whether I have an emotional attachment to the song already. What's your have a take on it? Is a musician “selling out” if s/he allows songs to market a product? Or should the music remain music in its purest form? Does it strike a visceral chord in you to hear a favorite song selling something? Any that made you want to pull an Elvis and shoot the TV? Run from the room screaming? Or do you simply hum along?

Cate Masters writes fantasy/dark fantasy, historical, contemporary and speculative fiction, described by reviewers as “so compelling I I did not want to put it down,” “such romantic tales that really touch your soul,” “filled with action scenes which made it a riveting story,” and “the author weaves a great tale with a creative way of using words that makes the story refreshing to read.” Visit Cate online at www.catemasters.com, www.catemasters.blogspot.com or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.