I've now listened to the new Beirut album four times, and it's disappointing. Not bad, exactly, just . . . fine. The sound's evolving, which is always interesting, but the direction in which it's evolving isn't, very. I'm all for more listenable style--I have too many albums right now that I can't really listen to at work, because it's too distracting--but somehow, it doesn't quite make it. If after four plays nothing's leaped out at me, it seems rather likely that nothing will.
On an unrelated note, I listened to Hem's Rabbit Songs for the first time in months, which was a great album. (Sadly, never matched by their later efforts). And as I was listening to "Half Acre", it suddenly occurred to me that I've listened to a lot of hard-core copyright advocates complaining that "fair use" might let someone ruin a song by, for example, turning the Ride of the Valkyries into a laxative commercial. How come none of these sensitive-eared music lovers get upset when bands ruin their own songs by, say, licensing them to egregiously overplayed insurance commercials? Obviously, I'm a libertarian; I think the latter should be legal. But can't we at least make fun of them, hard?
The truly shocking news is that Wikipedia claims the insurance commercial gave Hem a boost. It couldn't have happened to a nicer band, of course, but do people really buy music off commercials?
...do people really buy music off commercials?
Sure. I never heard of Nick Drake until "Pink Moon" was used in a VW commercial. Didn't know who it was until NPR did a story about him, which they wouldn't have done had the commercial not proved so popular.
I did know about "Da Da Da" from Trio, but had forgotten about it until, yes, VW used it in a commercial.
But I still haven't bought a VW.
...do people really buy music off commercials?
Believe it or not, yes. My parents, and many classmates back when I was in college, will often come to me and ask, "Hey, what's that Sarah Evans song they play on that shampoo commercial?" or something similar. When I worked at the college radio station, when a Moby song would be used to shill foreign cars, I'd notice an uptick in requests.
It may be the degradation of the musical art form, but, hey. Your first album is used to pay the bills. Every subsequent album is used to show off your artistic abilities by, for instance, rhyming "scratch" with "snatch."
I bought Catch the Wind by Donovan because I heard it on a commercial. Of course I could just watch the video for free.
I bought Forever Thursday's How Can It Be because I heard it in a JC Penney ad (actually, if you go to iTunes, the song is listed as being from a JC Penney ad).
"(D)o people really buy music off commercials?"
All the time. If you'd ever worked in a record store you would have been approached often by customers humming or singing things they'd heard on commercials.
Some other recent ones I'm sure people have looked up - Donovan's "Happiness Runs" and "Let's Go" by the Feelies and "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" by the Buzzcocks.
It's weird, but commercial advertising has really opened up new avenues for artists, ones that allow them to go around MTV and the radio corporations even.
Two prime examples--The Dandy Warhols and Moby. Moby made sure to sell himself out right quick, which added to music sales and such.
Same goes for the Dandy's. Even if you've never heard of the Dandy's, well, you've heard the Dandy's. They have never been a big MTV pop band, nor do they get a lot of mainstream radio play. But they allow the rights to their music for just about anybody, and they enjoy a level of financial and professional success because of it.
Jet, too. I don't think people knew who they were really until that iPod commercial.
I bought an album by the Eels off the strength of Trouble With Dreams from the preview for "The Ice Harvest."
Much less satisfying: I went and saw the movie as well. No doubt in part because the song set a good tone.
I suspect advertisers are probably at least as good as rock critics at pointing out good tunes. Especially if one is looking for a good hook as opposed to pretentious lyrics.
I'm a little dumbfounded that you're a little dumbfounded. (Though you had my long-term admiration for taking Gladwell behind the woodshed.)
Dontchago turning this into commercial fan v blogger.
"How come none of these sensitive-eared music lovers get upset when bands ruin their own songs by, say, licensing them to egregiously overplayed insurance commercials?"
This doesn't completely address McArdle's question in terms of the context in which she asked it, but many folks I know that make/consume a lot of music do get pretty worked up about bands that allow their music to be used in commercials.
Many people use contemporary pop music as a veblen good (at one level of consciousness or another) to signal status to their music consuming peers. Its probably a good business decision to use one's music in commercials, but the wide public exposure tends to dilute their "brand" with the early adopter crowd.
"How come none of these sensitive-eared music lovers get upset when bands ruin their own songs by, say, licensing them to egregiously overplayed insurance commercials?"
This doesn't completely address McArdle's question in terms of the context in which she asked it, but many folks I know that make/consume a lot of music do get pretty worked up about bands that allow their music to be used in commercials.
Many people use contemporary pop music as a veblen good (at one level of consciousness or another) to signal status to their music consuming peers. Its probably a good business decision to use one's music in commercials, but the wide public exposure tends to dilute their "brand" with the early adopter crowd.
Megan McArdle wrote: I've listened to a lot of hard-core copyright advocates complaining that "fair use" might let someone ruin a song by, for example, turning the Ride of the Valkyries into a laxative commercial. How come none of these sensitive-eared music lovers get upset when bands ruin their own songs by, say, licensing them to egregiously overplayed insurance commercials?
Well...maybe it's becuase they're actually consistent. If you prefer the strong form of the intellectual property right, then it follows that owners of the property have the right to use, let, or give it away at their pleasure. So a band hawking their own wares is fine, but a third party appropriating those wares to a use the owner never approved of, isn't.
I don't happen to agree with the strong form, particularly on account of the historical role of copyright, and on account of a certain modern evil copyright-wielding corporation that makes us mice look bad, but there you go.
And yes, I've sought out music I heard on commercials. VW, Mitsubishi, and others have variously included some very good background music in their work, and the commercial brought it to my attention.
Same goes for the Dandy's. Even if you've never heard of the Dandy's, well, you've heard the Dandy's.
The theme for Veronica Mars, to name one. "We Used to Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols.
Do you have any idea how many people bought "da da da" because of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLF-FyK84MI
I have no complaint about bands hawking their actual recordings. I do hate it when they license just the song, allowing the advertiser to re-arrange and re-record it. Invariably the results sound like crap, or they edit out parts, or just repeat a few bars ad nauseam.
I got "Molly's chambers" because of the VW ad, The Caesars' "Jerk it Out" because of the iPod ad, and "Get to me" because of the Verizon ad.
Btw, was that commercial you posted trying to imply that letting someone into traffic from a side street is equivalent in generosity to putting yourself at immediate risk of severe injury to push someone out of the way of falling crates?
Because those scenes were right next to each other...
I'll bet Feist's latest is selling very well lately.
I bought that Royksopp song "Remind Me" because of that Geico caveman commercial where he's walking along the airport moving walkway...
Feist has mainly promoted herself through her licensing, since it can be hard for her to get radio play until she's selling well and being requested. Among the achievements of her commercials in promoting her work is getting 1234 onto the Hot 100 thanks to the nano ad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Feist
Moby was one of the leaders in this, and Sting made his Desert Rose a success by working together with Jaguar. They created a music video/commercial for the new Jag, and Jaguar paid to put it on exceptionally heavy rotation on most channels. Sting isn't MTV fodder these days, and his target audience doesn't watch MTV anymore, so it was a great way to promote the album to his target demo at no cost to him.
Megan, the sense that allowing a commercial to use a song "ruined" it was current when I was in college back in the late '80s. I was under the impression that this idea had become faintly ridiculous by the time of MOMA's 1994 "High/Low" show, and that all such distinctions between commercial and "underground" music had been utterly erased by the time the Tom Cruise "Vanilla Sky" used an all-Sigur Ros soundtrack. By the time "The O.C." came along, the site of what had once been the heavily guarded wall between authentic indie music culture and the LA mass entertainment and advertising industries had been long bulldozed and redeveloped as a massive retail-office complex with food courts, multiplexes, underground parking, and a fancy art museum to anchor it, such that nobody under 25 even knows there used to be a wall there. Sort of like Potsdammer Platz in Berlin.
Anyway, "Ride of the Valkyries", of all public-domain works, certainly cannot at this point be further reduced or watered down by the addition of yet one more set of pop culture associations. It's been fifty years since Bugs Bunny's rendition of it.
For what it's worth, that insurance commercial made me think "I must have that song!" and Googled the snippet of the lyrics that I'd heard. I haven't actually bought it yet, mind you, but I buy about 3 CDs a year.
The Irish group Clannad owes its American breakthrough album, Anam, to a Volkswagen commercial. VW used one of the songs in an ad, and it was so popular that record stores were actually putting stickers on the album that said "Featuring Harry's Game, as heard on the Volkswagen advertisement". It is a pretty good song.
(The rest of the album? Meh. I lose interest in Irish musicians as they get more dreamy and Enya-esque, and Clannad was a high-risk group for that...they're all Enya's relatives. I like their earlier stuff.)
I bought a Marlene Dietrich album based on a Merceds Benz commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3KbAIRMxZI
Now I sing it to my girlfriend occasionally. In a thick German accent.
In the UK, "Diamond Day" by Vashti Bunyan and "Wild Swans - Concert Suite: Eliza Aria" by Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra were featured on T-Mobile and Lloyds TSB adverts respectively. Had to google them to be sure what the adverts were for, but the songs endure.
I echo what everyone's said about commercials above. People definitely buy songs when they hear them in ads -- someone mentioned Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" above, and I think in that case the ad revitalized interest in his entire catalog. He's a common reference now, mostly because of the effects of that ad.
But I don't think the comments have emphasized TV shows enough -- I think good placement in a touching scene in, say, Six Feet Under or Grey's Anatomy (if that horrid show has any touching moments) is a boon. In fact, Sia's "Breathe Me," used in the closing moments of Six Feet Under, became a big hit.