Bandvertising; what’s the difference between selling out and getting discovered.

Some people claim that advertising is the new radio, and those people could not be more right. MTV is no longer a music channel with ad breaks for brands, it’s now a giant reality TV show (complete with product placement galore), split up by four minute music breaks every 15 minutes. Adverts and music go together like instagram and your dinner – you can have one without the other, but it just doesn't feel quite right.

               

There is, however, a certain amount of snobbery surrounding the use of lesser known musicians in adverts – their die-hard fans think they've sold out, while their fair weather supporters never see them as more than just ‘that bloke who did that song on that advert with the bouncy balls that one time’ – but is that a reasonable summation of the world of music in advertising? I, for one, have never understood why people get so het up because their most beloved undiscovered band is playing on an ad for the a new TV show, rather than in the sticky, weird pub they usually play in, where the acoustics are a bit off and no one is actually listening apart from that one guy in the corner, yelling “play Wonderwall!” through a haze of Guinness breath. If my favourite, formerly ‘unknown’, band is playing on an advert, I get unusually excited because it means that finally my friends will start listening to them, instead of casually ignoring my pleas to expand their iTunes library. So to the naysayers who prefer their beloved artists remain in the confines of their iPods, I say don’t be ridiculous. Bands and artists share and promote their music because they want to be appreciated, not because they want some niche area of Somewheresville, Ohio to be populated with their few but dedicated fans. This is not what I would define as selling out. This is simply sensible marketing.

Selling out is when already established musicians agree to do adverts that do not remotely fit with their image. Can you imagine watching an advert for a washing detergent teamed with the gravelly tones of Bob Dylan? It wouldn’t work. Would you be tempted by an ad for nappies with Snoop Lion serenading you over shots of babies being adorable and messy? Or selling butter with an angsty ditty from The Sex Pistols blasting in the background? Oh wait… Johnny Rotten – going by his grown up name of John Lydon – was at the forefront of the anti-establishment punk movement in the 70’s, and has now reduced himself to peddling (or should I say churning?) dairy products. Way to stick it to the man, John.

                Advertising is about telling your brand’s story in a short amount of time – kind of like a tiny trip to the cinema, but instead of finishing your popcorn before the trailers are over, you actually have some left over after the movie has finished. Much like a film, it needs the right music to convey tone, and a sometimes a formerly unknown folk musician from Nottingham will do a better job in that respect in an ale ad, than an American DJ who regularly performs in packed venues across the world. When that unheard of musician is used, he is not selling out; he is getting his name out to an audience that probably would never have heard of him otherwise. In the digital age it’s naïve for obscure musicians to simply know they’re good and hope that in some strange twist of fate a big time music exec will stumble across their YouTube page with less than 100 views while searching for cat videos. Just remember, without these indie bands ‘selling out’ to Big Bad Inc. we might not have heard of Fun., Foster The People, Feist, The Black Keys, or Rudimental. And that is not a world I want to live in.