{"id":12849,"date":"2011-06-04T15:47:19","date_gmt":"2011-06-04T20:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/?p=12849"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T21:57:16","slug":"commercial-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/commercial-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial Appeal: The Changing Relationship Between Music and Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post from Take Note<\/em> author Pat Healy originally appeared in Metro <\/em>newspapers on January 8, 2011. <\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Music Licensing in Commercials Expands Artist Exposure and Creates New Revenue Opportunities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The music industry is in such rough shape that some of your favorite bands have resorted to selling automobiles. No, they aren\u2019t hanging around in the lots at the local used car dealerships in clip-on ties and promising a limited-time offer, but they\u2019re on television, licensing their songs and finding more ears than they ever could on the FM dial. It may be that what was once seen as selling out for cash, now just makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause everything is so instant now and people seem to always have their laptops and smart phones with them when they\u2019re watching TV, when a song that they like comes on in a commercial, they can just look it up and buy it right then, and this is something that the artists realize,\u201d says Peter Shane, vice president of creative services for Spirit Music Group, a music company that specializes in placing songs into all sorts of media and works with iconic catalogs by the likes of Lou Reed and T. Rex.
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Within the past few months you have no doubt heard Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros \u201cJanglin\u201d for Ford or Vampire Weekend singing about how a holiday is the best time of the year to buy a Civic, and you may have also noticed that when Honda wanted to move their sport hybrid model, which they bill as \u201ccomplete opposites in complete harmony,\u201d they picked the song \u201cRiot Rhythm\u201d by Sleigh Bells, a duo whose metallic guitars and sweet cheerleader vocals could also be defined as complete opposites in complete harmony. Not unlike the way music and commercials coexist.
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\u201cThe \u2018sell out\u2019 discussion never even happened, we happily license our music for movies and advertisements on a case-by-case basis,\u201d says Sleigh Bells guitarist and chief songwriter Derek Miller. \u201cIt\u2019s almost pretentious to avoid the opportunity, especially in this climate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Milberg of the Swedish band, the Concretes says people in the States recognize her band\u2019s song, \u201cSay Something New\u201d mostly because it was in a Target commercial.
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\u201cIt was with very mixed emotions, because before that we didn\u2019t do any ads and we tend to say \u2018no\u2019 most of the time,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was strange to see that it worked and that it had an impact and it makes people buy the music, which is good, but you would maybe rather they bought the music without the ad.\u201d
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American Idol<\/em> judge and music industry veteran Randy Jackson says with a lot of artists it is a measure of last resort, but a necessary one: \u201cI think what you have is that the record industry is probably in the worst place it\u2019s ever been, but I think it allows for more creativity now,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat you have now is other ways to get your music out and other ways to try to break an artist.\u201d
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Pump up the volume
<\/strong>Breaking artists through commercials is the reason that Lloyd Simon has set up his new website, TheTapMusic.com. [Editor\u2019s Note: The site has since been taken down.]<\/em> Simon, an entertainment lawyer and one of the founders of MTV, is responsible for pairing the Dirty Vegas song \u201cDays Go By\u201d with Mitsubishi and putting Sting in a Jaguar for a 1999 ad that was a real game-changer for commercialized music.
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He says when it was more taboo for musicians to license their music to commercials, the pay was higher, but now, he estimates most licensing results in about $10,000 to $50,000.
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\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more bands out there that are getting licenses, so I think the volume has gone up because there\u2019s so much more music now to pick from,\u201d he says. \u201cThe world has changed. In terms of revenues for bands, the two biggest sources of revenue are licensing and touring.\u201d
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Ad it up: A timeline of commercial music<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1950s through mid-1960s:<\/strong> In the first years of TV, musicians like Chubby Checker and the Rolling Stones promoted products.
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1967:<\/strong> The Who release The Who Sell Out<\/em>, parodying the pairing of product placement and musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1989: <\/strong>Neil Young is awarded Video of the Year by MTV for \u201cThis Note’s For You,\u201d a pledge of sorts to not allow his music in ads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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