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Music in Advertising: The Big Sell-Out

It wasn’t too long ago that an appearance in a national advertising campaign was a veritable kiss of death for a recording artist’s credibility. You may remember Neil Young’s 1988 song "This Note’s for You" where he criticized certain fellow musicians for allowing their songs to be used in soft drink and beer commercials. But with such huge revenues to be made from turning a hit song into a jingle, many did it anyway, often deflecting criticism by blaming their labels, publishing companies and managers for what was widely viewed as the big sell-out.

Times have changed though. With a record industry dominated by large-market radio, we have entered an era where suddenly TV ads have become one of the most vital sources for much deserved exposure of music that was once essentially ignored. These days many artists will wear a TV ad as a badge of honor. Music critics across the country have written articles about the irony of owing a debt of gratitude to Madison Avenue for giving a shot in the arm to the music industry.

One of the most notable examples of this trend was the use of the song "Pink Moon" by obscure English folk prodigy Nick Drake in a 1999 Volkswagen commercial. Having died in 1974 with only a handful of critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked albums, Drake had spent nearly three decades as a virtual unknown, never selling more than 100,000 copies of any of his albums. However, with the release of this commercial (along with a well-placed link to buy the album on the WV Web site) sales of the album jumped staggeringly and "Pink Moon" when gold in a few short months.

Emerging artist have also benefited from exposure in national ad campaigns. In lieu of major label distribution deals, companies such as The Gap, Target, Sony and, of course, Volkswagen have become instrumental in helping the careers of such artists as Stereolab, Badly Drawn Boy, Apples in Stereo and Spiritualized. Often, with most of their modest revenues going to recoup record label advances, it is difficult for bands like these to turn a profit through traditional avenues such as record sales, touring and merchandizing. Not only can a television ad offer these bands exposure, they offer smaller bands much needed cash. It is not unheard of these days for a song by a relatively unknown artist to fetch as much as $250,000 for a high-profile ad.

For more mainstream artists, a good TV spot can be just the thing to increase record sales. Take, for example, the song "Desert Rose" by Sting. In an unprecedented move, Sting offered use of the song to Jaguar at no charge as long as the car company used it prominently in an ad campaign. Before the spot, the album that features the song, "Brand New Day," had stagnated in the low 70s of Billboard Magazine's Hot 100. After the ad began airing, the album climbed into the top 20 within 10 days.

Signature Sound, Inc. has over 20 years of experience in licensing music for advertisements. Having worked with such agencies as Grey, Bozell, Ogilvy & Mather, and McCann-Erickson we understand all of the sticky ins and outs of negotiating such a deal. We see music not only as a work of art but a precious piece of intellectual property with a certain value attached to it. We work hard on both ends; helping agencies find the kind of music that they need and helping artists and their labels get what they rightly deserve.