Was watching the Grammy Awards and saw a commercial that disturbed me. Automobile company Lincoln is initiating a contest in which music fans can vote for which song and band will be cast for an upcoming Lincoln commercial.
I remember a time when a musician volunteering for a piece of advertisement was considered to be an act of selling out. It's so strange to me now how this is a concept that is embraced so easily and without a bat of an eye.
Musicians that I deeply respect and adore have gone along this road in recent years. Band of Horses, Iron and Wine, Andrew Bird, M. Ward and others.
I have no idea how these bands are doing financially. Perhaps they are truly struggling and we just don't know it.
I am also not sure how bands pick and choose which commercials their music will be featured in. I'd hope they'd choose to back a product that they believed in or used readily, however, my guess is that their choice depends on how many companies approach them and how much the companies are willing to pay.
So, is this selling out or are artists simply trying to make a buck? I suppose it's debatable but it still makes me sad. The artists I mentioned above are rarely featured on generic radio. You've got to seek an indie station in order to hear them. Because they aren't on the largely publicized radars I suppose they have to get their music out in other ways. But this is the challenge of any independent artist.
When these artists wrote their songs for the world to hear I don't think they initially intended them for television commercials.
I suppose so many artists have gone the way of commercialdom that it is now common place enough for others to embrace it. Hence the Lincoln music contest.
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