the whoring of once great music

[Zabka]

Wendy's using Violent Femmes' "Add It Up" for a chicken sandwich commercial.

Nissan or Mazda or somebody using The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary" on a car commercial

The new NBC improv show "Thank God Your're Here" uses the Hoodoo Gurus' "Come Anytime" as a theme.

Rolling Stone's "Start Me Up" way back when Microsoft was launching Office 98 (?)



The hoodoo gurus thing really made me wince.

[FLATLINE]

Well someones gotta pay these Music companys for thier music. I sure as hell wont. Im not paying $15-$20 for a 15 track CD that only has one or two songs I like. I put todays musicians in the same catagory as Proffessional Sports Athletes. They are all about the money. Thats it. and that would be fine with me but the money these so called stars make is just rediculous.

[Rdaug27]

The Stones Start Me Up was for like Windows 95 I'm pretty sure.

[Dioxin]

EDITED FOR MY OPINION:

and that would be fine with me but the money these so called RECORD COMPANIES make is just rediculous.

The record company screws most people over. The bands that I think are ONLY in it for the money are the ones that specifically target teen/preteen girls as their fan base. Anything popular with teen girls is a gold mine right now. That said, I know many bands who work their asses off and get very little because of the record companies. If you don't get a good lawyer when signing a contract, you can basically sign your life away.

[Zabka]

It was Windows 95. you are right.

Record labels do take advantage of their acts. I have a good friend whose band was signed by Epic (Sony) and they were really big in the East coast college scene. Toured constantly--worked really hard. Their music was used in a lot of TV shows (MNF, olympics, etc) and they played great smaller venues---and could fill larger places around DC. But Epic kept trying to make them change their sound. Their drummer, who was a great jazz drummer as well, didn't fit into Epic's role for a "rock and roll drummer" as his beats were really very different---the drums almost added to the melody in their songs instead of providing the basic background rhythm. He ended up leaving. They tried to make my friend, the singer/songwriter, sing in a higher voice and alter the style to be whatever was a more popular sound (hence one of their singles released sounded more like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones than their own sound). Rick Rubin produced one of their albums. Finally, they never got much promotion and were locked in. They ended up leaving the label and then later breaking up---the experience burned them out and they made very little money from it all.

They had played big festivals too--HORDE tour, WHFStival, etc. They would sell out the 9:30 Club (one of the best known alt rock clubs since the early days of REM) in DC. Great stuff...and being mishandled by the label messed them up.

So I agree Dioxin. Labels are tough on acts, unless they can be successful for more than an album, and even then--they need a fair contract. There are multiple instances where labels will provide acts with a nice lifestyle on the road--but they actually don't make that much money.