Commercialism


Gerry Villareal (gerryv@massive.com)
Wed, 7 Oct 1998 19:01:45 -0400 (EDT)



I am sometimes delighted and sometimes disgusted with commercial media. I
like the VW and Gap ads, and dislike the BK ads - but why? I like the
music, and the products are OK. It's just a subjective thing. I too feel
like many classic songs are used in crass context (not just in
commercials), and they should be treated with some reverence. That's just me.

In some cases, artists do have some say whether or not they grant rights
for their songs to be used for ads, movies, compilations, etc. Hopefully
these artists are getting fairly compensated for the use and get some
exposure for it as well. It would be cool if the artists were actually
commissioned to score new tracks. (But then would you label them
sellouts?)

The commercialism/sellout gripes probably inform your views about
sampling, "underground" music and culture, etc. To me, it's a bit, just a
bit, of playa-hating. When something goes mainstream, whether it's an
artist, song, magazine, whatever else that was previously underground, it
tends to start to suck. Probably from overexposure and general saturation.
Yeah, I've heard the arguments - dumbing down concepts for mass
consumption, and the like. But some things just go over because they're
plain and simply good. It becomes trendy and hip, and you are no longer
privileged with your somewhat exclusive knowledge of this underground
thing. I feel this way at times.

Ideally, artists should have creative control and own their material. They
should decide what will or will not happen with their work. But they still
may make decisions you don't care for.

What are you going to do? Ninjas too big? Mo'Wax too commercial? I say let
them blow up (and bring up other like-minded folk). Don't believe the hype
- but don't believe the backlash either.

>Excuse me for being a party pooper but I have to say that the use of
>"hip" music in tv advertisments is frankly a damn shame. VW, Banana Republic,
>the Gap, Burger King, Levi's--it's all the same thing. Corporations whose
>blatant voracious appetite for new consumers and demographics to plague
>with their shitty products are raping the catalogs of underground labels
>or classic anthems from times gone by.

>>Commercialism cheapens the music. Reduces it to brand recognition.



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Thu Oct 08 1998 - 01:06:31 MET DST