The inevitable sell out post

[mountain bed]

What about corporate sponsorship being used to subsidize a tour?

[bobfrombob]

both are terrible and Neil Young isn't even American.

Not even American? What does that have to do with anything?

 

(and like A-Man and Dreamin' said)

[markosis]

Niel Young is Canadian. He doesn't need money. Canadians barter with lumber, beer and donuts.

[bobfrombob]

Niel Young is Canadian. He doesn't need money. Canadians barter with lumber, beer and donuts.

Best post in this thread

[Atticus]

edit: some people are taking this way too personally.

 

[Analogman]

Something else that may come into play here -

 

Bruce and Tom Petty own their own songs.

 

Bob Dylan - I read somewhere once that he does not own anything prior to 1974.

 

Neil - I would think owns all of his songs.

[yankhotelfox]

I lost a ton of respect for the band as a result of this development.

 

 

You lost exactly 2000 pounds of respect for them? Wow.

 

We all have our opinions but this "rant" seems a little over the top. My guess is that the price was right not that their goal was to become more commercial. Most people who see that commercial would have no idea who the band is. Right?

[owl]

I agree with the poster. Jeff, the other band members, and their families have no right to make upwards of $50,000/yr making music. No right!

[Edie]

The members of Wilco are "music artists" whose art we just happen to be able to obtain and see live -- and pay for. They are same kind of "artists" that I am. I am a "marketing artist" (product management) and my "art" earns me money -- every other week I get my paycheck and I pay for my family to have a decent place to live and food on the table. I am a happy "sell out", as is every one of the posters in this thread that have a job.

 

Oh, and my husband is a musician, and he gets money for his art -- and we run his paychecks to the bank, just like mine.

[Analogman]

I think that is BS.

 

When I hear the song Melissa by The Allman Brothers Band, I don't want to think about how it was used in a feminine hygiene commercial.

 

Just another example of greed. The rich always want more money.

[Edie]

I think that is BS.

 

When I hear the song Melissa by The Allman Brothers Band, I don't want to think about how it was used in a feminine hygiene commercial.

 

Just another example of greed. The rich always want more money.

 

Then don't listen to it

 

What is "rich" in your mind?

[Analogman]

I wasn't really talking to you - I should have made that post clearer.

 

I am sure Greg Allman does not go to bed hungry.

 

But then again - he may not own that song anymore.

 

 

These songs are used to get people to feel happy when they contemplate buying a product - not to get someone to go buy the album the song is on. Also - it is mainly baby boomers that these things are directed to.

[bldad]

Maybe Jeff drives a Volkswagen.

[So Long]

I think that is BS.

 

When I hear the song Melissa by The Allman Brothers Band, I don't want to think about how it was used in a feminine hygiene commercial.

 

wait, that's not what the songs about?

[JerseyMike]

think that is BS.

 

When I hear the song Melissa by The Allman Brothers Band, I don't want to think about how it was used in a feminine hygiene commercial.

 

Just another example of greed. The rich always want more money.

 

Dead on. Wilco sold out. There is no way to justify it. Money is not an issue with Wilco, they've grossed MILLIONS over the years. And if they weren't making enough, well they could go into some other line of work, because you don't pursue a career in music expecting to make a lot of money. Plus, to shill for a car comapny, who are directly responsible for a large number of the problems we are facing in this day and age...shameless.

 

And marketing is not an art, it is a shallow and souless endeavor.

[So Long]

now that is BS.

 

Millions? Yes, but that doesn't go straight to the band. Sound, lighting, roadies, engineers, the record company, touring expenses, and making records are all neccesary and are all expensive.

 

Noone is claiming marketing is an art, but it is a part of music now.

 

Suggesting that Wilco lost any sort of credibilty for putting their songs on VW ads is so insane. So what if they're not your defination of "indie" anymore, they're still a great band just trying to get their music heard.

[entropy]

Reading this thread is worse than listening to the drone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

edit: lol post #69 omg wtfbbq lol!!!1

[Analogman]

wait, that's not what the songs about?

 

 

At the end of the day, everything is about women.

[Good Old Neon]

Dead on. Wilco sold out. There is no way to justify it. Money is not an issue with Wilco, they've grossed MILLIONS over the years. And if they weren't making enough, well they could go into some other line of work, because you don't pursue a career in music expecting to make a lot of money. Plus, to shill for a car comapny, who are directly responsible for a large number of the problems we are facing in this day and age...shameless.

 

And marketing is not an art, it is a shallow and souless endeavor.

 

I have to agree here

[Atticus]

since we already own a VW, may we be excluded from this nonsense?

[entropy]

To be perfectly fair, I think there's a lot of ambiguity thrown up here in attributing the use of an opening riff as manufacturing and 'buying into' marketing. Money and arguing and everything aside, granting someone permission to use a song shouldn't be treated as something that's as bad as perparing the campaign and establishing the "lifestyle marketing plan" and all that.

 

To be perfectly honest, the most likely thing that happened was VW's agency said "Ohh, this is a catchy sounding song, let's see if we can get the studio version from the band, otherwise we'll just get someone to lamely alter it just enough to avoid being sued."

 

It's also important to recognize, that with the degree of freedom Wilco is given in how they choose to release and expose their music, to the point that the label allowed the band to leak their own record two months early, that they'd have to bend and compromise on some issues, such as, if Nonesuch hypothetically approached them about allowing part of a song to be used. Saying "Yeah, I suppose, we do have it pretty easy and may have to give a little to get all this badass freedom we're already given," is entirely different than "Let's see if we can sell this song and make more money."

 

This is, of course, without me ever having seen the commercial, so I'm really not in the best place to comment anyway.

[giraffo]

Dead on. Wilco sold out. There is no way to justify it. Money is not an issue with Wilco, they've grossed MILLIONS over the years. And if they weren't making enough, well they could go into some other line of work, because you don't pursue a career in music expecting to make a lot of money. Plus, to shill for a car comapny, who are directly responsible for a large number of the problems we are facing in this day and age...shameless.

 

And marketing is not an art, it is a shallow and souless endeavor.

 

 

jesus...you people are taking this way too seriously. it's just a car ad and you're making moral judgement on people who you think you know because of the music they play. just because they are in car ads doesn't negate the fact that they give out their music for free on a regular basis, have had their album bought by the same company twice, and have made music that we all agree rivals even the messianic Beatles or Dylan. that's like saying to shill for your own car you're contributing to the problem so therefore you're just as bad as the company that employs tactics to get you to buy them. get over this "holier than thou" attitude. yes, the commercial industry is an egregious attack on our consciouses, but that doesn't negate the fact of who the band is: a bunch of guys who made some of the best, freshest music in a long time. that should be all that matters in the long run to anyone, because despite our best wishes, we're not Jeff Tweedy's pal and the most we can get out of his exsistence on Earth is his music, not our shallow judgement based off a silly commercial.

and marketing is very much an artform, but that requires a bit of specific education in that regard.

[tongue-tied]

commercials don't bug me too much, in fact i rather enjoyed the "picture book" camera commercial. also, i don't rely too heavily (or at all) on the integrity of the person behind the music. i don't know jeff, and though i give him the benefit of the doubt that all he's ever said publically isn't a charade, i wouldn't lose sleep if he came out and said he doesn't give a fuck about his music. the music is still brilliant and creative and lovely, and it would still mean a lot to me.

 

however, that said, i don't know how i'd handle it if i were in jeff's position. it seems like an artist has very little control over the context of his/her/their art. when your in a band like Wilco who have a lot of weighty assumptions being made about you, both benign and undesirable, it seems like licensing is one of the few areas where the artist can control the context of his/her/their art. Wilco has opted to put their art in the context of a car commercial, it doesn't make much sense to me, so I'm thinking they wanted some money. That's okay by me.

[entropy]

As someone who worked in marketing for five years, I'm a bit upset that people still consider it an 'artform.'

 

Some very artistic, asthetically pleasing things can come from marketing, but in terms of the "soul" it posesses... I just have a very difficult time relating to something that was created with the purpose of pushing a product-- having art appropriated by those who would do that is a different matter, but I think it's a bit hasty to judge the creator of that art without fully understanding the decision making process undertaken.

[Edie]

And marketing is not an art, it is a shallow and souless endeavor.

 

I will not dignify your post with a reply.