I just read an article about the recently-deceased Adam Yauch's (of Beastie Boys fame) will which contains a provision prohibiting his songs from being used in an ad. As I wrote earlier, branding is changing and companies are now trying to find new ways to get their brands before a consumer. So, it is no wonder that some artists are doing something similar with their art. I have been guilty of looking up the name of a song I heard in a commercial, or recalling fondly a song from my youth playing in a commercial. And, who could not appreciate this little gem from Honda, or this one? And another favorite for mixing two different genres in a commercial.
Yet, in some artists' minds (like Mr. Yauch) the use of one's song in a commercial cheapens the song. I guess this is the other side of the coin that we see with fan fiction where a fan creates fiction based on another author's characters. As I wrote earlier here and here, some artists embrace these fans' work thinking that it enhances their work (and, presumably, creates additional interest in the original work). Other artists try to shut down these fan sites seeing it as an infringement on their intellectual property and ripping them off. Now, as we see from the Adam Yauch article and the commercials linked above, there are two schools of thought with regard to the use of music in an advertisement. Some artists despise it and will not allow their work to be featured in an ad, while others appear to embrace it.
In my personal experience, I have searched for and purchased songs that I have heard on a commercial on several occasions. Or, I have dusted off my old albums and put them in my Playlist de Jour because I heard a snippet of a song in a commercial. What do you think?
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