Chapter 16: Art vs. Commerce - "The definition of 'selling out' continues to blur."

Last semester we got into an interesting debate on music in advertising in Kenton's (@kentonlarsen) Advertising 1 class, and me and maybe one or two other people were the only ones (in a class of 26) that believed advertising on an album should never exist and bands/musicians/artists that sell themselves to companies are nothing short of... consumerist whores.

People that share my opinion are a dying breed.

I was asked if AFI, my favourite band of all time, was to "sell out" and feature a 30 second audio commercial on one of their albums, would I still consider them my favourite band. I said, probably not. For some reason, that's a deal-breaker for me.

However, it was an interesting debate that really made me think, as a student, as an artist, as a musician, and as a professional-PR-person-slash-advertiser-in-training.

I thought a lot about the current state of the music industry and how dozens of really talented, impressive bands/artists have gotten a big break via an iPod commercial. 

Hell, I've become a fan of multiple artists based on songs I've heard in a few different commercials:

Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead" in a Playstation PSP commercial.

The Stone Foxes "I'm a King Bee" in a Jack Daniel's commercial. (cover of a B.B. King song, I believe.)

Or Gary Jules' "Mad World" in a Gears of War trailer.

Or a Volkswagon commercial. Or a Heineken commercial. The list could go on forever. I get it. Times have changed and things aren't how they used to be. Bands don't make their money selling records anymore, and if a multi-billion dollar company comes-a-knockin', it's pretty easy to sign on the dotted line for a huge payday. 

With the advent of apps like Shazam and SoundHound, artists have the opportunity and ability to gain widespread recognition and success based on the national reach of some of these companies and their commercials or trailers.

Art shouldn't be created with capitalistic motive. Ever. But if/when art is made with integrity, who am I to look down on someone for accepting money from a company to purchase said art to sell its product?

What I can't (and won't) condone, is blatant corporate shilling intentionally masquerading as art and billing itself as art. I think the line is getting blurrier and blurrier between commerce and art in some cases, and companies recognize this and exploit it, because consumers are either incapable of recognizing the difference, or simply don't give a shit.

That leaves a bad taste in my mouth for some reason and I recognize that I'm in the minority.

People don't seem to care and I don't know when (or why) I started to, but I do.

I think artistic integrity is important when creating anything. Intentions matter.

Think about that the next time you watch a music video, see a commercial, or see an entire scene in a movie devoted to selling a product.

I'll leave you with this quick 17-second clip that sums up my feelings quite concisely:

                                                                                      -NxB

Playing: Terraria by Re-Logic 

Watching:  NFL Playoffs