Brand meets band: now they're in business

Having a song featured in an ad can be a vital leg-up for newcomers, writes Julian Lee.

Remember when rock'n'roll was all about rebellion and showing the world the proverbial finger? When the very thought of working with big business would have provoked a splenetic bout of self-righteousness among band members and fans?

As much as some of us like to reminisce about the good old days, it seems the music industry has forsaken them. Up-and-coming bands are likely to seek out business deals that can give them a leg-up and cut short the long and often painful climb to the top.

Apple's use of Are You Going To Be My Girl in iPod ads transformed Jet from a workaday rock band into a global name. A similar deal was cut with Vodafone in Britain, ensuring Jet's musical footprint was extended.

Call it smart marketing or a sell-out, but Jet's album Get Born has sold 3.5 million copies. Had Apple not made the call, Jet might still have been performing at low-rent venues in the US, says Heath Johns of Jet's label, Universal Music Publishing.

"The exposure definitely sped up the process," Johns says. "But they followed up the ad with a killer [album]." Without the exposure, the album might have sold just 100,000 copies.

Although artists are never pressured into commercial deals, they are one of the first things talked about when artists, managers and publishers sit down to draw up a contract.

"There's no glory in the starving artist stereotype any more. These guys don't have a weekly pay packet, they have bills to pay," Johns says.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/brand-meets-band-now-theyre-in-business/2007/12/16/1197740082270.html