The Whoring of Music

[stacey bo bacey]

I am so SICK of people selling out. Whose music did I just hear on a commercial for VISA??? Smashing Pumpkins. Fine! Go ahead and ruin my childhood memories of "Today."

There are SO many more that I can't think of right now...hopefully you guys can name a few and I can get ****** off all over again.

Ohh...The Cars "Just What I Needed" for ******* Circuit City. Can't these people just make original "commercial music" or whatever. WHY DO WE KEEP USING CLASSIC SONGS AND RUINING THEIR MEANING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[EtuMalku]

Why does it bother you that an artist makes a living? They are the artists' songs not yours?
A band like the Smashing Pumpkins are in the business to make money and to propagate the Smashing Pumpkins, not create spiritual music. So what would you expect from someone like that?
I can understand your feeling of being betrayed and that something you grew up with being used for what you deem commercial value.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Hootie singing country is the worst.

 

[stacey bo bacey]

Why does it bother you that an artist makes a living? They are the artists' songs not yours?
A band like the Smashing Pumpkins are in the business to make money and to propagate the Smashing Pumpkins, not create spiritual music. So what would you expect from someone like that?
I can understand your feeling of being betrayed and that something you grew up with being used for what you deem commercial value.

I don't think you understand what I'm getting at. These bands/groups/people make amazing, meaningful music and it's celebrated for just that. Then, a decade (or 2 or 3 decades) later, those same songs that meant so much to the bands and/or their fans are being used in commercials for Circuit City, VISA, Ford, Taco Bell, etc. Sometimes, those people or bands have sold their rights to the songs so it's not even them giving consent to use it on a stupid *** commercial. It completely strips the music of any specialness and it takes away the meaning of music as a form of art.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Stacey bo bacey,
Agree with you that we have very few original musicians nowadays.
With the advent of computers we have more of CUT & PASTE artists but then Thats the Reality and one has to live by them.
One has to accept each situation and overcome them to move ahead.
One always has this free will which should be used like by not bothering about such issues in view of our broader perspectives [whatever it may be; or like myself have no perspective at all even about originals]
Meaning to say, we can cry and clear our eyesights but may not help us get over the situation unless we grow up through UNDERSTANDING.

Love & rgds

 

[EtuMalku]

Sometimes, those people or bands have sold their rights to the songs so it's not even them giving consent to use it . . .

When an artist signs a licensing contract then that artists has every intention of 'whoring' it out. There is no . . . oops, I just signed my hit song over to Volkswagen! I have been in the music business for over 30 years and the integrity of most successful artists can be questionable at best, I love the Pumpkins and Billy's playing, but I am certain that when they signed any licensing contracts it was with full intention on getting paid.

I think what many of us do (including myself) is we elevate these artists and their music to a God-like status and certain song becomes subconsciously associated with a certain time and feeling from our past.

After getting to meet many of my idols of youth I have found them to be quite disappointing as human beings or usually just normal hard working musicians that got a break. Except for David Bowie . . . he IS a God, LOL!!

 

[blackout]

Well I'm not one to shun a little classy Whoring. :flirt:

If the commercial is clever...
and the words either have not been altered
but used to point to/convey something else...
or have been artistically/cleverly altered
to the integrity of the original,
I say as an artist, why not?

I never like "cheap" or "corny" or "lazy" though.
Whatever the source.

And as much as I dislike commercialism in general,
we all need to make a living.

Then again.... I don't have "TV".
sooooo.......

 

[blackout]

Actually I get "jazzed" when I occasionally hear the Pat Metheny Group
behind a commercial.

I'm like... oh... It's Phase Dance! (or whatever)

The more public exposure they get...
the better off the general public is.

 

[Comicaze247]

Eh, I understand why you'd feel that way, but I don't really mind it, myself. People appreciate their art and at least credit them when they use it.

What I HATE is the current trend of cutting and recycling music (like almost every hip hop song today). Jeebus. Be original.

 

[McBell]

I am so SICK of people selling out. Whose music did I just hear on a commercial for VISA??? Smashing Pumpkins. Fine! Go ahead and ruin my childhood memories of "Today."

There are SO many more that I can't think of right now...hopefully you guys can name a few and I can get ****** off all over again.

Ohh...The Cars "Just What I Needed" for ******* Circuit City. Can't these people just make original "commercial music" or whatever. WHY DO WE KEEP USING CLASSIC SONGS AND RUINING THEIR MEANING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Who owns the copy right?
Ever stop and think that perhaps Smashing Pumpkins hate the song being used as such even more than you?

I am not saying they do or do not.
However, it seems to me that perhaps you should look into who owns the rights to the songs that are being used in commercials before you automatically condemn the band/group/person who sings it?

 

[blackout]

Who owns the copy right?
Ever stop and think that perhaps Smashing Pumpkins hate the song being used as such even more than you?

I am not saying they do or do not.
However, it seems to me that perhaps you should look into who owns the rights to the songs that are being used in commercials before you automatically condemn the band/group/person who sings it?

Stacey bo Bacey pointed that out in post #4 honey.

 

[stacey bo bacey]

Who owns the copy right?
Ever stop and think that perhaps Smashing Pumpkins hate the song being used as such even more than you?

I am not saying they do or do not.
However, it seems to me that perhaps you should look into who owns the rights to the songs that are being used in commercials before you automatically condemn the band/group/person who sings it?

Well even though I said I am sick of people selling out, that really isn't the sentiment I feel when I see these commercials. I don't even think of the artist (because like I said earlier, it's most likely not even them behind the deal-making)...I just hear the song and see that it's now associated with something completely stupid like Circuit City and I just go, "god damn it, what the fudge!!!?!" I don't even know who I'm really angry with...probably the producers of the commercials. I dunno. I just don't like that it happens.

 

[DarkMaster24]

Don't be angry, it's no big deal.

 

[EtuMalku]

Maybe 40 years ago artsists didn't have control over their own work, but that is not the case these days. Billy Korgan owns the publishing rights to each and every song he has recorded as Smashing Pumpkins, I know because he uses the same publishing affiliate that I do.
I have told you that it is a licensing contract between the owner (Korgan) and the company soliciting his product (song).
What is a source of income and a product to the artist many times ends up being a Holy Grail for their fans aka fanatics.

 

[stacey bo bacey]

Be that as it may, it still ****** me off.

 

[dawny0826]

I hear you, Stacey but I can forgive the examples you provided. My frustration lies with bands that completely reinvent themselves ONLY to sell more records, neglecting the fans that were with them from the beginning, in the process. That, in my opinion, is true sell out.

 

[stacey bo bacey]

I hear you, Stacey but I can forgive the examples you provided. My frustration lies with bands that completely change the heart who of who they are to appease the masses. That, in my opinion, is true sell out.

Yea, true. And I could forgive them selling their music to a product because they need money (who the hell doesn't?) and it's their music to sell. What I hate the most is that when I hear these songs on the radio, images of commercials selling cars or food or gadgets, etc. flash in my head. That's not what I want when I hear a song.

 

[dawny0826]

Yea, true. And I could forgive them selling their music to a product because they need money (who the hell doesn't?) and it's their music to sell. What I hate the most is that when I hear these songs on the radio, images of commercials selling cars or food or gadgets, etc. flash in my head. That's not what I want when I hear a song.

I don't disagree with you. I hate what many of the bands that I grew up with have become. At least Smashing Pumpkins haven't betrayed their own sound.

 

[EtuMalku]

Yea, true. And I could forgive them selling their music to a product because they need money (who the hell doesn't?) and it's their music to sell. What I hate the most is that when I hear these songs on the radio, images of commercials selling cars or food or gadgets, etc. flash in my head. That's not what I want when I hear a song.

On this I agree with you 100% . . . music IS sacred. It is not meant to sell a product. It is meant to elevate your consciousness and it is the only art that provides us with short glimpses into the Divine.
In ancient Egypt most of the musicians were female and many of them were blinded or made blind when creating music, this was how serious music was back then, though they had music for entertainment, the Egyptian priests knew early on the power of sound & vibration . . . and with this power came a 'responsibility' to use it for positive spiritual progress, not something as base and materialistic as a tool for commerce.

I'll shut up now . . . :grill: