I noticed two spots lately with interesting approaches to music in commercials. The first is a spot for allergy relief med Zyrtec. The character asks at the open “You know that song Time in a Bottle?” Then she proceeds to make make a connection with the duration of relief in the bottle of Zyrtec. Now that’s cagey — just mention a song title and let the viewer fill in the musical blanks. That’s bound to make licensing simpler.

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I saw a Kia spot the other day featuring a catchy little ditty about defeatism and it reminded me how much music has changed in our lives, not just the nature of it and the genres but how and where we’re exposed to it, where we seek it out, how we make it. Its place in advertising has changed, too. Once an artist was considered a sellout if he let his or her art be sullied to sell shoes or deodorant, but now that Neil Young mindset seems anachronistic and commercials have actually become an important channel for artists to get exposure.

Ad agencies love to create commercials that reflect culture (or, some might argue, pander to cultural trends), and for a time they would commission jingles to reflect the style of the hour: Give me something swing, or Give me something ska or Make it sound like so-and -so, but not so much that so-and-so sues. But jingles fell from favor (and I have a specific one in mind I blame,) and agencies discovered they could license well-known songs and either run them as is for authenticity (so we’ll know that “Revolution” means a running shoe) or modify them in more client specific ways (Swiffer.) The argument there was easy to make — so much equity still in the hit, instantly recognizable and already in the memory banks, the brand basking in the glow of musical celebrity. Or agencies could hire someone to make jingles that sound more like songs, like this ten year old classic.

Now we’re at a point where some agencies want obscure songs for their clients, presumably because one must be hip and sophisticated to even know of obscure music, and using it gives the brand instant hip rub-off. [Read more →]