This Message Brought To You By Tide Detergent

(Part of a a weekly five part series I am trying to complete this week in regards to music).

I have officially sold out. From now on this blog is brought to you by Aquafresh Toothpaste. It was simple economics man. I have to adopt a new model in today's troubled economic times and the only way to do that was by selling out and adopting corporate sponsorship.

Ok thats a joke. I would never endorse Aquafresh but only because I use Crest.

In the world of music the topic of selling out is a hotly contested issue. I don't think there is one set definition of how a band can sell out. Some people think a band signing to a major label is selling out or that selling your songs to some corporation to use in a car commercial is selling out. Basically I think selling out is creating or changing your music to adhere to whatever the popular musical trends are to become sucsesful. Other than that I don't care if a band has their songs in the new Madden game or sign a fifty million dollar contract with Virgin Records (well I guess I would be mad if my favorite band decided to have ties to some brutal represive government in Africa i.e.Pat Robertson).

I remember a couple years ago at work on the radio a familiar song by one of my favorite bands Of Montreal was being played. Actually, instead of what I thought was Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games it was the same music but the lyrics were changed for an Outback comercial.

Here is the original version:



And here is the Outback commercial version:



You know what? I didn't care. I can kind of understand why someone could get upset and accuse the band of selling out because I, like most other people, attach a special meaning or emotional connection to a song but you have to realize in today's changing music industry there are only a limited number of avenues a band can go down anymore to make enough money to eat food. Maybe I'm wrong here but I also think you have to let whoever created these songs to be able to make their own decision with what they do with their own intellectual property.

And have you noticed that most people who complain about a band selling out are also the same assholes who download albums without paying for it. These assholes who don't want to pay any money for music will get mad at their favorite artists who just want to make a little money so they can actually have a career and keep making music that can be enjoyed. I mean how do they expect their favorite band (and not only the members of the band but also the people who are employed through the band) to continue to make music? The money has to come from somewhere.

I think most people who are concerned with their favorite artist selling out are either fifteen years old or don't really care about the music but care about the image they want to project to their peers by their impeccable music taste. You know these are the the same hipsters who decided it was ok to like Bob Dylan until he went electric or Dashboard Confessional was better before he got the backing band so you hear the the words sell out.

So here is an idea to all lovers of music. Who cares if your favorite band gets paid by Apple to have their song played in an Itouch commercial? You should like a song or an artist because its a good song and it connects with you emotionally. Please lets forget about this made up and I must say childish notion of selling out.

And if I didn't sum it up good enough here are two songs about selling out. The first is by Lagwagon:



The other one is by a band called Bigwig:



Catch you tomorrow.