Who Are You Calling a Sell-Out?

By Julene McCoy in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 25, 2007 2:44PM

It’s all fun and games until someone calls sell-out, but how is almost every artist not a sell-out when it comes to putting tunes behind a commercial these days? From the use of “Lust for Life” to get us aboard a Royal Caribbean Cruise to Wilco shilling for Volkswagen, what are the best or worst songs used in commercials? Mark Caro wants your comments about that over at his blog, Pop Machine.

Do we care that The Beatles’ music is used in a Luvs diaper commercial? Probably not as much as those who grew up with that music as the soundtrack to their lives. Our generation’s cries of sell-out have been thrown more readily to indie bands, such as Of Montreal’s appearance in an Outback Steak House ad. Play along with Mark and Rolling Stone’s “Worst Rock Sell Outs Ever!” by disparaging more bands with the sell-out moniker. Or, praise them for their American right to control their own destinies by getting cash that can be used to record an album outside the artistic constraints of the mainstream recording industry.

Image from campaign literature by the very people who want to help license your music, Leap Music.