Licensing songs for commercials is a major stream of revenue for musicians these days. Moby likely wouldn’t be a household name if it weren’t for his gleeful whoring of his 1999 album Play. Inevitably, however, rampant licensing can get a little out of hand. For example, right now, The Shins are basically endorsing both the iPhone and Zune. The band’s song “Sleeping Lesson” accompanies the above the Zune ad (message: using Zune is exactly like doing acid!), while the cover of the album it comes from, Chutes Too Narrow, appears in an iPhone commercial.
Of course, this isn’t the first time a rock band has two-timed the iPhone. John Mayer, who played at MacWorld during the lunch of the device went on to endorse the BlackBerry Curve in advance. I guess a paycheck is just a paycheck, some times.
Via GigaOM
Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete’s particular Apple avocations are both around design–interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!
8 responses to “Indie Rockers The Shins Endorse Both Zune and the iPhone”
Dude, “Sleeping Lessons” is from the latest album, Wincing the Night Away, not Chutes Too Narrow.
Anyway, I am sure the band could not care less about the “superiority” of either player. This is simply another revenue stream for them to exploit. I don’t get people who act all betrayed because, “*gasp*, so-and-so sold out!” Puh-lease… Music these days is a cut-throat business with diminishing returns over time.
Unless it’s a super-group that can guarantee large royalties until the end of time, groups are best served by generating as much income from their art NOW. If that means selling the rights of song A to product X and the rights of song B to product Y, so be it. Plus, this has the added benefit (for the band) of increasing exposure and hopefully sales of their own product.
“Sleeping Lessons” is from Wincing the Night Away (2007), not Chutes Too Narrow (2003). Perhaps Microsoft paid them more than Apple did.
i say these 2 commercials back to back actually, thought it was kinda funny, like how good can this zune thing look like next to an iphone. i wonder if they planned it
Also, CSS’s “Music is My Hot Hot Sex” was used in a Zune ad before being used in the new iPhone ad.