Commercially Aware
You can call them sellouts, but we call them career moves.
For this week's Commercially Aware, we focus on some hometown favorites: Wilco. The group licensed songs from Sky Blue Sky in early 2007 to be used in a few Volks Wagon ads. When the campaign began to air, a few uptight fans got their emo bras in a twist about the band selling out or failing to adhere to some strict standard of anti-Volks Wagonism.
For its part, the band issued a simple statement defending the ads: "With the commercial radio airplay route getting more difficult for many bands (including Wilco), we see this as another way to get the music out there...as with most of the above (with the debatable exception of radio) the band gets paid for this. And we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them."
Seems fair to me. Besides, the boys in Wilco are also aware of the fact that VW has a long history of using great music in their commercials. There's the one with The Silversun Pickups, the one with Nick Drake and even the one with Tony Hale before he got his gig on "Arrested Development." It's like Zach Braff is making a mix tape for the entire company. You can check them all out below.
VW and Wilco prevent a car jacking.
VW and Wilco prevent a car towing.
VW and the Silver Sun Pickups have a close call with road rage.
VW and Nick Drake prevent kids from partying hard.
Posted by Ryan Peters on Nov 15, 2007 @ 12:00 am
