All right, whose bright idea was it to sell the rights to “Mr. Blue Sky” for use in both the “Adaptation” ads AND those VW commercials?? I used to really like this song, it was one of my favorites by ELO, but after hearing it over and over and OVER again, I cannot STAND to listen to it anymore…
Doesn’t Jeff Lynne (or Steve Miller, or Bob Seger) realize how much damage they do by selling out their music??? “Fly Like an Eagle” was another casualty when the USPS used it as their theme song, and don’t even get me started on “Like a Rock”. (“Hollywood Nights” gave me a scare when Verizon started using it, but thankfully that ad campaign vanished very quickly.)
Oddly, I don’t really mind the use of Who music in commercials (the “Tommy” theme was an interesting choice) but I’m sure to be alone in that regard…
I’d guess in this case, and many of the Volkswagen/Mitsubishi examples of late, the performers see a nontrivial spike in record sales, probably throughout their entire catalog, as people who don’t listen to college radio or hang around music stores become aware of a sweet tune out there in the ether.
ISTR reading about a jump in Nick Drake album sales after the “Pink Moon” commercial.
Sooo, not only do you get a nice lump sum for the usage, but a positive impact on catalog sales, and the only people you frustrate are the hardcore fans who have all of your stuff anyway… seems like a no-brainer.
As I understand it, Jeff Lynne actually re-recorded the song specificly for the Volkswagen commercial, so it wasn’t just a matter of his randomly signing the rights away to it. The commercial didn’t run for that long a time, so I find it hard to believe you’re “sick” of it after repeated viewing.
I like it, and I like that a lot of people will take a second look at ELO because of it. The days of being considered a “sell-out” for actually trying to get exposure for your music are long gone. As long as the music is appropriate (as is “Mr. Blue Sky”, “Fly Like an Eagle”, and in my opinion “Start Me Up” for Microsoft) then I don’t have a problem with it. It’s only when the music is pointless (the “Tommy” music) or misses the point entirely (“Fortunate Son”) that it really annoys me.
How about those new car ads with Phil Collins songs from his latest album? i saw two different ones yesterday. And since both those songs suck, Collins is laughing all the way to the bank. And Mr. Blue Sky is being played out, but hopefully will go away (unlike All-Star, which apparently can never die)
Actually, I hadn’t heard “Mr. Blue Sky” before those ads, and as a result of them, I’d like to listen to it properly sometime when I have money again. On the other hand, I’m with KGS on “Like a Rock”. I like Bob Seeger, but I now hate that song.
This is true. It’s one thing to use a song with a specific commercial because it sets a mood, etc. It’s entirely another to decide your entire brand identity is summed up with one song, then continue to beat your target market over the head with it for a decade.
