Agosto 03, 2005
Postal Service Sells Out
Last night I saw an M&Ms commercial on TV that used a song by the Postal Service. It wasn't the original recording, it was someone else performing it, in a slower, dreamier style, but the words were definitely Ben Gibbard's, the song about the freckles on our faces being aligned when we kiss, etc. All accompanied by those cartoon M&M guys floating around in kaliedescopic, mandalic patterns. Ugh. I groaned and yelled "NOOOO!" when I saw that. How disappointing. I've seen a lot of musicians sell out like this but none ever that I was this fond of.
Suspira.
Posted by steev at Agosto 3, 2005 05:59 AM
If it's a cover, it's entirely likely that Gibbard didn't consent to its use in the commercial. In this realm of intellectual property law, a songwriter can't bar someone from covering a song, but the performer has to pay a compulsory license, which is generally higher if the rights had been negotiated up front. This "Straight Dope" column explains it a little better: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_324b.html
oops, yes, right, of course. I should have remembered that. thanx. I guess that makes me feel a little better.
You're "this fond" of the band, yet you couldn't remember the name of one of their most famous songs? And you would call them "sell outs" on a dime. Ugh....
umm, yes, yes, and yes.
I love music, but since 1992 or so I can't be bothered to slavishly memorize the names of songs or albums even - who the hell cares - and i have no interest at all in which songs are most famous. ugh indeed. And yes, as soon as I saw how insanely popular the Postal Service was, a few months after their album came out, I was a bit disillusioned, especially when they played at a venue in my town that couldn't hope to be big enough. That kind of stuff always pisses me off. If you're big, then at least play in big enough places so all the people that want to see you can see you. So, yeah, I was not entirely surprised to see the song used in a commerical, though still disgusted, and yes, I was ready to say they'd sold out, because I'm a cynical, bitter, jaded hipster ready to call anyone a sellout at any time. So, umm, fuck you.