Everyone is entitled to my opinion...

Is it possible to sell out?

In the current musical climate, getting paid for your music is becoming more difficult than ever. Physical sales are down, digital sales haven’t quite caught up and people (read: young kids) don’t see music as being of any great value…they’d rather copy it from peer-to-peer or off their friends. So unless you are a viable touring act who can charge people a decent amount for a live show, it’s getting harder and harder to make money.

 

This begs the question: at what point is selling out justified?

 

I would argue that the moment you sign a contract or make a record that you want people to hear is the point where you’ve “sold out”. In fact the moment you decide to get on stage and expect people to listen to your own music is selling out…stay in the bedroom forever if you want to be a true “artist”… but if you never, ever want to sell records, don’t make one.

 

Music In Ads Is Selling Out

There are two schools of thought regarding music being used in advertising and they are polar opposites. It is either the worst thing that you could possibly ever speak out loud to a songwriter, or it is just another payday and therefore there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Tom Waits takes the former position with this, "Apparently, the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad… ideally, naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honour."

 

And then there are people like Steve Stoute from this article who says things like "Using entertainment assets to introduce products is a platform that needed to get exploited. The lines needed to be blurred. When done correctly, there's consumer acceptance."

 

How many of you sit down to write or listen to music and think “hmmm, which asset will I play today?”

 

Music in advertising is the modern equivalent of appearing in Rolling Stone magazine in the 70’s. You may feel like you’re selling out if you’re in the mag, but hey, wouldn’t it be great to be on the cover?