Aural Intercourse: Brand bands

By Mike Prevatt

Catching up on my newspaper and magazine reading last week, I saw two different items that were somewhat unsettling and yet got the ol' wheels upstairs turning a bit--does the stigma of "selling out" exist anymore?

One of the items was in the L.A. Times Sunday Calendar section, from about five weeks back. There was a main article on what "unsigned" or independent artists are doing to get their music heard. Below it was another article about bands building their "brands"--or, how artists and their handlers are revolutionizing the way nonmainstream acts are marketed.

The second item was an advertisement in Entertainment Weekly. Next to, of all things, a conversation with the guys from Buddyhead.com--a poseur-baiting website that pulls no punches with even the "coolest" artists--is a Honda ad, touting the 2004 Civic Tour, featuring emo superstar act Dashboard Confessional. In the ad, the band surrounds a custom-made Civic adorned with not only the band's logo covering the trunk, but singer/guitarist Chris Carrabba's signature near the driver-side door.

The first piece gave me reason for pause, perhaps to ponder the reality of being a professional musician. The second just made me physically ill. Have we really reached the point where a band will go to any lengths to promote itself?

For most of the '90s, the notion of using music for anything but entertaining its listeners was as taboo as you could get. When alternative music became a widespread phenomenon in 1991, so did many of its ideals, including the unwritten rubric for what was considered selling out. This followed the principles of Gen X icons like Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder, who, despite their major-label associations, took lessons from DIY practitioners like Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins (who would later catch heat for pitching Apple and Gap products to fund his publishing company).

As alternative music became more commodified, things like hawking products and tour sponsorships became less of an issue for artists. In 1999, many well-regarded artists justified selling their songs for commercials because radio playlists had shrunken so much. Rock institution Sting got "Desert Rose" on the radio once it was included in a Jaguar commercial. Techno pioneer Moby finally rose above the underground by licensing songs from his Play album several times over because films and commercials were the only mediums willing to touch them.

Nowadays, few bat an eye when an artist licenses his songs to commercials or accepts a tour sponsorship. Why? There are more justifications than ever to go beyond the traditional radio and MTV routes. Artists are quitting their day jobs, building their own studios--hell, finally eating three meals a day--because of the added cash flow that things like video game deals offers. One of the most coveted nonradio outlets for up-and-coming acts is Fox's teen-soap drama "The O.C.," on which the most beloved acts aren't the usual million-sellers, but Phantom Planet and Death Cab for Cutie. Even Vedder and his band, Pearl Jam, caved two weeks ago and finally let one of their songs, "Yellow Ledbetter," air during a TV program--the series finale of "Friends."

Bottom line, bands are no longer just musicians and artists. As Clem Snide's manager, Dan Efram, inferred in the Times article, they're salesmen of their image and potential marketing partners with interested labels. "Let's face it," said Efram. "Building a band is like building a brand."

Even if selling out doesn't mean what it used to, there are still lines bands should not cross. Take the Civic tour. Even though Carrabba claims to have underground punk roots, signing on with Honda for a tour isn't the worst thing he could have done--not like, say, allowing his own John Hancock and his band's logo to be painted on a Civic to be given away. That may work for Dale Earnhardt Jr., but coming from an earnest young artist, it's shameless, beyond cheesy and ultimately narcissistic.

Obviously, times have changed and bands have different needs and principles and perspectives on such things. But the one thing they and their handlers should always remember is that their primary marketing tool should always be the tunes. Without those, establishing their "brand" is futile.

Quickies

Las Vegas' budding rock act the Killers have scored another coup in their quest to win the world over. They have been announced as part of the lineup for the Weenie Roast Festival, put on annually by influential L.A. radio station KROQ (which currently has the band's "Somebody Told Me" in its playlist). The event, headlined by the Beastie Boys, Velvet Revolver and the Strokes, is set for June 12 in Irvine, Calif.; tickets go on sale at Ticketmaster May 22 at noon.

Emusic.com, the more alternative-oriented version of iTunes, Napster, et al, has expanded its MP3 catalog to more than 400,000 songs, and has altered its subscription requirements. Formerly a yearly commitment, now subscribers can pay $10 a month for 40 downloads and quit whenever they like.

According to VH-1's website, L.A. hip-hop act Black Eyed Peas may record with Justin Hawkins, singer of the British hair-rock act the Darkness. The two parties apparently hit it off touring in Australia; BEP's Will.Am.I says the collaboration might sound like a cross between Run-DMC's "Walk This Way" and BEP's own "Let's Get Retarded."

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