TV commercials

[usagi-san]

I wonder what people here think about disco being used in TV commercials. Recently I have seen Old Navy commercials with Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony's "The Hustle" and Dan Hartmen's "Instant Replay." In the latter, of course they don't use any of the bits that would identify it as love song; no "You set my lips on fire" etc., and at the end after "oh, got your number", they cut away before he sings "I'm gonna call you up now". I have some doubt that Old Navy consulted the estate of these deceased performers. I doubt they would ever consider crediting the singer in fine print in their commercials, either. A local casino, Cache Creek, has been using Andrea True Connection's "More More More" in their new commercials. Using only the lyrics of the title and "how do you like it", of course; no "how do you like your love", "my love for you is real" etc., since then people would no longer assocaite the song with their casino. I guess if I only knew the artists approved of their use, and if the commercials credited the songs, I wold think these uses were fabulous, unless it was advertising something I morally disapproved of. But I am pretty open minded in that sense; I don't gamble, but I think casinos are fine as long as they are not rigged, and people watch themselves. Anyway, what do you think?

[QUINNY]

Even though the songwriters or performers are dead, the company making the commercials would have to get permission to use actual records as the background to the commercial.
Credit has never been an issue, as the songwriters would normally receive a whole heap of money and money is enough to keep any egos under check.

[usagi-san]

Well, a whole heap of money wasn't enough to get Abba to reunite for a tour, and several other musicians who have gotten big commercial offers have turned them down on principle. But thanks for the info, Quinny; it is good to know the songs could not be used without permission, or could not easily be. (I hope that works in America the same way it does in England where you are. Well, maybe you were speaking about anywhere. The rules must have tightened, becaue I remember reading about some singers inthe past threatening suit due to their songs being used without permission.) But with Dan and Van no longer around to give approval, the caretakers of their legacy have to try to guess whether or not the late performers would have approved, unless the performers had spelled it out specifically before they died. It is too bad the other performers could not be around to make the decision themselves. If I worked for an ad agency, I would feel uncomfortable using any dead person's music unless the estate could tell me with basically total confidence on their part that the singer would have approved the songs' uses that way.
By the way, I was mistaken when I called that casino Cache Creek; it was Jackson Rancheria.

[Mixmachine]

I guarantee you they wouln't use a note without approval, which by the way, doesn't have to come from the Artist or his estate, but whom ever owns the rights to the music; some small local station or foreign advertiser might ignore/violate the rules but if they are caught they will have to pay.Some famous musicians still with us don't have any say in what happens to their music or how is used because they lost control (sold it) long ago or they never owned it to begin with (original deals with producers, Labels etc). Same thing happens to Films. For instance the movie "Bladerunner" with Harrison Ford probably will never be released in the near future (if at all) again on DVD(present copy not the best quality) because the producer (billionare)owns the rights and because of differences with Director Riddley Scott refuses to allow any one access to the film elements.

By the way the NBA play offs are playing lots of disco/soul music too during the breaks, stuff like "keep on trucking" by Eddie and "I'll be around " Spinners and many others. .

[nrgbeat]

Mixman, check your private messages.

[DISCODISK]

no they couldnt get away with not paying here all radio/t.v stations have to submit daily lists i do work for performing rights and they are my favourite jobs being called to establishments who are either playing t.v or radio cos i can just leave as its all gonna be submitted anyway [dosnt happen very often though :cry: ] mind you i have to visit the local drag club tuesday,i cant wait :lol:
t.v ad music is being turned into an art form here especially by KFC who use disco/soul and currently northern soul tracks,they make a whole series of ads then release c.ds of the tracks used in them like 60s/70s soul mix,they are now sponsoring t.v programmes like the recent no angels series with a disco /soul/northern background that runs almost throughout, its just basically nurses having sex with great music :lol: then they release the c.d, also its pushing up the values of those old records as everybodys chasing them.
ever wondered what that song was on the washing powder advert check the u.k t.v advert database here

http://www.commercialbreaksandbeats.co.uk/

[buckaroo]

:evil:
Those fucking KFC ads make me mad mad mad!!
Since when is KFC soul food? It's a damn insult! I bet Colonel Sanders stole his secret receipe from some unfortunate slaves. The only great thing about them ads, is that Marlena Shaw will finally get some well deserved cash after being ripped-off by the likes of Snow Boy.

Yeah...it is pushing the prices up. :-?

[QUINNY]

I doubt if she'll get that much.

Music has become too cynical, don't you think? It's only about open exploitation these days.