The School of Feedback Guitar Blog

Yesterday, I wrote about how Absolut Vodka was using a Joy Division song for one of their commercials. Here is the actual video. It makes me feel dirty to see it. Perhaps the only good thing is that the visual artists probably can pay their rent for awhile. That's nice. But Joy Division? I don't drink vodka, let alone Absolut Vodka. I misspelled their name yesterday. So there's no pun in me saying, "have some taste, ok?" Again, I really think this is pushing the limits of selling out.

This is interesting. The situation: Absolute Vodka is/was using a Joy Division song for one of their TV commercials. Joy Division isn't exactly known for their happy songs. The singer, Ian Curtis, killed himself when he was 23 years old. So, um, why the hell is Absolute Vodka using a Joy Division song for advertising? It doesn't make sense.

It's almost like Absolute Vodka is suggesting, "Hey you: Drink Absolute Vodka. It makes you feel better! Especially if you are totally depressed and love Joy Division!" This might define the limits of what selling out is and is not.

http://culinarypen.blogspot.com/2009/09/ian-curtis-swedish-vodka.html

(Shout out to Steve B. for sending me this article.)

Is putting your music or your t-shirts online mean you are a sell-out? Let's say that you sell more than 500 copies of your record. Are you a sell-out now? Is Radiohead selling out? Is Wilco selling out? Is Kenny G selling out? Has Atari Teenage Riot sold-out? Does playing Austin City Limits or Emo's outside or Beerland make you a sell-out? Imagine promoting your band DiY style and it works. Let's say that it worked so well that you are packing Stubb's outside. Sell-out?

Does endorsing a product so that you can pay your rent for an entire year and focus almost exclusively on your creative vision mean you are a sell-out? Does licensing your music to a commercial so that you can, again, pay your rent for the entire year and devote your time to creative pursuits mean you are a sell-out? What about liscensing your music to Hummer? Toyota?

If you own a business, does that mean you are a sell-out? If you do things for money, does that mean you are a sell-out? This includes being a server as well as a corporate banker.

Selling out is confusing

I think it is utterly impossible to determine whether someone is a sell out or not based upon superficial observations. Octopus Project allowed Nokia to use one of their songs so they could do more cool music. It enabled them to do more cool noise too. Kenny G overdubbed his soprano saxophone over Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." It's my opinion he desecrated the song, and he has no need for the money. Radiohead said, "Here is our new album. Pay what you want for it. Enjoy it." Wilco licensed a song to Volkswagen. I've known plenty of people who have great jobs which provide for their needs while still devoting a large amount of time volunteering too. What if there is a corporate banker who dedicates most of her spare time to volunteering at Safe Place because she feels it is something that deserves her energy? Does that make her a sell-out? Does she deserve the label?

When someone sells out, to me it means that they are going against what their heart says is right. It seems to me that no one can really tell when a person does this. Perhaps the only way I can think of at the moment is if they start acting like a total jerk, or start acting really evil.