sarahtherese

Hey, fellow music lovers. I have a favour to ask… (Please don’t throw your computer at the wall and run screaming yet. Hear me out.)

I’m working on my masters thesis at the moment, and it’s about the whole sell-out concept, and advertising’s commodification of indie music.


I really want to do a quality piece of research here, so I was hoping some of you could help me out with your opinions.


Do you think that it’s possible for bands to sell out anymore by licensing their music for ads, or is the concept outdated?


Does the use of an indie song in an ad colour how you feel about the musician?


Does it colour how you feel about the brand who used the song? Like, what does McDonald’s using New Slang, or VW using Pink Moon make you think of them?

Are they hip, down with the kids etc, or more try hard, uncool, silly?


Would the use of an indie song in an ad be enough to make you avoid that brand? Or would it do the opposite, and actually engage you?


Does the context matter? Like would it be more acceptable to here an indie song where the lyrics really match the product? As opposed to, for instance, Apple using Pixies’ Gigantic in an iPhone ad, where the song’s original context is lost.


I guess what I’m ultimately trying to find out is does that anti-commercial ideology that indie music subculture is based upon still exist today.


I realise I am not providing any incentive to help me out here, but any thoughts you have would be so appreciated! I really want this work to be good. I also really do not want to fail my masters. It would be a super good deed. And if any of you should find yourselves in Ireland I'll tell you where all the best music places are. Promise.


Feel free to answer any or all of the above questions, or if you have any other feelings about the topic just throw them in! Anything helps!


Thanks so much

Sarah