Matthew
Calculating the Moby Quotient
by Matthew - December 31, 2007 - 11:50 AM

If you spent your musically developmental and formative years in the basement of a college radio station, you know the satisfaction that comes from championing some unknown alterna-electro funk band from Portland. With this satisfaction comes the devastating emptiness when they inevitably sell their catchy debut single to Mitsubishi for use in a commercial for a sedan with above average gas mileage. The rise of illegal downloading, the shrinking of radio playlists, and the decline in CD sales have forced many artists to “sell out,” often in television commercial form, to make ends meet.

mobyquotient.jpg

The Washington Post recently enlisted an expert in hyperbolic geometry (!?!) to devise a formula that equates the precise degree of sell-out your favorite garage band has committed, bringing new meaning to the subgenre specific term math-rock. The mathematical result is represented by the Greek letter mu, here as “The Moby Quotient,” named for the electronic artist that (in)famously sold every single last song on his 1999 album, Play, to varying commercial interests.

Being an expert in both barely relevant indie-rock minutiae and crippling sell-out related heartbreak, I’ve compiled a list of the most egregious offenders and punched their stats into the sell-out calculator.

Of Montreal for Outback Steakhouse

Song: “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)”
Not only did Of Montreal allow the steakhouse to use the song, they also changed the words from “Let’s pretend we don’t exist/Let’s pretend we’re in Antartica” to “Let’s go Outback tonight/Life will still be there tomorrow.” Nothing says 18 oz. rib eye medium-rare like Indie-pop!!

Mu =114.98

Devo for Dell Computers

Song: “Watch Us Work It”
Certainly tired of being portrayed as a chubby guy in a suit in Apple commercials, PC company Dell has turned to the next logical place – satirical social commentary disguised as angular new wave punk. The Devo track “Watch Us Work It” appears here hawking laptops.

Mu = 39.51

Nick Drake for Volkswagen

Song: “Pink Moon”
This Cabrio commercial not only sold lots and lots of cars. In a perfect stroke of synergy, it also sold lots and lots of Nick Drake albums. The relatively obscure English folk songwriter developed an American cult following based on the success of this advertisement featuring his song “Pink Moon”. This commercial was also directed by Little Miss Sunshine duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris.

Mu = 29.46
(let’s not be so hard on him, he’d been dead for over 25 years when the commercial aired)

Sting for Jaguar

Song: “Desert Rose”

Frustrated with regularly selling mere millions of albums, former Police frontman Sting granted British luxury carmakers Jaguar the rights to not only his track “Desert Rose” but also himself. Team Sting shot the video for the single with the intent of pitching it to Jaguar as a commercial. It worked, and Sting gave his song and his likeness to Jaguar for free, figuring it to be worth the asking price in free advertising. Ultimately, Brand New Day became Sting’s best selling solo record to date.

Mu = 32.48 (plus an additional one million sell-out points for living in a castle…literally)

Band of Horses for Ford Edge

Song: “Funeral”
Northwestern indie-rock group Band of Horses appears in this commercial despite the obviously questionable choice of having a song titled “Funeral” to promote your recall-prone Ford brand. The alternative label Sub-Pop, once famous for anti-commercialism, has seen a handful of their roster promoting such products as M&Ms, McDonalds and Walmart recently. Movin’ on up!

Mu = 145.61

Mangesh, Jason and Matthew for Enron

Say an editor or two from mental_floss joined an upstart writer like me (I’d play bass) and formed a dance-punk band, promptly selling our first song to Enron. We’d be so indie that nobody would have ever heard of us. Plus, we could quit these boring day jobs and focus on what really matters – the music, man.Mu = 170.44

Plug in your own bands and post your Moby Quotients!

Matthew Smith is an occasional contributor to mentalfloss.com

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Comments (23)

  1. Two things:

    1. Of Montreal are from Athens, Georgia. Seems like “an expert in both barely relevant indie-rock minutiae” would know something that basic.

    2. I once interviewed Robert Schneider of the Apples In Stereo, shortly after he allowed JC Penney to use their song “Shine A Light” in an ad. He said, quite reasonably, that he made more money off that sale than he had made in his entire career as a musician up to that point, and that he and his then-wife Hilarie Sidney, the band’s drummer, shopped at J.C. Penney themselves.

    I cannot fault a musician for getting paid for his or her work, because that helps ensure more work down the line. I don’t own the song, so my feelings about its use don’t count, and if my feelings about the song are so shallow that they’ll be ruined forever by an association with, say, J.C. Penney, then I clearly don’t actually care that much about the song in the first place.

    posted by Stewart on 12-31-2007 at 1:29 pm

  2. Did we forget Iggy Pop and the cruise ship?

    posted by JaneM on 12-31-2007 at 1:45 pm

  3. I think the Moby equation has the wealth factor backwords. Under the present equation, the wealthier the artist, the smaller the Moby quotient. But, to me it is more sad when a very wealthy artist, who has no need for money, sells out their song for more money. The wealth factor should be reversed such that the wealthier the artist is, the larger the Moby factor.

    posted by Doug K on 12-31-2007 at 1:52 pm

  4. Hey, Of Montreal isn’t Canadian! They’re from Atlanta, GA.

    Also, can someone please calculate for me the MU of the Shins selling every song they write to Starbucks? Also, is there a reverse MU for people refusing to sell out? If so, please calculate Johnny Cash['s family] not selling out “Ring of Fire” to Preparation-H.

    posted by Sarah on 12-31-2007 at 2:01 pm

  5. I can’t remember the actual drug being advertised, but I’ve noticed Guster (from Boston area) sold a song recently. The song goes, “It’ll be alright. C’mon, C’mon, C,mon.” The song’s from a great album. I guess it could have been used for worse products.

    posted by Isaac B. on 12-31-2007 at 2:47 pm

  6. Thanks, Stewart, I meant Athens, not Atlanta.

    But you have to admit it pissed you off when you were listening to that song and a friend would say, “Hey, isn’t this that Outback Steakhouse commercial song?” Kevin Barnes has said in an interview that he was under the influence of very strong anti-depressants at the time that deal [with Outback Steakhouse/the Devil, depending on your views] was signed.

    posted by Sarah on 12-31-2007 at 2:59 pm

  7. Is there such a thing as an inverse Moby factor, for artists who incorporate making fun of commercials (or the act of selling songs for commercials) into their art? What type of quotient would Neil Young get for “This Note’s for You,” or Foo Fighters for satirizing Mentos commercials in their video for “Big Me”?

    posted by Paul on 12-31-2007 at 3:06 pm

  8. i kind of agree with stewart.

    a musician who makes a conscientious sell of the rights of their intellectual property is not a sell-out. they are making money off of their art. if a painter sells one of paintings to a big corporation who in turn makes the painting a logo, does that make the painter a sell-out?

    i used to think Kenny G was a sell-out. i admire him for making so much money from playing his horn, (and i don’t care for his music), but i no longer look at it as selling out.

    posted by the creature on 12-31-2007 at 3:08 pm

  9. I am a twee maniac, MANIAC. I love music and on my old computer I had a whole playlist of songs that had been used in commercials. I knew about Moldy Peaches and Kimya Dawson before Juno and we do not even go into CSS or Feist. I do not blame bands for selling songs for commercials. If you want to listen to indie you have to except the fact that bands have to fucking sell their songs. They have to make money some how!!!

    here is a list of bands/commercials you forgot.
    CSS- Apple
    Feist- Apple
    Flaming Lips- Dell
    Architecture In Helsinki- Sprint
    Beck- Um car commercial I believe?

    Those are just ones off the top of my head [added with most of yours]

    posted by Charlie on 12-31-2007 at 3:38 pm

  10. Sarah: Sorry, but no, it didn’t faze me. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Of Montreal fan in the world, so it’s not a song that means that much to me. But there have been songs that I’ve really loved used in ads, and I have to say, it’s never really upset or angered me. Mostly, when I hear a song like the Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” or the Jam’s “Start!” used in a car ad, I just think “Huh. People my age are in charge of music buys at ad agencies now.”

    And as for the “Pink Moon” VW ad, it was a genuinely lovely ad, and also, all accounts say that it pained Nick Drake greatly that he never sold a lot of records in his lifetime, and I like to think he’d be glad to know that a lot of people got turned onto his music, even if it was through a TV ad.

    The one thing that’s always amused me about using songs I love in ads is that just ONCE, I would love to see someone have the balls to include the “Shoot ‘em in the back now” line from “Blitzkrieg Bop”!

    posted by Stewart on 12-31-2007 at 3:47 pm

  11. I’m kind of excited that “lesser known” bands have their songs in commercials but it also makes me kind of sad inside. Here’s a small list to add:

    Peter Bjorn & John- Levi’s
    CSS- Apple
    Air-BP
    Chromeo- Reese’s/XM Radio
    The Books- Hummer
    The Postal Service- USPS (although I heard it was an agreement that they could keep their name as long as USPS could use their music)
    The Postal Service/Iron & Wine- M & M’s

    posted by Maly on 1-1-2008 at 1:00 am

  12. Let’s not forget all of Sky Blue Sky for VW. And recently The Shins and Band of Horses for the Zune. Also Iron and Wine for m&ms.

    Just throwing this out there, Feist is overrated anyway.

    posted by kyle on 1-1-2008 at 2:56 am

  13. One of my favorite bands of all time, The Cult, sold their song “She Sells Sanctuary” to Mitsubishi. And I agree with Stewart about people from our generation are in charge of music buys. Does that mean we are getting old?

    posted by Carlos on 1-1-2008 at 3:00 am

  14. One of my favourite examples of so-called “selling out” is the Cadillac commercial with “Punkrocker” by Teddybears feat. Iggy Pop. Nothing says punk rock like Cadillac cars.

    posted by Rita on 1-1-2008 at 9:12 pm

  15. Carlos and Stewart help make a great point with the reactions “huh. people my age are in charge of music buys at ad agencies now” and “does that mean we are getting old now?”
    i guess this type of cultural sea change can occur with every generation, particularly in the music and entertainment industries. In a great essay on electronica music in television commercials, Timothy D. Taylor recalls sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s “new petit bourgeoisie”. This was a new generation of advertisers that first put pop music in television commercials in the 1980′s and put an end to the widespread practice of commercial jingles. It seems as if, once again, a new generation has displaced this group, around the mid to late 90′s, introducing the music of their youth.

    also, check out the site http://www.adtunes.com for discussion and updates about music in commercials.

    posted by Matthew Smith on 1-1-2008 at 9:35 pm

  16. plus, you gotta LOVE the dedication of the mental_floss readers who posted comments for this blog at 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM on new years!!!

    posted by Matthew Smith on 1-1-2008 at 10:11 pm

  17. Thanks Matthew. I will explain why my post is at 3:00 AM and that is because I am stationed in Iraq and it was sometime in mid afternoon when I made my comment. I also just remembered that the group “Trio” sold “DA DA DA” to VW. Another great song. I am posting this at 9:33AM January 2nd.

    posted by Carlos on 1-2-2008 at 12:33 am

  18. I am a big Of Montreal fan and it does make me cringe whenever I hear that Outback song. Mainly because Outback SUCKS. Not that it would be much better if it were for something “cooler”.

    I don’t mind as much when a song is used in a music-related commercial, like the ITunes commercials. It can be a great way for a band to promote their music.

    What does bother me a little is the lack of ingenuity in advertising: what ever happened to the ever-present brand jingle? I can’t even think of a real jingle anymore; the closest thing I can get are jingles for local carpet companies, or maybe the three-note McDonalds “jingle.” Instead of jingles, they just use a song someone else wrote, that usually has nothing to do with the product being sold.

    What REALLY irks me, and has been mentioned on here, is that Iggy Pop “Lust for Life” song on the cruise commercial. Iggy was a fearless performer and overall a crazy bastard. Now when I hear him I think of fat suburbanites in a buffet line.

    posted by Molly on 1-2-2008 at 11:06 am

  19. Anyone familiar with Spoon will reacognize that their tracks are now featured in just about every movie and tv show on the planet. They often just loop a guitar riff over and over without playing the whole song, but Stranger than Fiction, Chuck, Fast Food Nation, Waiting…

    Bob Schneider, another Austin, TX musician has had his songs show up in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Miss Congeniality, 40 days and 40 nights…

    posted by Spoon and Bob Schneider on 1-2-2008 at 11:13 am

  20. Charlie makes a good point. I understand why most have to sell. It makes me happy for them, on one hand… & happy for myself that I foudn them before that ad moguls did…

    What about The Weepies in both JCPenney’s AND Old Navy commercials?

    posted by sd on 1-2-2008 at 1:21 pm

  21. I like Royskopp’s “Remind Me” in the Gieco Airport Caveman commercial.

    posted by Greg on 1-3-2008 at 1:45 pm

  22. No! People are age are not in charge of music buys.

    People our age are the TARGET MARKET for these products!

    These ad agencies want to get the attention of people in the proper age range with money to buy these products. That means, us. So they are buying up the rights to our teenage years.

    These songs have special emotional meaning to us. They are using them in these ads, to connect that emotion with their product. It is Pavolv, quite simply.

    It works very, very well.

    When Baby Boomers were the same age as we are now, the ad agencies were buying up the rights to Stones and Beatles songs. Now they’re buying up the rights to The Smiths and The Cure. It is not surprising.

    posted by goatchowder on 1-6-2008 at 12:12 pm

  23. I’m 24. Are people my age in charge of music buys yet? No. But I didn’t grow up with The Smiths and The Cure, I grew up with The Strokes and Nada Surf. The gen X demographic who first noticed The Smiths is certainly the old enough to be in positions of power at ad agencies. If you were 16 when the debut single, ‘Hand in Glove’, was released in 1983, that makes you 40 now. Certainly old enough.

    posted by Matthew Smith on 1-6-2008 at 5:13 pm

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