Cashing in: Wilco

This story has been all over a number of blogs, but in case you missed it...

Wilco licensed a B-side and a track from its latest album, "Sky Blue Sky," for Volkswagen, and in five days (Friday to Tuesday) there was a little Wilcogate going on. Wilco has a lot of indie cred as an artistically pure (or just artistically good) band, so the idea of their music in a car commercial made some people flinch.

The band released a statement on their Web site, explaining the ads by saying, in part: "This is a subject we've discussed internally many times over the years regarding movies, TV shows and even the odd advertisement. With the commercial radio airplay route getting more difficult for many bands (including Wilco); we see this as another way to get the music out there. As with most of the above (with the debatable exception of radio) the band gets paid for this. And we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them."



By the way, have you ever noticed that the "V-Dub in da house" guy in those other Volkswagen commercials is the same guy who played Steve Buscemi's quiet partner in "Fargo?"



From a tan Sierra to a sweet V-Dub

Cashing In: (San Diego's own) The Stereotypes

Local alt-country standouts The Stereotypes are the musical inspiration for a new TV ad campaign for Coleman — and it's a full-on blitz.


The track "Outside" from their Heisman-recommended 2004 EP "2" is featured in TV commercials that are starting to run on ESPN, MTV HGTV and other channels, with the song's second line, "let's go outside," as the tagline for the ads. The song even plays automatically on the Coleman Webpage, where there are links to download the track as an MP3 or a cell phone ringtone.

Stereotypes guitarist Mike Kamoo told Baby Heisman that ending up in the ads was pure luck.



"From what I understand, the music supervisor from Coleman's ad agency heard the song on a friends iPod. We were contacted nearly two years ago," he said, adding that he didn't think there was a specific San Diego connection.

Kamoo said the licensing money will go completely to the band. "We will also be payed royalties from performing-rights agencies once the commercials air, but again, not sure what to expect there. I've never received a royalty check for a TV commercial before."

He said the band also isn't sure how they'll use the money. The Stereotypes just put out a new album, "4," and they aren't planning any tours. But Kamoo said the band is finishing a video for the song and if the ad campaign goes well they could renew the deal.

"This is a great opportunity for the band, but I really can't say we're 'cashing in' just yet," he said.

The Stereotypes on Myspace

Coleman page with the ads and the song

Cashing In: Junior Boys

With all the TV I watched over the past week while sacked out sick, I was surprised that I've only got one "Cashing In" post to report.

A commercial for Marriott hotels promoting the MP3 player hookups in their rooms uses one of the best of tracks of 2006: "In the Morning" by Junior Boys. The track is fitting for the commercial if only because it's talking about using your iPod as your alarm clock in the room.

With its frantic, minimalist dance blips, the song is a standout, but it took a long time for me to get into the album, "So This Is Goodbye." I still think the A side is much, much stronger than the B side, but the A side is strong enough to warrant a listen.



Junior Boys — In the Morning (MP3)

Cashing In: Peter, Bjorn & John

In some of the least-surprising news of 2007...



The Peter, Bjorn & John whistle-fest "Young Folks" has shown up in an add for AT&T wireless (what you used to know as Cingular). The PB&J/AT&T mash-up leaves me wondering: did it really take this long for someone to pick up the super-catchy, seemingly made-for-licensing song, or had the band turned down/resisted previous offers?

Once more, with feeling: Peter, Bjorn and John — Young Folks (MP3)

Cashing in: The New Pornographers II

A while back I did a Cashing In post on the New Pornographers' "The Bleeding Heart Show" being used in a commercial for the University of Phoenix. In an interview today with Pitchfork, frontman Carl Newman talks about how the deal went down:




Pitchfork: I saw an ad for one of those quasi-legit universities, the University of Phoenix, and it happened to have a song of yours in the background.

Carl Newman: Yeah, I know. It's weird, isn't it?

Pitchfork: What's the deal with that?

Carl Newman: It's one of those things that just, you get a call, and somebody said "hey, the University of Phoenix wants to use the end of "Bleeding Heart Show" in a commercial." And I thought, "eh, fair enough." And I really honestly didn't know that University of Phoenix was a huge online university. I actually thought it was, like, the University of Phoenix; like, every city has its big university, you know? And I thought, "oh, it'll show in the Southwest." It seemed kind of odd to me, like, I've never heard of a university having a TV commercial, but I thought, oh well. All of a sudden, people started saying "I saw your commercial during 'Saturday Night Live'" or "I saw your commercial during 'American Idol'," and I thought, "what the hell is up with that?" Then I began to realize that, well, I guess we inadvertently signed up to be in a big commercial. How about that?

Pitchfork: Does it seem odd to be connected with a sketchy university?

Carl Newman: You know, if University of Phoenix is some kind of scam, then I suppose I'd feel kind of stupid for being a part of it, but you know, I can't really say that I have much of an opinion, you know? It's a university, or a school, and it might be a crappy school, but it seems like letting a crappy school use your song is probably better than letting the best business use your song. I'm not overly political, but if Wal-Mart wanted to use the song, I would just go, "fuck off, no chance in hell." But for a lot of other things, I'm not so precious about our music. A lot of work went into it-- you record your song and you mix it and you put it out and it's there in the world, and as for the rest of it, I can't really stop people from doing with it what they want. Songs always mean the same thing to me regardless of whether they're in a commercial or playing in the background on "The Office" or whatever. I don't really have any... I'm kind of shocked that I have to talk about it.

One thing that made me feel better was, right around the time that commercial started showing up, there was also the Outback Steakhouse commercial with Of Montreal in it. And I thought, "thank God, that's really going to deflect some attention away from us." At least we didn't give our song to Outback. Now I'm afraid if I accidentally say something about the University of Phoenix that a hammer is going to come down on my head, or I'll find myself in a lawsuit. My official stance is, "I fully support the University of Phoenix," but to back that, I honestly didn't know what it was. But then again, if I did know what it was, I'm not sure that I would have said no. We're just trying to get by in this world. When you play music for so long and don't make any money, and people start offering you money for things that involve no effort on your part, you start going, "I'll do that."

Pitchfork interview with Carl Newman
Cashing In: The New Pornographers

Cashing in: Tapes 'n Tapes

My Oregon Ducks looked super pretty in their first game of the Pac-10 Tournament yesterday, which was thankfully shown on Fox Sports. During an early commercial break, right after the just-plain-sad Hooters ad with ESPN's Dick Vitale, came a spot for my alma mater itself that used "Crazy Eights," one of the instrumental tracks from the Tapes 'n Tapes album "The Loon. (For the non-sports fans, it's pretty common for schools to have commercials during playoff or nationally televised games.)


Tapes 'n Tapes were The with a capital T blog band of 2006. Self-released album. Sounds like either the Talking Heads, the Pixies or Pavement. A daisy chain of blog support. Eventual Pitchfork support. Eventual backlash. You know the drill. The main complaint is that they're "boring" live. I saw them last summer while visiting Seattle and I don't know if I just caught them on a good night, but they were far from a snoozer. (A "My City's a Sucker" side note: Tapes 'N Tapes' only San Diego show has been a Street Scene slot.)

Tapes 'n Tapes — Crazy Eights (MP3)
Tapes 'n Tapes — Insistor (MP3)

"Crazy Eights" fit the ad nicely, but it's hard to do worse than the debacle known as ... "Mandrake." Nike founder Phil Knight went to U of O, so we've been the testing ground for a number of Nike design ideas, most recently our football uniforms with their 180 color combinations, all of them silly. But nothing was as silly as when Nike designed a new mascot to accompany. It rode a chopper, thrusted its hips wildly and seemed to scare Donald. It was originally called Roboduck, though later changed to Mandrake, which only added to its already massive homoeroticism.

It was as unnecessary as New Coke and disappeared just as unceremoniously. But some photos still exist. Look at it! LOOK AT IT!!



Here's the really scary thing: Our new athletic director is a well-connected booster (from San Diego) with no A.D. experience, brought in solely to secure funding for a new basketball stadium and then leave after three years. So, to get that money, we could see more Mandrake ideas in the near future.

I miss the days when my school was just known for pot and Pre'.

Cashing in: A whole new ballgame

Our Sports and Video Games correspondent, TCon, sent in this tip:


Last year, 2K Sports' baseball video game was soundtracked entirely by Matador Records bands. This year's version, MLB 2K7, will include some of your most-loved (Tapes N Tapes, the Pixies) and most-hated (Sublime, 311) bands.

311 “Down”
Bishop Allen “Middle Management”
Cities in Dust “Emergency”
Death From Above 1979 “Little Girl”
Dixie Witch “Set the Speed”
Editors “Munich”
Five Horse Johnson “I Can’t Shake It”
Greatdayforup “Man’s Ruin”
Les Savy Fav “Hold On To Your Genre”
Nerf Herder “High Five Anxiety”
Nirvana “Breed”
Sublime “Summertime”
Tapes ‘n Tapes “Insistor”
The Jealous Sound “Naïve”
The M’s “Plan Of The Man”
The Pixies “Mr. Grieves”

The standout on that list is Nirvana. Courtney Love recently allowed Nirvana music to be licensed, and while we'd probably feel icky hearing a Nirvana song tied to ANY product, at least this one isn't a slap in the face.

The game looks pretty sweet, amazingly realistic. But here at Baby Heisman, you know how we get down:

Cashing in: The New Pornographers

I put the New Pornographers' "Twin Cinema" at No. 3 on my favorite albums of 2005, behind Bloc Party and Wolf Parade. Now that some time has passed, I actually give the Pornos in the top spot. (Wolf Parade is still at No. 2, followed by Clipse, then it's just a pile-up of about five or six albums for those last spots.)

So it took about a millisecond for me to look up when I heard the hey-la hey-la's of "The Bleeding Heart Show" coming from my TV. The track isn't only one of the best on the album; it shows that the band can push beyond it's power-pop roots and sets the stage nicely for their next album, which should be out sometime this year.

The song, taut and hopeful with Neko belting out "We have arrived," fits in just about any commercial. So who had the sense to put it in an ad?


Yup. The University of Phoenix — the ultimate commuter college. San Diegans know they got away with rubbing out Mircoskills (speaking of noteworthy commercials!) but they must be taking heat from a New York Times cover story earlier this month. On the school's Web page, right under the phone number, is a link to a whole section refuting the story, "Troubles Grow for a University Built on Profits."

Anyway, "Twin Cinema" obviously gets the highest Baby Heisman recommendation. It's a can't-miss used-bin pickup, or on one of those days when you just want a new CD.

The New Pornographers — The Bleeding Heart Show (MP3)

AND FROM THE VAULT: The video for "Twin Cinema" single "Use It," which came out in those six months where comedian David Cross was in EVERYTHING, yet we didn't mind. I still don't know what "stock tips come next in the logic line" means, but it's a funny, entertaining video.

Cashing in: Feist (PLUS ALBUM NEWS!)

I'm not sure why I find this one so odd, but "Gatekeeper," the opening track off Feist's "Let It Die," is being used in a commercial for the financial company HSBC Direct. I was on the couch working the crossword when I first heard it last week, and the song was so unexpected, so out of place that I had to run the lyrics through my head until I got to the chorus to figure out what it was — even though I've heard it a million times.

Word is she turned down McDonald's request to use "Mushaboom" (one of the best songs of the past, oh, say, five years) in an ad, but she did give it up to Lacoste to promote a new men's fragrance. Now if only wearing it would make her come running...

If you don't have, "Let It Die" do so now. All the adjectives have already been used, but smart, soulful and delicate immediately come to mind. This is a can't-miss album for Valentine's Day, too. It sets the pinpoint perfect mood for dinner time, cocktail time or bedtime.

Plus, Feist recently announced that new album "The Reminder" will be out May 1. Rejoice! I'm already all warm and tingly.

If you need something to tide you over, I am Fuel, You are Friends has MP3s of Feist's rare 1999 album "Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down)." Hear what she was like before she was the blogging man's pinup girl.

"Monarch (Lay Your Jewelled Head Down)" post

And just in case...
Feist — Gatekeeper (MP3)
Feist — Mushaboom (Postal Service remix) (MP3)

Cashing in: Teddybears (again and again and again)

Maybe that should be a briefcase of money in his hand, not a synth.

People talk all the time about bands going "commercial," but has any album been used to sell more products than Teddybears' "Soft Machine"? The most high-profile instance is the Cadillac commercial that uses "Punkrocker," which features Iggy Pop on vocals. While Iggy in a Caddy is the most absurd use, Teddybears music has also been put in ads for Tab energy drinks, Virgin Mobile, WWE wrestling ... these guys are the real-life version of Will Lightman in "About a Boy," kicking back and living off their royalty checks.

Their latest "appearance" is in the "Epic Movie" trailer. "Cobrastyle," the same song used to sell Tab, plays in some clips.

The album generated a lot of buzz before its release last year as songs and photos of dudes in giant bear heads leaked. Six months later, "Punkrocker" is still great, but it's clear why the album works so well for jingles: the songs are catchy at first but get annoying really quick.

Teddybears (feat. Iggy Pop) — Punkrocker (MP3)
Teddybears (feat. Mad Cobra) — Cobrastyle (MP3)
The Onion AV Club did a great review of "Epic Movie."

Cashing in: Wolf Parade

Are any indie kids watching the Sci-Fi Channel? If we are or, like me, happen to catch a commercial for Sci-Fi on another channel, we can hear a snippet of Wolf Parade's "It's a Curse" in the promo of the upcoming series "The Dresden Files." The show looks like "CSI" meets "Medium," although I'm basing that entirely on commercials, as I don't watch any of those shows.


Gotta love the character stereotypes. Dangerous but gifted leading man; tough but feminine female lead; older veteran who hates the leading man's rogue ways; black dude.

But if you haven't pulled out the Wolf Parade album in a while, or never bought it to begin with, DO IT. I picked it up again a couple of months ago and it sounds just as good post-hype.

Wolf Parade — It's a Curse (MP3)

Cashing in: The Flaming Lips

A new PSA on MTV urging HIV testing uses "Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell" by the Flaming Lips (lead singer Wayne Coyne is famous for wearing protection). No clip yet, although there's a load of other PSAs that combine YouTube-era production with Reagan 80s moral themes.

Cashing in: The Postal Service

Let's play Match Game!

"Such Great Heights" is a song by ______________

The band picked its name because it swaped tracks via ______________

One of UPS' main competetors is _____________________


Yeah, it's the same answer for every blank, and, god, this is just sad. The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" is the music for this massive new ad campaign for UPS. It features a guy who kind of looks like the dude from "Wings." I first saw the TV spots here in San Diego over the weekend, but UPS also has a Web site specifically for the ad campaign. If you keep the site up with a bunch of other windows, the Flash slows down the music into a funky remix of sorts.

The Postal Service are allegedly working on a new album. I guess if Ben absolutely, positively has to get a track to Jimmy overnight, they can probably get a sweet discount. But what would they call the band then? The UPS? The Brown?

UPS TV spots
UPS ad campaign site

Oh, and to come full circle, there's now a Match Game DVD