Headphones On

When I was a kid I would get indignant when a band would "sell out". Funny how times have changed isn't it? While music is still an art to me, being an adult has led me realize that it needs to be a sustainable art or else no one will make music anymore. Now recognize the change of phrase from "sell out" to "crossover". In the age where very few people buy records, commercial licensing is one of the few mediums available for artists.

Once upon a time I would have been annoyed to hear a 12-year-old song from The Verve in the middle of a major network television show whose theme song is nicked from Massive Attack. Once upon a time. Nowadays though, it's become a shrug and a smile every time I hear Jim Noir as the latest selling tool for Target, The Magic Numbers highlighting some sappy love scene on broadcast telly, The Perishers hawking their record during prime time or Allen Clapp being played in a Coke spot. I don't have a great perspective on this because I don't really pay much attention to pop culture, but when did the television in both commercial and sitcom/dramadies embrace indie music?

I'm sure a lot of people would like to credit Alexandra Patsavas (who coincidentally went to high school with my brother) as a major influence. I can't deny that but the atmosphere has to have changed a lot over the past 20 years for her company to put independent artists on such a fast track.

I don't really know what put me off on this tangent... just that listening to my upstairs neighbor blare "My Moon, My Man" on repeat all morning really pushed it in my head that Leslie has officially crossed over (that Nano commercial didn't hurt).

Buy some: Feist