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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Commercializing My Song |
| Date | Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:03:53 -0400 |
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AT Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 10:56:32 Miguel wrote:
>Someone mentioned that the Windex TV spot that had "I Can See Clearly Now"
>as its theme almost killed the song...I thought an interesting thread might
>(or might not) be this hypothetical situation...
>
>You are the author of a 60's or 70's one-hit wonder... Your career has been
>long dead... You receive on and off royalty checks for a couple of $100
>just because your song shows up every once in a while on an oldies
>compilation... One day, out of the blue, your agent calls with exciting
>news... Your song "Dog Days" is being considered by Madison Ave for
>inclusion in a "Kibbles and Bits" commercial which will hit the stations
>coast to coast standing to make up for the past "dry spell" years... Mind
>you, your song was a major hit and wasn't a fluke as its content was deep
>and meaningful to millions of fans who made it a multi-platinum seller...
>
>Would ya sign that contract?
Why hypothesize?
Bob Seger did it with "Like A Rock" for GM. They offered him a very small
one-time fee to buy the rights to the song or he could collect a royalty
everytime a GM truck commercial aired on TV meaning he'd get paid later.
Seger figured, hell, how long could the ad campaign possibly last in the
fickle automobile market? He took the cash up front (some ridiculously low
amount under $10,000). The ad campaign lasted from 1991 until last week [GM
has decided to retire the catch phrase and the song].
Seger lost millions.
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPages
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