It shouldn’t really seem like a surprise, but if you want your band to get noticed nowadays, appearing in an iPod commercial’s a pretty darn good way to do it. The San Francisco Chronicle has a story that focuses on the effects to two of the bands from Apple’s most recent spots: Feist, whose “1234” appears in the spot for the 3G nano, and CSS whose “Music is my Hot, Hot Sex” is used as the background for the iPod touch ad.
Both groups saw huge sales boosts as a result of appearing in the ads; CSS went from selling 340 copies a week to 2,000 in the two weeks following the release of the iPod touch ad. Feist likewise saw a boost in sales after the ad’s release.
Again, as I said up top, this hardly surprises me. I find most of my new music comes from hearing a song on a commercial, or in a movie or TV show, and I suspect I’m hardly alone in that. And it’s impossible to deny that Apple picks catchy tunes for its ads; makes sense given that the device is so intrinsically related to music.
Out of curiosity, how many of you have bought songs because you’ve heard them in an iPod commercial? I think I own at least two or three songs from them. Let’s wait a few weeks and see how Mary J. Blige’s latest is doing, shall we?
[via Gizmodo]
I must have 4 or 5 songs I heard from iPod commericials (Feist & CSS included) and a slew of songs I heard elsewhere on TV. The people who pick TV music are professionals & good at what they do. There are tons of iMixes on the iTMS devoted to listing music heard on shows or commercials. I found a lot of great music on a Grey's Anatomy iMix.
I bought "Are You Gonna Be My Girl," "Rock Star Poser" and "Walkie Talkie Man" as soon as I heard them on the teevee. Also, the original, Green Day's "I Fought The Law."
A similar aspect is the popularity of songs given away from the iTunes store Free Single of the Week promo. There've been a few that achieved success on the radio after they were picked by Apple, including Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" and "Breathe (2AM)" by Anna Nalick.
Apple had introduced the general public to so many of the lesser-known musicians they have featured in their ads. I'm a HUGE MaryJ Blige fan and love the song, but I kinda prefer smaller "unknown's" being used in the ads. MaryJ's album will be helped by the exposure, no doubt, but not with the same career-changing impact it could have for some of the great struggling artists out there
Apple has opened the door for so many of the artists they have featured in their ads. I'm a HUGE MaryJ Blige fan and love the song, but I kinda prefer smaller "unknown's" being used in the ads. MaryJ's album will be helped by the exposure, no doubt, but not with the same career-changing impact it could have for some of the great struggling artists out there
The Feist song was used in an Australian Ebay commercial first. Great story behind it. Check it out on Songfacts:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=8859