For those of you who haven’t been reading the comments, my post on Nike’s new commercial has received some interesting comments from readers. The commercial features a track by Saul Williams, List of Demands. The choice of this song has been controversial for two reasons. He’s an outsider voice, and someone held up as a pure artist. Having his music used in a commercial, and for a Nike commercial on top of that, has really surprised fans. Just Google “Saul Williams Nike Commercial” and you’ll find posts, comments at sites like Last.fm, and comment threads at YouTube where fans of his are shocked and dismayed that Saul Williams “sold out.”

The second issue, discussed in this AOL Sports Fanhouse blog post, is whether the song is appropriate for a commercial. That one’s less interesting, though.

Saul Williams addressed the first controversy on his web site. Here’s part of what he had to say:

1. yes, i approved the use of my song (which i wrote in my bedroom on a thursday afternoon, while Saturn was at school).

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7. I have never seen a Nike ad and thought “I gotta get those shoes”, but I have thought, “who sings that? I gotta get that album”. which is to say, am I selling Nikes or is Nike selling Saul Williams albums?

8. I made $0 from the sales of that album….so far.

9. As I’m typing this I’m watching Poetri (from Def Poetry’s broadway cast) in an Arby’s commercial.

10. What happened to all the people who said, “Saul, I wish more people could hear your music?”

11. I might consider myself a sellout if I wrote a song FOR a corporation, but an ad exec asking me to use my song in their commercial, strikes me as not much different as a student asking to use my song in their film. Granted I can think of plenty of corporations that I would say no to and a couple of years ago I probably would have said no to Nike, just as I did to Mercedes (but they actually wanted me to write a poem about a car! A poem!). But, yes, I knew that Nike had made certain steps in addressing issues, which I had to research years ago as my neice, who is a formidable athlete, and daughter have both begged me for Nikes. Although I do not personally own a pair, I remember what it was like to be in junior high school. They’re both really excited about the commercial.

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13. I’ve had quite a few pro-football players come up to me in airports and restaurants to tell me that they listen to my music (even before games!).

14. I don’t watch football (unless it’s soccer).

15. ipods ain’t green.

Hit the link to see the reaction, or hit the FM thread about the commercial. Some fans aren’t buying it.

As most of you know, I pay attention to the music used in commercials and soundtracks, precisely because I find them to be a great source of new music that doesn’t make the radio or iTunes top sellers (my usual ways of finding new music). I really appreciate what music supervisors do both in commercials as well as in soundtracks. I love how they find a phrase or a feeling and focus in on it. In a lot of ways, they’re analyzing the music by zeroing in on that one aspect of a song.

In other words, I’m that guy Saul Williams is talking about. I’ve never bought a pair of Nikes because on the commercials, but I did go out and buy the single and then his last album, which, by the way, is pretty damn good, released direct to the audience for $5, no DRM, and was produced by Trent Reznor.

So, obviously, I’m OK with Saul Williams’s move here. “Selling out” is relative, and it’s about the purity of what goes into the art, not necessarily how it gets used. Nike’s ad agency chose it, and paid for it, and didn’t do anything underhanded with it. He has no moral issue with Nike (satisfied with their changes on the labor front), so he should go for it.

I’m not a super-fan, so I don’t have a lot invested in Saul Williams’s journey thus far, so maybe I’m missing something. Fans invest a lot in their favorite artists, especially when it’s an artist that’s less popular or has “outsider” as part of their identity. I can respect that, but my theory is that as long as he’s making the same kind of music and using the same approach to his art, this can only be good.

This is from the “My Better” campaign. Good stuff. Track is available on iTunes. No luck on Amazon MP3.

Update: I have more on the song and this commercial in this follow on post.

That’s the video I found on YouTube for that song. It’s a pretty good one, will have to check out her other stuff. Her stuff is on iTunes DRM Free:

The music from this commercial is by The Icicles and is called La Ti Da. You can download the music for free from their web site. The music was another great find by Logan in the TV Music thread.

YouTube doesn’t have a video of them performing La Ti Da, which I like, but here’s Sugar Sweet, which has the same feel (though not quite as good, IMHO).

I lied, there actually is a recording of La Ti Da on YouTube, but it is a horrible recording. So, go to The Icicles MySpace Page to listen to La Ti Da.

The 30 second version flows better as a commercial, but there’s too much visually cool about the longer one to skip it. The music is Regina Spektor, Musicbox according to multiple sources online.

This is the best commercial I’ve seen in a long, long, long time. Nike has done a brilliant job, and it looks stunning in HD. This one actually got me to stop and stare at the TV, and I know at least one person who hit rewind on the Tivo to see it again. Get the Clio ready, this one ought to win something. The music is Promontory from the Last of the Mohicans. Great soundtrack for a sick commercial.

Found this while looking for a different track for a commenter on the Commercial Music thread. She was looking for the track from this video, but I haven’t found it yet.

That was awesome. No music in that one, but it still was found via the commercial music thread.

This has been a popular request in the commercial music thread. It’s an awesome song. (this isn’t the song from the bobblehead Jeep commercial… that answer is in this comment.)

It’s funny, but I find a lot of my new music from TV commercials. Unfortunately, it takes some investigating to figure out who wrote what music because the music isn’t always publicized. Some companies, like VW, have a place on their web site dedicated to this type of info. Others, like Mitsubishi don’t mention their commercials at all. Of course, VW has already released a compilation CD of some of their commercial music. So, they might be the exception rather than a norm.

I’ve found some good resources on matching music to commercials, though. Here they are:

• Clipland
• Commercial Breaks and Beats: UK Television Advert Music Database

As a result, I’ve found out that the cool VW commercial they’re showing on the Loews commercial reel has music by ELO called Mr. Blue Sky. Now, who owns an ELO CD anymore?

There are some cool finds buried in there, and it’s a lot of fun to figure this stuff out.

On another note, I’ve noticed that I find “new” music from the companies focused on younger consumers. Like VW, or the Mitsubishi Montero commercial (which turned me on to telepopmusik). On the other hand, companies like Lexus (which used a Chemical Brothers track on one of their recent commercials) tend to focus on established artists, even if it’s electronica or some alternative style. I realize this is probably a function of their advertising agency and probably by design, anyway, but I just thought it was interesting.

Update: Feel free to ask questions in the comments below. Regular readers are happy to answer, as am I.