Dónal Donohoe

I saw an advertisement on the TV a while ago for the best music from the commercials for summer 2008 and remembered back to when I first heard Eric Clapton’s music being used in a car commercial. At the time there was a bit of an outcry from music fans who felt that it was selling out. Today such practices are not only acceptable but are the norm, with bands and musicians lining up to get their music used in commercials promoting everything from cough medicine to dog food. Music has become devalued and in many cases comes secondary to the product it is promoting, and it seems like a long time ago now when one would hear music on the radio that would make any sort of social comment about the world that we live in or about the issues of the day.

Music can help to sell things and to many this is it’s greatest value, a commodity that can be used to promote other products. But music is much more than that and deserves to be listened to for what it is, although using music in commercials and as background music to reality TV shows is not only financially attractive to bands and musicians, but in many cases necessary for survival in today’s world. There is probably more money to be made selling merchandise such as band tee-shirts, posters, coffee mugs and anything else that you can put a band logo on than there is trying to sell music CDs or downloads. Music now is very often no more than an afterthought to the packaging and glitter that surrounds it or to the product that it promotes.

There is nothing wrong with the partnership of music and business, in fact it is necessary in order to promote and distribute it in any meaningful way and it has always been so. But when commercial and business interests not only dominate but often dictate the music we hear, the question has to be asked, what will happen to the quality of the music?