Commercials. Music. Bleh

I just saw a Nissan commercial with a Modest Mouse song. That made me sad.

What do you think? Is it okay for bands to give up their music for the sake of a commercial? I mean, they own the music, so technically they can do what they like, but does it compromise an artists integrity to do stuff like this?

it depends. music isnt always pure art, some people make songs simply for the sake of entertainment. even then, when you can get the money, its hard to say no. also consider that modest mouse are on a major label, theyre selling their music pretty hard as it is. and after all of that is considered, one must ask one's self "who gives a shit?"

'give up their music' as in someone seeing the commercial and asking someone at the office the next day if they know who it is and then buying the record and becoming a modest mouse fan and then modest mouse maybe actually making a dollar or two 'give up their music'?

it's okay for bands to do whatever they want to do. I tend to decide on a case-by-case basis re: commercialism. I'm still stoked to have found out about Nick Drake from VW, and no THAT doesn't bother me. On the other hand, I'm still trying to find the irony in Buzzcoks' "What do I get?" in a Toyota commercial, or their use of Sly's "Everyday People" in a commercail. A band like Modest Mouse clearly are part of the music industry so it doesn't surprise me that they'd sell their music to an ad agency. Owning the rights and mentally OWNING the song are two different things. As far as I'm concerned, I can't hear the Sly song w/o thinking of Toyota. The Buzzcocks, thankfully, still conjur up deviant sex and not SUVs.

I'm pretty sure Modest Mouse are getting paid pretty well to have their song in a spot, so where is this 'give up their music' that you speak of?

Okay, I won't be completely purposely blind to your question. I thought it was really sad when Kmart used Nico's These Days in a spot. It's such a sad song and I feel like they were being somewhat dishonest by looping the guitar bridge and avoiding the sappy, depressing lyrics.