Stout, Stout, Get it Worked Out!
Box Office Review: American Teens Are Morons
'Kick a Ginger Day' Spawned At Least 5 Attacks on Redheaded Kids
Intrepid L.A. Foodies Tackle 11-in-11 Nocturnal Challenge
Cool, Crafy, Community Event: Unique LA's Holiday Show
Not long ago a little band called Jet had a little tune that sounded like the White Stripes a little. Apple used the hyperactive rockabilly flavored single "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" to hype its iPod and the band went on to sell millions of records because of the arrangement.
Tonight Feist, an artist no one knew about until Apple used her catchy little song for an iPod commercial, is headlining at the Universal Amphitheatre, now known as the Gibson. And she has Spoon opening for them. And what's ironic is, the full video of her hit song is better than the iPod commercial proving that sometimes smaller and shorter isn't better.
In the long run though, Apple and iPod have come through in big ways. How powerful is the relationship with the iPod and bands that they feature in their spots? This video has been played 4,311,736 times. That's power.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Yeah. She was an artist no one knew. on INTERSCOPE records...and in broken social scene.
broken social scene sold how many records?
your comment almost proves my point.
I'd suggest reading a couple of the larger music blogs: Stereogum, Pitchfork to get a better feel for what's actually popular in music. These are good places to start and you can branch out from there. They've been covering Feist for ages. Also, to gauge an artist's success it might be better to take a look at their tickets sales stats than the politcally-driven albums sales stats.
Broken Social Scene is huge and sell out most shows especially here in Los Angeles.
I'm gonna have to agree with Charlie - lots of people knew about Feist before the iPod commercial. Was she vastly famous? No. But anyone who follows music of the indie variety was well aware of her existence. Of course the iPod ad launched her into a different stratosphere, but she wasn't a complete unknown.
Also glad to see that you've modified the post because the one in my rss feeder is from before you realized Feist was a person and not a full band...it made it clear that YOU hadn't heard of her before the iPod commercial and I was gonna have to get all indie snob on your ass.
Oh wait, I just did... :)
a. Broken Social Scene is fairly major. No argument that the CM made feist more well known though.
b. Pitchfork is retarded and should not be taken seriously.
c. That video is eh. The concept wears thin.
i could out indie all of you so take it easy on waking the sleeping giant.
and even though you and i and pitchfork and stereogum knows them still doesnt make them big or famous.
in the post i showed you that the video got 4 million clicks. thats famous, kids.
as for trying to assume things via your RSS reader regarding what the editor of a blog knows about an indie band - it's not only a dangerously dorky practice, but a little bit dumb. leave the mindreading to the pros.
All I can say is that goddamn "music is my boyfriend" iPod commercial is the worst thing to hit NFL Sundays since the Mellencamp "Our Country" ad.
I'm with Andy Sternberg. I hit mute the second that iPod commercial starts because that song is so annoying.
I agree with Tony and the post. That Feist record had been out for 5 months, before Apple took hold of it.
Once the commercial ran, everyone took notice.
Web search queries on "ipod nano commercial song", "ipod nano song", and "ipod nano commercial" all jumped over 350% on Yahoo the week the commercial aired in September.
And for the Pitchfork snoobs, I'm well aware that she had lots of admirers before the iPod spot... but so did Justin Long, and you can't tell me that Apple didn't make his career.
Um, okay - I guess you didn't see my lil' smiley face. Cause I put one on there so you wouldn't do things like call me dumb. Although I love "Dangerously Dorky". I think that's my next band name.
All I know is that the post I read called Feist a band and used the plural 'them' through out the rest of the post. Then I clicked to the website to comment and it had been changed to 'artist' and singular. (Except you missed one:"And she has Spoon opening for them.") So I don't know what I did wrong except point out something that is true. It's not like my RSS feeder re-wrote the post or something.
But anyhow, I'm sorry if I made you mad, it wasn't my intention.
Worried man, I googled the iPod commercial song (can't remember what terms I used exactly)...but I googled it because I hate the song and wanted to know who it was. I'd never heard of Feist until then (though I've heard of Broken Social Scene). So google stats doesn't necessarily mean popular - it just means the song's getting attention.
Funny thing is, a previous single of hers was used in an earlier commercial, and nobody noticed. I think it was for HP or something equally sterile.
iPod CMs are like the Gap CMs from the late 90s.
HC, I never said 'Feist is popular'.
I was basically agreeing with the post, and echoing the opinion that Apple's ads have career-launching power.
:)
Why would you Google a song that you "hate"?
Sounds like the actions of a... 'hater'.
Hahah. Just playin' dawg, just playin'.
I think we all know that Tony was right here. iPod commercials have catapulted many bands out of indie rock ghetto into public music knowledge. (Propellerheads, Jet, the Fratellis...) Most "well-known" indie bands would quadruple their recognizability if their song was played in an iPod commercial. Not sayin' it's right, just sayin' it's true.
Follow-up:
Feist aside.... the CSS song "Music is My Hot, Hot Sex" is on the cusp of cracking the iTunes' top 15 downloads this week. The indie-dance song (which released a year and a half ago on SubPop) is currently seated at #17... just above Kanye, and Rihanna...
This new mass-appeal ranking is solely the result of a feature in the new iPod Touch ad.
Great song or not (some will argue), CSS would have NEVER made it on this list without the help of an iPod spot.
Note: the Feist song is #47.