Series: The Music Playground Presents Wishes & Thieves

This is gorgoeus.  Enjoy.

Live From Tokyo . . . It's Tommy Lee Jones!!

Ah, another gem from Japan . . . Tommy Lee in a space suit selling Boss Coffee.  In years past, hollywood actors could quietly go to Tokyo for a big payday without letting their American and European audiences know they sold out.  These days with YouTube, there is simply no where to hide and we love that!

For advertisers, the world has been their oyster for quite some time now.  It wasn't that long ago that most of us remember how hard it was to deal with record labels, publishers and hollywood actors.   Serious artists and bands would never allow their music on tv commercials for fear of being branded (pun intended) a "sell out."  These days, record labels, publishers and the like chase down advertisers and court them pushing their latest hits onto whatever and wherever possible.  "Getting syncs" has become the norm and the implosion of record sales has made advertising one of the most lucrative areas for new and old artists alike.  Hollywood is pretty much the same at this point as well.

Is this a good? bad? do we even care at this point?

Hmmm, hard to answer, but its great for advertising . . . My two cents . . . it's about being tastful.  When artists throw their music up against anything - it hurts all of us (and wastes money for their clients).  It's bad for the artist and bad for the brand.  When brands select music for the right reasons, it really works and everyone wins.

An example of bad taste in a selecting music/artist for a television commercial that had people scratching their heads:

An example of good taste in a selecting music/artist for a television commercial that had people saying "badass": 

Sync This: Arcade Fire's "Sprawl"

Not sure where we will see this next, but this will make it to a television commercial, film or tv show shortly.  So syncable.  Upbeat, positive, and a great driving beat with arpegiated synth lines that provide the right kind of ear candy.  It's modern, it's retro and it's everything we have come to love about Arcade Fire.  We love this track and can't wait to needledrop it.  

We Love This: St. Lucia

St Lucia - All Eyes on You from HeavyRoc Music on Vimeo.

Grobler's stellar vocals and excellent production deliver on this track.  APB to all music supervisors.  It's going to be a race to see who syncs this first.  Love it.