Music has acquired a unique place in our society's hypermedia atmosphere. Audiences are segmented in more ways than you can fold a single sheet of paper, and mainstream markets borrow or buy trendy sensibilities only after a year or two of sustained appeal. There's no better time to interpret this (i.e. trends) than in the most-valued arena for media exposure our country experiences: the Super Bowl.
This event notoriously brings out the best—most valuable—ideas of the advertising industry, but this year the music attempted to steal the spotlight, with commercialism being undercut by the standup morals of a few indie rockers. And since good music is, well, totally cool, it is only the purest of indie gems that make their way onto the likes of Volkswagen or Apple commercials.
Sunday was a landmark because it forced me to avoid cynicism. So what if Postal Service and Feist managed to annoy old fans after lending their uber-trendiness out? It means a few more previously unaware fans can recognize talented musicians. Plus, if you couldn't get enough of Postal Service before, Owl City has taken the lead as the mainstream music's favorite tribute band!
What these undeniably infectious songs do is open the door between indie success and mainstream exposure, even if 95 percent of the mainstream audience doesn't care to peek through to the other side, a market stubbornness that prevents many musical trends from dying of overexposure. Along with that, they have also initiated a treasure hunt among ad teams for the latest in pop perfection.
Last year brought many contenders to the table. Phoenix already splashed down earlier in the year, lending ""1901"" to Cadillac, and during the Super Bowl, another surefire single was adorned by Volkswagen: Grizzly Bear's ""Two Weeks."" Auto-Tune also got a satirical nod from Bud Light, which officially makes that technical crutch uncool in rap, even if it was being hated on.
The breadwinner from this year's Super Bowl, however, was a guaranteed ear-perker for the NFL Network in Arcade Fire's ""Wake Up."" Not just that there was controversy between these two parties in 2008 and the fact that it's an identifiable tune, but the real story here is what requires me to put aside all cynicism. Arcade Fire accomplish the opposite of selling out—even though, by association, they advertised for one of my least-favorite events in sports, the NFL draft—as they are donating all proceeds from the commercial to the Haiti relief effort organized by Partners In Health.
Even though the song already approaches classic status and even though the NFL didn't see this as a PR opportunity to piggyback the band's generosity and join in on the giving, the ad proves that the indie music world has again found itself ahead of the mainstream curve, taking advantage of their ""cool"" status for good purposes.
But still, how ironic is it that indie music is able to take its 30-second spotlight and use it for something admirable, while corporate monsters make a hobby of buying their cool factor to improve image, i.e. the opposite of ""trendy""? Maybe throwing money around is the only way these ads can be useful. Maybe I shouldn't be so judgmental of the media since I'm so invested in it myself. Either way, it's nice to know good music still identifies with good morals.
Hate that indie music was used in Super Bowl commercials? Explain why to Justin at jstephani@wisc.edu.
