Impossible Germany? No, Efficient Germany!
Wilco’s pissed. They’re not fond of everyone writing, inaccurately, that they made a major shift in licensing policy and sold out to Volkswagen, which has begun airing commercials featuring tracks from Sky Blue Sky.
Tweedy & Co. don’t quite get the hate, and they’ve weighed in on the band’s official website. In the missive, Wilco says it likes VW automobiles and sees this as another way to “get the music out there” given the state of commercial radio. As for the media inaccuracies, they’ve produced some actual research everyone should have done on their own days ago. It’s like disclosure. It’s called disclosure, you dickhead:
If you’re keeping track, this is not the first time Wilco has licensed a song to or even been involved in a commercial — most recently a TV spot for Telefonica Mobile in Spain used a Wilco song and some years prior Jeff Tweedy appeared in a campaign for Apple Computer. Wilco have licensed hundreds of songs to television shows and films worldwide… from festival-only indie films to major motion pictures and weekly TV shows.
So far VW’s used The Thanks I Get and You Are My Face, and right now plans call for three or four more to be used. For the record, I’d much rather hear Wilco on television in between my programs than another declaration of love for freedom and liberty and America in the latest Mellencamp composition.
Wilco’s recent performance on World Cafe will air this Friday, June 8. You can listen online here at WXPN. Read on for the full text from Wilco…
As many of you are aware, Volkswagen has recently begun running a series of TV commercials featuring Wilco music.
Why? This is a subject we’ve discussed internally many times over the years regarding movies, TV shows and even the odd advertisement. With the commercial radio airplay route getting more difficult for many bands (including Wilco); we see this as another way to get the music out there. As with most of the above (with the debatable exception of radio) the band gets paid for this. And we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them.
If you’re keeping track, this is not the first time Wilco has licensed a song to or even been involved in a commercial — most recently a TV spot for Telefonica Mobile in Spain used a Wilco song and some years prior Jeff Tweedy appeared in a campaign for Apple Computer. Wilco have licensed hundreds of songs to television shows and films worldwide… from festival-only indie films to major motion pictures and weekly TV shows.
Thus far the songs in the VW campaign are “The Thanks I Get” (a bonus track from Sky Blue Sky sessions, available for download via the Enhanced CD and via iTunes) and “You are my Face”. We expect to have more details re: other songs shortly. The current plan (subject to change, like everything) is for 5 or 6 songs to be used.
That’s it. Don’t believe everything you read unless you read it here.
HQ
n.p. Kicking Television
long story short–
my buddy buys a VW bus in austin. the orginal title is signed by “Jeff Tweedy.” we compare my ticket stub with his sig to the sig on the title. not sure either way.
josh baron, in interviewing wilco, brings it up for me. turns out beck and pearl jam’s guitar tech is also named jeff tweedy. it was his VW bus.
that non-wilco jeff tweedy also has several warrants out for his arrest. so whenever wilco’s tweedy is crossing a border, he gets pulled aside and questioned and has to explain the situation.
Hilarious anecdote.
I’m sick and tired of your anti-mellencamp agenda!
[...] The next Beetles? Wilco trumpets German efficiency [...]
it’s nice to take up for wilco or as you say “tweedy and co.” however..i’m pretty sure jeff tweedy wouldn’t bash a fellow artist such as john mellencamp. big deal if he is pro-american and who cares if it is for chevrolet…vw is not without their own faults. how about this for example:The Volkswagen was a centerpiece of Nazism’s claims to benefit ordinary Germans. Hitler proposed to build a cheap car that almost anyone could afford. He gave it the name “KdF Wagen,” which we know as the Volkswagen. KdF was the abbreviation for “Kraft durch Freude” (Strength through Joy), a subsidiary of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labor Front), headed by Robert Ley. This chapter on the beginnings of the Volkswagen is taken from a book celebrating the achievements of “Kraft durch Freude.” As it turned out, not many people got their cars until after the war. As the chapter notes, the first deliveries were planned for early 1940, at which point the factory had been turned over to war production…..you can read more here:http://www.bytwerk.com/gpa/vw.htm
[...] Such a move isn’t unique to Dr. Dog, or the indie scene for that matter, but it is a surefire way to get your material and name out there. As radio skews more hip hop and mainstream pop, it’s important for bands to showcase their songs in any new avenue they can find (see: Wilco and VW). And if it means digging out archived tracks that stand the test of time for free and mass release, well, that’s just all reward and no risk. That’s a win-win. That’s how you make and keep fans. [...]