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CounterPunch
August
23, 2002
Corporate
Sponsorship of Music
Wayne's World
by Dave Marsh
Doors drummer John Densmore recently wrote an
essay in The Nation condemning corporate sponsorship of music.
It centered around the Doors (over the objections of keyboardist
Ray Manzarek) refusing to sell "When the Music's Over"
to Apple for a commercial.
Densmore offers every good argument against
commercial sponsorship. The most important thing he says, though,
is "I'm petty clear that we shouldn't do it. We don't need
the money."
What if you do?
I've campaigned against rock bands getting
in bed with corporations ever since the Who signed up with Miller
Beer in 1983. It wasn't hard, because it was ludicrously easy
to spot  the specious argument for sponsorship
as a lie: It would keep ticket prices down. More important,
but never really addressed, the ad agencies and corporations
bought starpower, and this called allegiances into question:
What would the Who have to say when the Miller workers went
on strike?
Like the brewers, most musicians _do_
need the money. For someone like Iggy Pop, "Lust for Life"
in that ridiculous Royal Caribbean commercial might represent
indispensable income. Is it possible to begrudge him?
In mid-July, Michael Felten of Chicago's
Record Emporium wrote a
Weaselworld column. expressing shock that Wayne Kramer had
taken on "corporate partners" - Apple computers, Fender
guitar and X-Large clothing-for his current tour.
Michael asked me what I thought. I wrote
back, "The day is past and gone when we can trash every
musician who deals with a corporation, especially on a simple,
professional basis like this."
I meant that both Apple and Fender are
tools of Wayne's trade, and there has never, to the best of
my knowledge, been criticism of musicians who endorse equipment.
X-Large provides the clothes Wayne and his group wear onstage.
None of this does more than let him get by without a day job.
Nevertheless, had Wayne sold out?
When he got off the road last week, Kramer
wrote Felten a scathing reply. (I hope Wayne will post this
at his website, waynekramer.com.)
Kramer, whose new Adult World continues his 35 years of making
trenchant rock music, analyzes two of the most important issues.
What are the needs of a musician and what does sponsorship (or
"corporate partnership") do to meet them? Second,
what is "the role artists can play in changing what's wrong
with the world"? (In between there is much angry invective,
which amuses me more than it does Felten, who got his own licks
in.)
You need to know about this squabble
among my friends for several reasons. To start with we need
to develop much more sophisticated ways of measuring cooptation.
From the way some people talk about making major label records,
you'd think the United Auto Workers Union betrayed American
labor by allowing its members to work for General Motors.
Part of that means remembering that not
all musicians live well, and that includes many, if not most,
famous musicians. Kramer defines the role of musicians as being
messengers and storytellers. But that begs the question of whose
message and what stories.
This discussion can't get off the ground
until we acknowledge that we lost the battle against sponsorship.
Turn on your TV and you'll hear the Clash's "Should I Stay
or Should I Go" and "London Calling" selling
beer and cars.
Does this mean we lost the war? Is music
now so hopelessly compromised it can't hold credible meaning?
Kramer thinks that's simplistic and I can't disagree. Felten,
upholding ethical purity, thinks we've reached the end of an
ethical era and I can't disagree with that, either. All I can
see clearly is that our more important task is figuring out
how to meet the needs of musicians-and everybody else-with
justice and fairness. If there's a solution, that's it.
DeskScan
(what's playing in my office)
1. The
Rising, Bruce Springsteen (Sony). Meditations on a line
from what seems to be the silliest song: "Tell me, how
do you live brokenhearted?"
2. Jerusalem,
Steve Earle (E Squared). The real Neil Young.
3. Adult
World, Wayne Kramer (MuscleTone))
4. Love
That Louie: The Louie Louie Files (Ace UK)
5. Africa
Raps (Trikont)
6. Plenty
Good Lovin', Sam Moore (2KSounds/EMI). The boring new
Solomon Burke album that's been such a critics darling can't
compare to the high-energy testifying going on in Moore's long-lost
1972 solo album. The highlight is an extraordinary "Part
Time Love," but the whole album seethes with power both
raw and refined.
7. Easy,
Kelly Willis (Rykodisc)
8. Try
Again, Mike Ireland and Holler (Ashmont)
9. Down
in the Alley, Alvin Youngblood-Hart (Memphis International)
10. Live
in London England, Dale Watson (Audium)
11. 1000
Kisses, Patty Griffin (ATO)
12. Viva
El Mariachi: Nati Cano's Mariachi Los Camperos (Smithsonian
Folkways)
13. American
Breakdown, Troy Campbell (M. Ray). At its best, much
closer to his rock band roots in groups like Loose Diamonds
and the Highwaymen.
14. A
Cellarful of Motown: Rarest Motown Grooves (Motown)
15. Playing
with the Strings, Lonnie Johnson (JSP UK)-The blues guitar
genius with Armstrong, Ellington, Don Redman, a jug band and
Blind Willie Dunn's Gin Bottle Four.
16. Starin'
Down the Sun, Red Dirt Rangers (Red Dirt Rangers). Pick
hits: "Dwight Twilley's Garage Sale" and "Elvis
Loved His Mama." Sort of the Grateful Dead with a sense
of humor and Okie funk.
17. Keep
on Burning, Bob Frank (Bowstring)
18. Superbad!
The Soul of the City (Time-Life)-Celebrating the '70s
while ignoring the Bradys, Kiss and the Osmonds.
19. Hard
Candy, Counting Crows (Geffen)
20. Irony
Lives, Paul Krassner (Artemis)
Dave Marsh coedits Rock
and Rap Confidential. Marsh is the author of The
Heart of Rock and Soul: the 1001 Greatest Singles.
He can be reached at: marsh6@optonline.net
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