Tag Archives: Tegan and Sara

Working For The Man: How Selling Out Saved Indie Rock

Tegan and Sara want their music used in advertisements.

I remember when the idea of a musical artist letting one of their songs be used in a commercial was the end of the world. Neil Young wrote a song about it called “This Notes For You,” in which he sings:

Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi,
Ain’t singin’ for Coke,
I don’t sing for nobody,
Makes me look like a joke,
This note’s for you.

Not any more.

Jessica Hopper wrote a fascinating story on indie rock and advertising.

“A tiny sliver of bands are doing well,” says Tegan and Sara’s Sara Quin. “The rest of us are just middle class, looking for a way to break through that glass ceiling. The second ‘Closer’ got Top 40 radio play, we were involved in meetings with radio and marketing people who said, ‘The next step is getting a commercial.’ I can see why some bands might find that grotesque, but it’s part of the business now.”

Read the whole story at Buzzfeed.