Has Classic Rock Music become the soundtrack for TV Commercials?

It seems that Classic Rock music has become the go to soundtrack for TV commercials. I guess Classic Rock appeals to the advertisers demographics. Even thought he wasn't the first when Pete Townshed licensed The Who's music for TV shows and commercials it stared a trend and now it's become the new norm. For the artist it's a windfall because they make money with the music licensing and may even have the possibility of re-starting careers. Classic Rock may be the soundtrack for my generation but it makes me feel old!

 

Classic rock was the go-to for commercials two decades ago when advertisers were chasing baby boomer money. Hell, an orange soda ad was using "Good Vibrations" back in the early 80s! These days, you're more likely to hear music from more recent generations. I was delighted to hear Pylon's 1981 single "Cool" in an SUV ad last year, because it meant one of my favorite bands cashed a check.

 

It's ironic that you need music to attract millennials that was created decades before they were born. More of an indictment of the current music scene than anything else.

 

Since the '80's. I think The Big Chill--a movie that most don't remember or want to talk about--helped kick it off. This was 1983, right around the time the word "yuppie" was coined and advertisers started really catering to the Boomer demographic...

 

Here in the UK, we cant watch an advert for different Car manufacturers without an Opera aria being used. Can't say that ive noticed many Rock songs being used, but maybe im just not paying much attention to the adverts.

 

I'm with Danby Delight on this topic.

Classic rock marketing was two decades back....today it's a heavy dose of 80's and early 90's nostalgia. My guess is that, similar to the marketing tactics on Boomers from decades past (think post-Big Chill where there was heavy 60's nostalgia going on) is that Generation X is now the demographic being targeted for their overall buying power.

Would be interesting to see what the eventual nostalgia market will be for Millennials, or Gen Z if I live long enough to see the latter market.

 

First issue is that Millennials aren't really watching TV, so no one to really attract there. That's more my generation and older so it's about as relevant to younger people as radio would be.

Now if we were talking about mobile devices, that's a different matter.

 

Advertisers can use all the "classic rock" tracks they like, but how many of us watch TV adverts these days, I don't, if it's not on The BBC it gets recorded so any Ads can be zipped through. I can't be done with wasting my time with them.

 

Not only commercials, but hip new TV shows too.

 

As a GenXer, I don't seem to notice any music from my childhood, teen years or into my 20s in current advertisements. We all ready had soundtracks like Singles and Repo Man, we didn't wait for nostalgia to kick in like the Big Chill did for Boomers. I could go further, think of all the 80s movies with huge soundtracks, Top Gun, Purple Rain, Footloose, Miami Vice, Dirty Dancing, and on and on. Into the 90s, the battle for the radio waves was Alternative vs. Classic Rock. GenXers were split between the two camps with most going forward with Alternative and in some cases Country Pop that pushed the country greats under the banner of Americana. We kind of did our own purge of the 80s pop and Hair Bands that thrown upon us by the radio scene.

 

Definitely! I always say the best way to hear some good music on TV nowadays is to watch commercials, not MTV. The Who, Generation X, "She's a Rainbow" by the Stones...Great stuff !

 

Songs that are licensed for usage for Commercials, TV Themes, Movies Soundtracks, Movie Trailers, incidental music, etc are basically the last remaining huge revenue stream for music composers and musicians.

Dependent upon the contract, one time payments can range in the hundreds, and thousands, up to such large sums of $50K to $100K (for a now solo indie rock artist who previously led a alternative Minneapolis band in the 80's) to $250K or $500K for top line classic rock artists.

It's interesting that this thread has appeared at the same time as the other thread:
"What Do You Think An Average Artist Earns These Days"?

 

GenXer here as well. This is just a recent example but was over at a casino last weekend, in CT. Just happened to notice that the music generally being pumped in was very heavy 80's, I don't mean alternative. Similar setup in Johnny Rockets, where we were eating at one point...it was so blatant that I actually ended up using their mobile app with a few free credits to pump in some Beatles and Stones (the forum would be proud of me). There was very few tunes available newer than the 1990's.

I don't really hear a lot of classic rock anymore, outside of Queen if we label them as such. Remember when at least one movie per year in the 1980's was named after a 60's song? As for TV....I don't count CSI as I think that's an older demographic anyway.

My own kids, who are Gen Z, are OK with a lot of 80's music, which is a bit weird to observe btw. But once you get to the 1970's it tapers off heavily.

 

I'm hearing Whitesnake-Here I Go Again on Nick Jr. I think it's funny.

 

I don't see many TV commercials, but almost every hot-**** new movie geared to younger people has some classic rock song in the trailer, usually redone.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with today's music scene, which is fantastic. I think it comes from the age of the people in the advertising industry. They are going with what they know.

 

I think there's a good amount of current music in there, too. But there is a lot of classic rock and new wave. Some car commercial here in CA is currently using a horrible instrumental, dare I say muzak, version of Wouldn't it Be Nice.

@Gaslight mentioned movies... Has any noticed two movies from this year are Baby Driver and The Only Living Boy in New York? What are the odds of two movies in a calendar year being named after, and using, songs from the same artist and album that's nearly 50 years old?

 

That's pretty interesting and did not catch that. Maybe Paul Simon made some deal with the film industry last year.

 

Yes, that and theme songs to TV shows. It's never the good ones either.

 

Age of the target demographic too. I guess they figure that people who came of age in the'80's are in peak earning years and they want a piece of that money for themselves. So they pump out the '80's classics.

 

I notice mostly Black Keys clone kinda garbage.

 

Bands used to run away from being used in commercials and now just pray they are going to be asked as it's a source of money...Times sure have changed since the crisis of the music industry.

 

Footnote : this one used to come on a lot both on TV and in movie theatres in the early to mid 2000s. I always wondered if they wanted to achieve a Dandy Warhols/BRMC soundalike as this type of rock was trendy and hip back then.

 

Yes.For the artists who still control their own music it is a second lease of life.Why not,they are near the end and what better than a little cushion for the family.

 

I'd like to hear Sympathy For the Devil behind a mesothelioma/hernia mesh/talc lawyer commercial. These are the ads I see in my sick, sad antenna TV world. [sob]