In Portland, where everyone is creative, this question is no joke. Sell out? Send work your artist friends way? Support a family? One band, their song becoming an ad soundtrack, explained "it's not whether you sell out, it's when".
A famous example was the fallout from the use of the Verve song "Bittersweet Symphony" (1997). The band was condemned harshly for the use of the song in a shoe commercial. In fact, the band had lost ownership of their song to the evil Rolling Stones, who claimed a licensed sample in the song was too long. Over Verve's objection, the song was sold by the Stones and the band didn't get a cent.Dickson will review examples of collaboration and antagonism between artists and advertisers. After presenting "EBay Power Seller" performances, Dickson himself was tapped by a local ad agency to create a character for a campaign by a big shoe company. Other artists have rejected corporate collaboration. The ultimate example - Adbusters, where artists and agency creatives working on the sly, produce work that is copied widely in the industry it disses.
An interesting historical perspective is offered in the book Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counter Culture and the Rise of Hip Consumerism by Baffler editor Thomas Frank.
Thursday June 22 at Disjecta 230 E Burnside Doors and taps open 5:45, match at 6:30 $10 Disjecta members, else $15 probably 21+
