Comments on: Daft Punk and the Premini

By: ron

ron — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 02:39:18 +0000

interesting point, woodrow. wonder if there’s any significance in the fact that ‘cool’ music like air, moby, daft punk, etc., that is easily used, as you note, for background in Nissan commercials, has, by and large, no ‘message’. maybe music gave up on having any message or agenda. i feel like music back 40 or 30 years ago carried a message; and then there was stuff like public enemy.

part of this seems to be the sophistication of commercials, which developed (at least for americans) through the breakthrough “1984″ mac commercial, and the nike “revolution” campaign. i think these campaigns helped create the sense that advertising was an artform, that ads could be admired. and, if you remember, the music with a “message”, (beatles “revolution number 9″) was the theme: the political message evolved into a jingle for air max’s.

By: woodrow

woodrow — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 00:50:43 +0000

I think the style of music people play has a lot to do with how easily they can sell it.
Moby and Daft Punk have one thing in common: the lyrical content is pretty unimportant so there’s no “message” to get diluted. Makes it much easier to soundtrack some car or perfume ad…

By: ron

ron — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 16:05:45 +0000

it’s interesting how attitudes toward this have changed. it seems like it would have been anathema, way back when, for Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, or Pink Floyd to sell their music to GM, IBM, or Toyota. these days, it seems it’s just accepted, as par for the course. it’s notable that this trend has started and established itself with musical artists – what valid distinctions can be made to say that similar endorsements or commercialization should not extend to other artists, like filmmakers, sculptors, novelists? (e.g., commissioned films about Apple Products (aren’t these what ads are today?), commissioned novels with prominent product placement (this has already happened with Bulgari)). of course, one should not ignore that commercial sponsorship of art has been going on for a long time (think the Medici Family and Michelangelo).

it just seems that nothing escapes the grip of commercialization these days (maybe nothing ever did), and artists will, it seems to me, inevitably be altered in bending to commercial requirements (e.g., daft punk using the led displays on their helmets that once displayed hearts on their album cover to display the name of a new sony mobile phone). maybe this is just the way to get by as an artist (and perhaps make some money), and support further artistic production. and perhaps this is the way things will be in an era of freely transferable (or impossible to control) intellectual property. artists will have to turn to sponsorship and endorsement as sales of records, etc., disappear?

By: marxy

marxy — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 15:43:35 +0000

“selling out” was this thing we talked about in the 90s. the kids these days don’t understand…

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 15:11:36 +0000

“is the whole idea of “selling out” hopelessly quaint and outdated?”

I think so. You do what you can to earn a living. As much as Daft Punk are “well-known,” they aren’t serving out million selling single. I’m sure whatever they’re making from this endorsement is a nice bonus for them.

By: ron

ron — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 14:56:26 +0000

i like daft punk a lot as well — does no one really care that they’re selling telephones and using those helmet things to say “premini”? i guess i don’t really. seems like a lot of artists these days support themselves by selling their songs to hummer commercials, ipod commercials, et cetera (most egregious e.g., moby). but daft punk is “cooler” than moby, so maybe it’s okay, right?

is the whole idea of “selling out” hopelessly quaint and outdated?

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 11:45:08 +0000

I agree, INTERSTELLA 5555 was indeed excellent.

By: antonin

antonin — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 05:40:05 +0000

We love Daft Punk over here.

By: trevor

trevor — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 04:09:14 +0000

i can sure agree to that.
and byt he way. those helmets are fkin cool as hell cakes.. and intersella 555 is all cool has hell cakes.. the real question. if you could only have one.. the helmets, or your own intersella 555.. witch would it be!?

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 03:46:48 +0000

Well, it means that it is officially endorsed by Daft Punk.

By: trevor

trevor — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 03:34:50 +0000

i dont see how this proves its really “them” at all. i mean anyone could be under those hightech,. and super ass cool helmets..
plus. maybe they have more then one of each.
speaking of bands and maskes.. and who who.. has anyone every learned whos really in the residents? “OT” i know. but, the residents are always OT. hard to work into a conversation normaly.

By: marxy

marxy — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 03:09:00 +0000

nice. thanks. i am happy it is them instead of a knockoff.