I'm surprised no one else has brought this up so far, as it seems to be all over TV at the moment. It's basically an ad for Telecom internet services or something along those lines, anyway, it starts off with Che Fu recording a basic track which then gets sent around the world via the net to all these kiwi musicians who each add their own sound to it: eventually this results in a finish work which gets sent back to Che.
I must say that I was a little surprised that so many NZ artists would whore themselves to a big corporation like Telecom. It's one thing to license a song for an ad (which I am not too keen on either), but to actually take a part in it and be filmed seems to be pushing the old artistic credibility barrier a little bit far.
The artists on it are from a range of genres and some who I was very surprised to see featured. Some of the musos shown include: Che Fu, Julia Deans, The Brunettes, Nathen Haines, Blindspott, PanAm, DJ Mu, P-Money, and many others who I can't remember off the top of my head.
Anyway, what are other people's opinions on this ad and on musicians appearing in corporate advertisements in general?
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Technorati
Is Telecom going to support NZ Music in ...
Is Telecom going to support NZ Music in a big way now??
if it appeals to the 'elusive' youth ...
if it appeals to the 'elusive' youth market, which is a big market for sales, then maybe they will jump on it.. which is maybe what they are doing..
jamming over the net? the way to the future?
it all looks cool but how would that ...
it all looks cool but how would that help non musos?
Hey people, I realise no one
Hey people, I realise no one may reply or even read this, but I am really keen to get hold of a copy of this ad. Can anyone put it on youtube or some other medium from which I can access it. Any ideas of where I could find it?
Thanks heaps.
all artists mentioned are commercial ...
all artists mentioned are commercial bands/musicians. i don't see what problem you see in them doing this.
Get over it dude. It's great to see a ...
Get over it dude. It's great to see a NZ corporate giant finally plugging NZ's creative talent in an entertaining way, and those musicians might have gotten paid enough for a meal that night. I think it kicks ass!
One of the best parts about this advert ...
One of the best parts about this advert isthat it doesn't SAY who the musicians are (ie you have to know who they are for it to be anymore than a good avert)
In the same light, if you don't know who those people are, it creates interest. "Who is that, what band are they in, why is there a black guy sitting in a shed playing playstation, starting an international collaboration of music? I be a part of this!"
I'm all for it, and I can't belive you're actually against NZ bands getting exposure when it's obvious they want it
There should really be more NZ music used as backing music, in saying that I don't mean the entire Dave Dobyn back-catelogue
The bench press rusting outside Che ...
The bench press rusting outside Che Fu's shed cracks me up.
My maths might be a little off, but I ...
My maths might be a little off, but I think that the dole is probably more lucrative than a platinum record in NZ...
(or at least it's close, which makes any money look like good money)
I must say, I think "whore themselves" ...
I must say, I think "whore themselves" is a little extreme. They have a right to make a little money out of their talent and just because they appeared in the ad, doesn't mean they support Telecom. Just makin' a few bucks out of them, what so wrong with that? I kinda liked the ad, it was like "oh hey Julia Deans, oh hey its P Money in New York".
It is funny that some of the corporates (Air NZ, KFC) are jumping on the whole NZ music bandwagon, but the fact that they are doing so can only be good?
Good on you ollie. I agree totally. ...
Good on you ollie. I agree totally. It just shows another level of hypocrisy in the New Zealand corporations. They couldn't give two shits about it before it started to get successful but now it is on the verge of not being ignored (thanks to bands the datsuns and the d4.) they are cashing in on the fools gold.
Another thing though. Everyone in that ad has brought nothing to new zealand music expect for nathan haines and the brunettes. I mean is julia deans that worried that they are going to be the over sold by tadpoles flop of a second album. Ok Che fu brought alot to New Zealand music. but since his first album all he has done is whore himself out to the highest bidder whether it is a clothing company, a phone company, a fast food company or a New Zealand music commision company.
//corporates (Air NZ, KFC) are jumping on the whole NZ music bandwagon, but the fact that they are doing so can only be good?
yes the fact that big MONOPOLIES like telecom think nz music is good means nz music is good. Think for yourself.
andoru - you sad sad bastard ... (ahh - ...
andoru - you sad sad bastard ... (ahh - that's better) ok now for something constructive.
1) gosh - corporations are hypocritical - nz corporations? you mean, unlike global corps that are less hypocritical?? gee whizz, and i thought they really cared!! (i'm being sarcastic for the literal ones) corporations are riding a popular wave - rather than going for the knee jerk (angry young man, i've got a tubular distortion pedal and i'm gonna use it) response here - think about it a little - the fact that corporations are getting on this means that this really is a moment of breaking through into the popular zeitgeist (look it up) this should be applauded
this is good for the nz music scene - are we finally getting over the cringe factor? can local musos make some money from licensing etc now so that they don't have to live on the bones of their collective (and no doubt very rock n roll skinny (except Mu) arses?? Does anyone really only like their musicians broke, starting out, with a dream and the fire of doing something great in their eyes ... sheesh - it feels like a made for tv movie .. or wait .. like an ad!!! (does anyone else see the extreme irony here - isn't this just about some people holding onto dumb mindset cliches about what a 'musician' should be/do - therefore as trapped by the overworn meta - narratives at the same tiem they attack them??
2) //yes the fact that big MONOPOLIES like telecom think nz music is good means nz music is good. Think for yourself.
repeat five times every night before putting sleep - you can have the same idea as someone else and still be thinking for yourself. Also, Telecom is not a monopoly - stop using capitals to emphasise inaccuracies
3) Ollie - the interesting thing about your comment is that you seem concerned about the 'artistic credibility' - how does allowing the licensing of your music dent credibility?? I doubt that the artist that agrees to his/her likeness / music being used feels like their credibility is shot - most artists i know work from a very strong sense of *internal* cred. It seems to me that the credibility you're referring to has to do with the listener / audience rather than the artist. I always thought that over-thinking what the audience would want to hear rather than just doing what you hear yourself would be the ultimate loss of artistic cred? You seem to be suggesting the exact opposite.
spilly stop arguing with inaccuracies. ...
spilly stop arguing with inaccuracies. Telecom in a monopoly last time i checked they owned clear and had no competition.
// Telecom is a monopoly last time i ...
// Telecom is a monopoly last time i checked they owned clear and had no competition.
Well, Clear is owned by a telecom, just not Telecom New Zealand. It's owned by Telstra, the company formerlly known as Telecom Australia.
Unless the lower case "clear" wasn't referring to the telephone company. In that case, I don't understand what that sentence meant.
But like fur boy said //all artists ...
But like fur boy said //all artists mentioned are commercial bands/musicians. They are just prolonging the trip to winz.
Henry Rollins has done a few ads for ...
Henry Rollins has done a few ads for large corporations and people are really quick to scream "sell-out!" at him. But his philosophy is that he takes the money he gets from those ads and puts it into his publishing company so he can publish books by writers and poets who wouldn't normally get published.
I think that's what it comes down to. It's not so much appearing in an ad for a large corporation and getting paid, but it's what you do with the money. I suspect most of the artists in the Telecom ad will be putting it back into their art (well, maybe after they shout their mates a round at the pub).
well said robyn....
well said robyn.
leave Henry Rollins out of it. He is ...
leave Henry Rollins out of it. He is an uncompromising whore/ genius. My war indeed.
I see your point Robyn.
Good point Robyn re: Rollins. What I'm ...
Good point Robyn re: Rollins. What I'm trying to say is that I believe that "artistic cred" resides in the artist not in the audience. And, that all of us music fans are too quick to cry 'sell out' because of our own (somewhat twisted and socialised / narrativised) notions of what it is to be an artist - poor and suffering blah blah blah.
This notion of an artist's lot is a recent phenom - last 100 years or so. We don't call da Vinci a sell out but he was well-paid by loudmouth popes and rich bastard families to do his art ...
Also, I really think that, if people must do this whole 'artistic cred' thing, then surely some musicians have a reservoir of cred that they can use up before being criticised. For example: David Kilgour - an endless reservoir of cred, carly binding - trying to build cred now but it doesn't look good -
damn straight, it's not going to be ...
damn straight, it's not going to be good for the artist if the last time they could afford a set of strings was 7 months ago
i look at it this way, i'd rather have my favourite artists suckling from the corporate nipple and writing music than giving up their dreams, quitting the music thing, and flipping burgers for the rest of their lives.
something else that i like to consider is that while telecom may indeed be a big corporate, it's not run by robots, it's run by people with opinions on things, mostly new zealanders i might add. if it's okay for all of us to like these bands it's okay for telecom's marketing dept. to do the same, and it's definitely ok if those bands get that kind of exposure all over the country without having to personally go into all of those living rooms themselves.
mmm. that ad completely sucked me in, i ...
mmm. that ad completely sucked me in, i hate telescum but i thought it was cool that there were so many nz bands in the ad. i also thought it was cool as koe said that it didnt actually say who any of them were so you had to know anyway.
unfortunately in nz you cant be a musician and a musician only if you want enough bling to live.
right up until fur patrol left julia deans was still working at street in wellington. retail for gods sake, earning what can only be fuck all.
what os are you using ollie? microsoft? :D
telecom suck shit and they definitely suck satans greasy corporate cock on a day to day basis but i have no beef with any of the musicans for wanting to make money aswell as do what they love.
especially if they put that money towards doing more shit with music. wicked.
I can't say that the ad pisses me off ...
I can't say that the ad pisses me off at all - I like being able to identify locals on the telly in an unusual context, even if it may be just a little tokenistic. Sure, mainstream acceptance of NZmusic at large is way late but its still ultimately a good thing.
What DOES rip my gruts though is the just plain WRONG habit that advertisers get into of ripping off a song so closely that the difference between it and the original is negligible save for the fact that they can own the fake for a fraction of the price.
The D4 are the latest in a very large roster of bands to be raided in such a way....and people point the finger at school kids who burn CD's.
abso-freakin'-lutely. Let's encourage ...
abso-freakin'-lutely. Let's encourage the advertising suits (and creatives) to use the original, and therefore pay a license fee to the artists - this is revenue artists are missing out on and it is a cheap and nasty disservice that the ad-makers exploit the soundalike for ownership purposes ..... Nice Bee Baa
//Ok Che fu brought a lot to New ...
//Ok Che fu brought a lot to New Zealand music. but since his first album all he has done is whore himself out to the highest bidder whether it is a clothing company, a phone company, a fast food company or a New Zealand music commission company.
Andoru you idealistic fuck!
What the hell are you on…………………?
Che Fu is in a position where being a martyr is not an option, he has a fucken family to feed, the guy has a kid and wife to support………
When you have a family to provide for lets see how your morals change.
When you have kids and your band begins touring New Zealand constantly and never making a buck, when every fucken man and his dog is ripping your albums on their home computer and never buying them……when the only money that you actually get to see is your publishing cut (i.e. your face and music on T.V, movies etc) then lets see how you feed your family, put clothes on their backs and send them to school…….
Im sick and fucken tired of all your hypocritical posts, posts typed might I add on a fucken ‘Mac power book’ ………you fucken yuppie.
Get a life and stop judging people who have far more complicated issues in their life then you could ever fathom.
P.S. Nicely put Bee Baa
WOAH! DUDE! Che Fu is one of New ...
WOAH! DUDE!
Che Fu is one of New Zealands highest paid entertainers. So get your facts rights.
yuppie: young urban professional? young yes, urban no i live in melrose, professional sorry once again no i play music.
Where do you get off bro? hypocritical? puh fuck off.
hahahahhaahaaa!! sorry, i was just ...
hahahahhaahaaa!!
sorry, i was just picturing andoru in a suit.
fink maybe your new expensive denium ...
fink maybe your new expensive denium outfit is cutting the blood supply to your head because what you just typed made you like not only stupid but a very sad human. How would you know what computer andoru uses unless you gave enough of a shit about him you had to investigate his life. You are one sad human man.
Also I personally take offence that you call someone a yuppie for using a power book. I use a power book for uni design and in no way am i a yuppie. Not only is it good for design it can make great music.
I have a 4 year old kid and a wife. You dont see my face on the telecom ad now do you?
I dont even have a "mac power book" ...
I dont even have a "mac power book" hahahhaha
I have no problem with the ad b/c ...
I have no problem with the ad b/c having a problem with the ad as "for a corporate/monopoly" etc, presupposes that the viewer is a gormless spaz who can't ignore the self=interest of Telecom in the ad and instead enjoy the musos getting some exposure - NOT exposure by Telecom, but by the medium of television.
The first couple of times I was watching the ad, I couldn't have told you what it was for - I don't watch ads to see the product, I just liked its litle touches like the buckets being played in New York audibly appearing in the final track at the end of the ad. A lot of the posts I have read sound like sound bites of political or socially aware grandstanding.
Don't think of it as Telecom exploting NZ music, think of it as NZ music exploiting Telecom. It just feels better.
I cant believe all this bullshit over ...
I cant believe all this bullshit over one ad.
These people are entertainers.
I like the add.
I didnt hear anyone bitching about Nesian Mystic on that Coca-Cola commercial.
Actually Pip, I thought the Nesian ...
Actually Pip, I thought the Nesian Mystik ad was far worse. The difference is that I knew they would do an ad for Coke already, and frankly, I don't care very much about them. With the Telecom ad there were artists on there who I was very surprised to see, people who I thought would not sink to that level.
Don't worry, I'm sure TLBT will make the next Telecom cut.
Well, I havent even seen the ad yet, ...
Well, I havent even seen the ad yet, but it seems to be causing quite a stir so here's my two cents:
I think that corporatisation of the nz music industry is fine, as long as it's done constructively and there's rewards where rewards are due. I dont think there's anything wrong (I think "whoring" was the term used) with artists chucking their mug on the screen for a big company like telecom. They've still gotta put food on the table, so I've got no qualms with them doing things like that. it's not like they're gonna make megabucks with a platinum album here anyway--is it really more affordable to be on the dole? :P
Just one thought I'm quite interested in though-are we now gonna see telecom hand out as a major sponsor of nz music month coming up??! Hope so...
//it's not like they're gonna make ...
//it's not like they're gonna make megabucks with a platinum album here anyway--is it really more affordable to be on the dole?
I'm not too clear on the maths, but last I remember the dole was a bit over $15,000, and a platinum album in NZ is 15,000 discs, so if the artist gets a dollar a disc after expenses it's about par, more than that, then maybe it is better than the dole...
But...but...but, It's a GOOD AD!!...
But...but...but,
It's a GOOD AD!!
Well, Telecom would hardly be the first ...
Well, Telecom would hardly be the first corporate to try and raise their profile by getting talented, popular musicians to appear on their adds.
Remember, in the end it's all about whether you endorse Telecom by buying their stuff as a result of the add. So if the add rubs you the wrong way- don't buy their stuff, and you've proved your point.
Telecom's single goal in making adds is to get more customers. They have never/will never be interested in spending money on anything without some kind of pay-back. They're not in business to make music!
All the musos involved- I'm sure they were paid well for the add, and it got their faces on the tele. They're doing pretty well out of it. All that music they sent to eachother from all around the world- that must've been worth quite a few dollars to Telecom too: "Here's an example of how Telecom's making even more revenues out of email and internet!"
So Telecom gets a few more sales from the weak-minded mass populous. Who loses?
Here's hoping in real life if a ...
Here's hoping in real life if a "project" like this happened, that everyone involved would PGP encrypt their "parcel" before sending it on, since you know sharing MP3's are the choice of the internet terrorist pirate generation!
ahaha. that was a little ironic, ...
ahaha. that was a little ironic, wasn't it, particularly with both Julia Deans and Che (the faces of RIANZ's brn & gt brnt campaign) firing off an mp3 file on their broadband connections.
What? Of someone hitting a bucket! I ...
What? Of someone hitting a bucket! I don't think what was being sent was ever a song, until Che Fu compiled at the end for himself.
I don't think so chunnsta, the ad ...
I don't think so chunnsta, the ad shows at least one band/artist mixing with some kind of software and then I assume passing it on, how else would they know how to play "together".
Though, I'm not aware of any sound engineering software that supports mp3's, would they WinZip all the files and send them on? What happens if they don't all have the same software?
Anyway, assuming that the song is say 3mins long, that each collaborator has made a track as long as the song and it's been encoded as mp3, each collaborator track would be about 4.5Mbs [this depends on encoding of course]. Since there's going to be at least 10 collaborators, the final thing Che Fu gets is gonna be about 45Mb.
No wondered he's playing playstation waiting for the thing to download, it would take forever to download something that size through email.
// 45Mb. No wondered he's playing ...
// 45Mb. No wondered he's playing playstation waiting...
Not with XTRA broadband!! Which is probably their point. It would take me about half an hour to download that at home. Slightly quicker at work (not that I'm suggesting I would use work's uber-fast internet pipeline to download mp3 files...)
// I'm not aware of any sound engineering software that supports mp3's
cooledit pro for one. and you can always resample into wav if you need to (which I suspect is what cooledit does on the fly, anyway).
looked like they were using Protools in ...
looked like they were using Protools in the main ... which is a bit funny, cos an mp3 files was being sent around, which allows no track layering/editing. but it's the thought that counts ...
The thing is, downloading and upload ...
The thing is, downloading and upload emails are slower than going through http or ftp due to the encoding you have to do, which would also increase the file size about another 10Mbs.
It would be faster to use ftp, some kind of VPN or a secure p2p app [tho Xtra limits the speed on the ports p2p apps use] than email.
Cooledit pro, I haven't thought of that software in years, thanks.
// It would be faster to use ftp, some ...
// It would be faster to use ftp, some kind of VPN
True. can't say I'd want to be the one teaching all those muso's how to use FTP though. Adding attachments to emails seems to be a stretch for some of 'em.
// Cooledit pro, I haven't thought of that software in years, thanks.
Old stuff is the best. All these new packages have too many stupid bells and whistles for me. And, besides, I could never get the PC edition of ProTools to work on my machine.
//I could never get the PC edition of ...
//I could never get the PC edition of ProTools to work on my machine.
yeah protools hates pc, were you trying to install protools free, cause that only works on nt4
//looked like they were using Protools in the main ... which is a bit funny, cos an mp3 files was being sent around, which allows no track layering/editing.
looks like che was doin the layering at the end.. if it was me id get everyone to pass around one master file which they all add to , mix down and send to the next lot for a guide track.. and also everyone send their raw track only back to che,.. who then uses the 'pass the parcel' track (which he recieves last) as a references for timings etc...
i like the ad .. i saw some candid street comments where the interviewer was asking ppl about what they thought of telecom.. and heaps of ppl said "i like the smaller companies better".. "like who?"
says the interviewer "oh you know, vodaphone" .. "vodaphone is the second largest company in europe"
its all pr bullshit and clever advertising, so many ppl are brainwashed
wow one question: do you interpret ...
wow
one question: do you interpret every advertisement you watch with such great detail and critisim?
You've successfully bored me out of ...
You've successfully bored me out of the argument with a thousand examples of computer jargon and technical terms...over and out.
// do you interpret every advertisement ...
// do you interpret every advertisement you watch with such great detail and critisim?
[ external link ]
Yes, especially when it involves the ...
Yes, especially when it involves the internet & Telecom.
and air new zealand!...
and air new zealand!
I wish I could afford broadband and ...
I wish I could afford broadband and that cool PDA P-Money had.
Musicians in NZ are obviously loaded, just watch the ad.