Have you heard of Slow Moving Millie? No, I hadn’t either until it was reported this week that wannabe king of the Christmas ad campaign, John Lewis, had enlisted her talents to cover The Smiths’ B-side ‘Please, Please, Please Give Me What I Want’.
In 2010, consumers were moved by Ellie Goulding’s rendition of Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ and the year previous, the public debated the positives and negatives of Taken By Trees’ cover of Guns ‘N’ Roses rock anthem, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. This formula for taking the classic and reinventing it in the form of something novel, saccharine and controversial has appeared to work considerably well in the retailer’s favour.
Since appearing on YouTube and subsequently premiering during an X Factor break, the Twittersphere, in particular, has been full of opinion about the advertisement. Comments such as “best ad ever!!!” and “the cutest Christmas advert” have been bounded about in their thousands, even provoking satirical broadcaster and journalist Charlie Brooker to comment: “Don’t think I’ve ever found anything more terrifying than the general reaction to that John Lewis shop advert. The shop advert. Shop advert.”
Love it or hate it for what it is, this one minute and thirty second clip has provoked not only reaction from those watching it in between their favourite prime-time show, but from those who believe a band such as The Smiths shouldn’t compromise their integrity (read “sellout”) by letting a national retailer use their music in such a way.
Here are the obligatory statistics to help set the scene and aid our debate. The IFPI reports that between 2004 and 2010, the recorded music market has declined in value by 31%; translating into a decrease for artists with regards to the performance and mechanical royalties they receive from the sale of their records. PRS for Music further add fuel to the recording industry fire by stating that consumer revenues from not only recorded music (as expected), but live music fell by 7.3% in 2010. Considering that the live sector was hailed as the saviour of the music industry only the year before, the decrease can be seen to be detrimental to musicians.
Conversely, in the same report from PRS, business-to-business (B2B) revenues in the same period increased by 2.2%; synchronisation in particular growing from £25m in 2009 to £34m in 2010. The figures regarding this are key as this relates to the placement of commercial sound recordings with visuals – music in advertisements.
Due to the downturn in consumer revenues, labels and business-savvy artists are arguably having to turn to B2B channels in order to cover the shortfall. It’s been well publicised through a large number of industry blogs, news articles and other outlets that in order to succeed in the music business, it’s no longer financially viable to focus on one method of making money only. In order to sustain oneself in the new music industry, managing a number of revenue streams is now key.
For John Lewis, the return on their investment has already been felt. Since the release of the advert, the consumer giant has reported an increase week-on-week of 6% in their stores. Through the licensing of ‘Please, Please, Please…’, Johnny Marr and Morrissey are looking at accruing revenue not only through the standard royalties they’d be due from the broadcast of the song (despite it being a cover version), but also from the licensing of the material for use in the advert.
Now here’s my argument; should a musician ever use their music in this way? If it means being able to further sustain their career, then surely the ‘sin’ of ‘selling-out’ to advertising companies or retailers is one that can be forgiven? Or are some things just too sacred to touch?
