Nellie McKay at Feinstein's (more by Chris LaPutt)

Nellie McKay, who is currently on tour supporting Madeleine Peyroux, will again bring I Want To Live! to NYC, as part of a string of dates in late November. This time, McKay will hit Hiro Ballroom on November 26th, and tickets go on sale Friday at 10am. Full tour schedule is below.

McKay can also be found on the recently released Note of Hope, A Celebration of Woody Guthrie, a collection of collaborations with Rob Wasserman that focus on Guthrie's work. Also on board for Note of Hope are such notables as Jackson Browne, Ani DiFranco, Kurt Elling, Michael Franti, Tom Morello, Van Dyke Parks, Lou Reed, Pete Seeger, Studs Terkel and many others. Look for it on 429 Records, stream some material at the site.

All tour dates and some video is below.

Continue reading "Nellie McKay announces shows, contributed to Woody Guthrie tribute CD"

by Andrew Frisicano

Guthrie Family...

Okay, so 40 years ago, August we were at Woodstock. Then that September, Jackie and I bought the farm (as it were), and we're still here. Later, that October we got married on the farm, still married too. Then later in November, Alice's Restaurant (the movie) was released! There hasn't been a four month stretch like that since then! So we're celebrating a lot of 40th things this year. -Arlo Guthrie opines on his 40ths

As previously mentioned, Arlo Guthrie will host his annual Thanksgiving show at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, November 28th. Dubbed "The Guthrie Family Rides Again," the show will feature three generations of Guthries including "Arlo, son Abe, daughters Cathy, Annie and Sarah Lee, son-in-law Johnny Irion, grandson Krishna, and assorted other children, grandchildren and guest artists." Tickets for are still on sale. The show also comes to Newark, NJ's NJPAC on Sunday, November 29th. Tickets to that are on sale too.

Come 2010, Arlo & family have expanded upon their already planned US tour dates to stretch through July. The first date of that tour is a February 20th show at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ. Tickets are on sale. The next night (2/21) is on Long Island at The Patchogue Theater (with tickets available too).

The Thanksgiving-themed song that started it all, "Alice's Restaurant," and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Guthrie Family Thanksgiving shows ++ updated tour dates"

by Ryan Barkan

10. CLOUD CULT: "LUCKY TODAY" - ESURANCE.COM
It's a music video! It's an ad! It's a music videad! It's the band Cloud Cult, fully animated in a TV spot for Esurance, but there isn't a sales pitch to be found. The Minneapolis psychedelic-pop band had traditionally shunned marketers, but the DTC insurance company won them over with some hard-fought green credentials. The result is a charming spot that not only fits in with the visual style of the band, but also features one of Cloud Cult's best songs.
[Ad Age Ad Songs of the Year]

This commercial came out late in 2008...though I think I only saw it one or two times. But thanks to an increase in rotation (January is the busiest month for car insurance!) partially influenced by the above placement in Ad Age, Esurance's Cloud Cult cartoon commercial has been on TV heavily over the past few weeks. The band shows up as animated characters in what comes off more as a music video for their 2005 song "Lucky Today", than as a sales pitch for insurance. A quick jump to Esurance's website and you can find a special Cloud Cult microsite where you can watch the commercial, stream/download a few songs, read why the band finds similarities in their and Esurance's love for being green, and learn how to be more eco-friendly.

According to SoundScan, the band sold more individual digital downloads of "Lucky Today" (1,400) in the last week than they usually sell in a month from all albums...combined.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Radiohead gave gratis (aka free) permission to the National Coalition For The Homeless to use the song "MK1" in a spot that attempts to show homelessness can happen to anyone. (via Songs For Soap). This was their first commercial license ever. Watch the spot below.

Michael Stipe was cool with giving a gratis license for Amnesty International to use REM's "Until the Day Is Done" in a powerful new spot. Watch that below as well.

"In fact, it seems like the one thriving corner of the music business is ad placement. The only people making any money are the artists landing their songs in TV commercials and the royalties that come along with that, so the most successful bands this year will be the ones whose songs are most conducive to selling shit. Which means that Santogold is your Artist of the Year for 2009. Once the shampoo companies find out about 'I'm a Lady', forget about it. It's a wrap." [Tom Breihan in the new L Magazine]

Santogold says 'aha' a lot in the new commercial for the Samsung Pixon phone with her song, "Say Aha". Watch it here.

Audi goes old school in the new spot for the Q5, breaking out Woodie Guthrie's fun "Car Song."

Another car manufacturer went NOT-old school - Volkswagen stayed local (German) with the Berlin electro-group Team on their new (clearly inspired by the movie The Matrix) spot for the Golf. Watch below.

Vancouver band, Readymade, has a song used by Unilever in their new Sun spot, highlighting "Human Potential."

I'm addicted to Diet Pepsi. It's my friend-mesis. Pepsi has rebranded my favorite drink and its overall image with a new "smile" logo. The brand launched its commercial campaign with a spot featuring the music of The Apples In Stereo (Via YANPicasso).

Papa John's sponsored an NCAA football bowl game last month. During said bowl game, the pizza maker debuted a commercial celebrating their 25th anniversary featuring Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".

John Lennon may not be alive, but that didn't stop Yoko Ono from lending his voice to a good cause. Watch the OLPC PSA below.

Walmart promotes the football season with a commercial using Queen's anthem "We Will Rock You".

Fashionista Kanye West is teaming up with one of his favorite designers, Luis Vuitton, to create six shoes for the brand. You may have also noticed Kanye's song "Flashing Lights" in the Season 6 promo to the F/X channel's show "Nip/Tuck". Commercial below.

continued, with videos, below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing"