English bands never persuaded themselves-- or tried convincing anyone else-- they weren't in it for the money. But there was a time-- long, long ago, seemingly in a far away universe-- when American rock bands felt that selling their music to hawk commercial products was demeaning and made them inauthentic. No one wanted to be a sell-out. In 1988 Neil Young's song This Note's for You and, exactly ten years later, Jello Biafra's stand against Levi's using Holiday In Cambodia for a (lucrative) Dockers TV ad-- which brought him financial ruin after a devastating law suit by the rest of the Dead Kennedys eager to make some money off their work-- were pretty much the end of that lost cause.

Today's incredibly diminished music industry is basically all about "selling out." Artists don't make money selling CDs; they make money by selling concert tickets and by licensing their music for commercial usage. A&R men sign artists who seem to have what it takes to put together a good jingle that will sound nice in a movie or on a commercial for the phone or beer company. And good luck to them! The songwriters and performers are certainly entitled to make a living from their efforts.

In fact, I was very excited a few days ago when I saw that two songs from my old indie label, 415 Records, were used in a film. The film isn't a commercial venture. It's kind of a public service endeavor the band, Translator, decided to donate their music to. SONY, the owner of the master tapes begged to differ though, so a modest commercial arrangement was struck. The endeavor was a film explaining the mission of Baltimore's exemplary green sustainability project GoForChange.

So life-affirming and positive and happy-making! Different from selling a song for a TV spot? Not really. Some people get off on making money; others get off on making the world a greener place. It's all about getting off. I think this is a great way of recycling two Translator songs that might otherwise never have been heard by thousands of people who could conceivably watch this video. That it makes the world a better place is just a bonus.