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Music: Rock & Indie

Tom Robinson curates the listening choices of the 6 Music listeners.

Now Playing @6Music: #Commercial6Music - help assemble a commercially licenced playlist

Music: Pop & Chart

11/10/2015

#Commercial6Music - help assemble a commercially licenced playlist

BBC Radio 6 Music - Now Playing @6Music, #Commercial6Music - help assemble a commercially licenced playlist

Tom Robinson wants suggestions for a special advertising-themed playlist.

Tom Robinson wants listeners' suggestions for a special playlist inspired by commercials via #Commercial6Music.

"It's a Virus...Eventually, artists will be going onstage like race-car drivers covered in hundreds of logos."

So says Tom Waits on the topic of musicians allowing their work to be used in commercials. And there are many artists whom agree - The Doors, Beastie Boys and Radiohead to name a few.

But then there are dozens, hundreds even, of musicians whom are quite happy to take the handsome pay cheque, shake hands with the devil and allow their compositions to be used to sell everything from computers and mobile phones to gas and jeans. Are these artists vilified as "sell-outs"? Or are they just business savvy in an age when music and songs are so disposable that they're making a fast buck while they scramble to extend their fifteen minutes of fame?

This week one of music's greatest rebels, Bob Dylan, appeared in an ad for a well-known computer company. He's actually quite funny in it, too. Its not the first time Dylan has popped up in an ad either; last year he was the star of a car commercial during Super Bowl half time.

Crotch-ripping Lenny Kravitz also popped out - I mean popped up - in a gaming ad this week. So that got us thinking, what other artists have allowed songs to be used for commercial purposes?

Levi's went through a stage of making number one records out of the songs they used in ads (Babylon Zoo, Stiltskin, The Clash, Mr Oizo). Moby's album 'Play' was the first of it's kind to have all of its tracks licensed for films, television or commercials. Then of course Tom Odell & Lily Allen did John Lewis ads, Blur used 'The Universal' for a British Gas advert, Justin Timberlake sang 'I'm Lovin' It' for McDonalds, the Scotch skeleton revised Bo Diddley's 'Not Fade Away', Dandy Warhols said yes to 'Bohemian Like You' being used for Vodafone, Jona Lewie turned out for Ikea and of course there's always Janis Joplin's 'Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz'.

You pick the music, so get your commerical-inspired suggestions to Tom via the hashtag #Commerical6Music to help create a playlist. Comment on the Now Playing Facebook page, here on the blog, email nowplaying@bbc.co.uk or drag tracks onto our Spotify and Rdio playlists.

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