This Bud’s From Mick
In last Sunday’s Sun-Times Mick Jagger tried to talk his way around the fact that he’s now a poster boy for a beer company. “I never really did an ad for Budweiser,” he claimed. When interviewer Jim DeRogatis reminded him that the Stones appear in a televised Budweiser commercial, Jagger said, “If they use our videos in their tour sponsorship, that’s fine. But I never did an ad for them saying, ‘Bud is great.’ I never did an ad for any product ever.” The logic of this escapes Hitsville; Jagger is either delusional or more cynical than I’d imagined. The beer commercial features new footage of the band; if it’s from a video, the video has yet to be released. Beer company millions did buy intimate access to the band, however. Before each Soldier Field show the band smiled and shook hands at Budweiser meet-and-greets.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Speaking of stars who have too much money, Barbra Streisand has surprised record retailers with a promotional twist. A recording of her recent overpriced concert tour is soon to be released–on CD, cassette, video, and laser disc. The laser disc was to feature one additional song. But now comes news that Blockbuster will be the exclusive retailer for a special edition of the video that would also include that song. Other retailers are wondering why consumers would bother to buy their inferior version, and note that Blockbuster’s selling of cassettes and CDs will further cut into their financial participation in what’s set to be one of the biggest releases of the season. Blockbuster is a strange company for Streisand or any artist to be cutting deals with. The stores, Big Brother-style, won’t carry movies they consider unsuitable–and suitability is based on factors that include not just sex and nudity (though violence is generally fine) but political content: don’t forget the powerful chain refused to carry Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.
…But the Royalties Keep Coming
Here’s another Didjit tidbit: earlier this year an unknown southern California group included Sims’s “Killboy Powerhead” on its first album, for the independent punk label Epitaph. No big deal–except that the band was the Offspring, and the album’s currently touching the Billboard top ten on the strength of the fluke hit single “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated).” The album, Smash, is heading for double-platinum status with sales of 70,000 a week. “Mechanical” publishing royalties go to song composers at the rate of about six and a half cents per track. You do the math–and let Sims pay for drinks.
