CBS may make me change my mind.

For years I’ve argued that there really is no such thing as “selling out.” I’ve said that musicians need to get paid for their work, and licensing tunes for commercials, movie soundtracks and television shows is just another avenue for people to get turned onto music.

Who cares how you hear the Buzzcocks, or Postal Service, T.Rex and The Dandy Warhols? All that really matters is that you get introduced to bands like these. The people who shout “sellouts” are fans that want to keep an artist exclusive and away from the mainstream. But those aren’t “fans” at all. If they really loved the band, why would they want them to continue to struggle to make ends meet, play small venues and dwindle in obscurity? That’s the same as claiming to be a Chicago Bears fan, but never wanting them to get credit from the national media.

The number of people who enjoy a band doesn’t change the songs. So loving a band when it played the Fireside Bowl, but hating it when it’s at the All-State Arena, is stupid.

Really, what is the difference – for example – of Modest Mouse’s video being played on MTV in between Nissan commercials, and Modest Mouse’s “Gravity Rides Everything” soundtracking a Nissan commercial? Either way you hear the song courtesy of Nissan, not to mention it’s the same song.

But this isn’t a column about historic instances of cashing in, or how relatively underground bands make it big with a few choice marketing moves. Because really, I don’t care. The only thing I need a band for is music – not role models. And without getting into a lengthy column about the merits of musicianship and what it means to keep one’s integrity, I will say this – as long as a musician writes the music he or she wants, it is not selling out. Put the songs on every Web site, or in-house bookstore playlist; as long as it’s in the form the artist intended, it is not selling out. It’s just getting paid for their work.

The reason I’ve made this argument for years, is in part because when a TV station approaches a band and asks for music – or uses an existing one – the artist can say “no.” They don’t have to write that song for the “Joey” season premiere, or the end credits track to “Real World XXVIXV – Joliet, Ill.”

Again, this hinges on the assumption that a band is actually recording the music it wants to, that Of Montreal chose to rework “Wraith Pinned to the Mist (And Other Games)” for the currently running Outback Steakhouse commercial.

But CBS will change that, and possibly change my mind. Well, maybe not change my mind, but the corporation will cause me to react slower when I hear “sell out.”

More than 18 years after the company got out of the music industry, it’s headed back in – with a made-for-TV label.

CBS claims artists on the new label will be featured prominently on the CBS television shows, while simultaneously lowering the licensing costs the company has to pay artists because they are contractually tied to the company.

Affectively, this eliminates that “do it at will” concept of licensing songs to TV shows, and it means CBS will have the right to demand music from its roster.

In fact, the label claims that distributing full-length, physical albums is a secondary focus. A spokesperson for the company said it will feature primarily digital music on iTunes, but stressed that LPs would come sometime down the line.

Great. So now CBS can not only tell a band what to write, they can choose to release only those songs. Before, when a label would tell a band to write a catchy, ready-for-radio “single,” the band could package it with a dozen true-to-form tracks.

Not anymore. Not with CBS.

So now, whenever songs are on the station, we will be left wondering if the artist was forced to pen the tune. And thus, when they signed their deal, they also signed away a big chunk of their freedom to choose. Yes, I’m aware artists lose a lot of licensing rights when they agree to a bad contract – but not all, and the good contracts give them a right to maintain some individuality. This venture could eliminate the debate about those rights by saying CBS bands double as CBS television scores –it’s a packaged deal.

When a band signs to this soon-to-start label, members will have to be aware of the looming obligations. They’ll have to know that the big CBS paycheck could mean some lame CBS soundtracks. And no matter how much they try, there’s no saying “no.”

Knowingly sacrificing that freedom would actually be selling out.

Daily Herald BEEP, Dec. 16, 2006