The Apple Effect: Ads That Have Launched Music Careers [VIDEOS]

Apple has propelled many bands and artists up the charts simply by featuring their tunes in its commercials.
Summed up nicely in the witty words of BuzzFeed writer Taylor Magenheim: “Apple has proven that every time an iPod is created, an indie band gets their wings.”
With an interest in the “Apple effect” on a song, we took a look at five great examples of artists being carefully chosen from (relative) obscurity by Apple’s ad pros. Which one made the biggest impression on you? Share your thoughts in the comments!

1. “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” by Jet – iPod, 2003/2004

Brash Aussie rockers Jet were one of the first acts to benefit from Apple ad inclusion, with their track “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” The tune provided the audio for one of Apple’s infamous (and improbable — how do those ear buds stay in?) dancing-silhouettes-with-iPods commercials.
On the back of the exposure, the band sold 3.5 million copies of their album Get Born, an astounding amount for a little-known band from Down Under, and the song has since been used in movies, TV shows and even computer games, including the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises.

2. “1234″ by Feist – iPod Nano, 2007

 

 Canadian singer-songwriter Feist (or “Leslie” as her mom is more likely to call her) was chosen as the face of the nano. It was her sparkly blue jumpsuited moves and catchy vocals that helped introduce the player’s new form factor to the wider world. Likewise, the ad launched her big-time career.

After it was aired, nearly half a million people hit Google to find out what the song was. YouTube plays of the video jumped more than 1,000% compared to the previous month, and digital sales of the song doubled.

 

3. “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” by CSS – iPod Touch, 2007

In one of our favorite Apple anecdotes, 18 year-old British student Nick Haley created a homemade fan-ad for the iPod touch using then little-known Brazilian group CSS’s song “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex.” Apple execs saw the ad, liked it, and subsequently flew Haley out to the States to work with their ad agency on making an official version of the commercial (below) which stayed remarkably similar to the original (above.)

You know the drill by now — after the ad was aired, searches for “iPod touch ad music” and “music is my boyfriend” went through the roof. CSS sold a boatload of singles and Apple had another successful ad on its hands. It’s interesting to note that the use of exactly the same track a year earlier in a Zune ad did not have the same effect.

 

4. “New Soul” by Yael Naim – MacBook Air, 2008

When Israeli artist Yael Naim wrote and recorded this track in her Parisian apartment, she likely had no idea of the success it would later see as the soundtrack of the MacBook Air’s debut to the consumer masses. In fact, rumor has it that Steve Jobs himself chose the song that sunnily accompanied the much-parodied envelope-themed ad.
Because of the ad’s success, Naim’s album was released early in the U.S. in the hopes of capitalizing on the exposure. She soon became the first Israeli solo artist to have a top ten hit, and the song reached the dizzying height of number seven on the Billboard Hit 100.

5. “Shut Up and Let Me Go” by The Ting Tings – iPod, 2008

Quirky British pop duo The Ting Tings were already enjoying U.K. success when Apple picked “Shut Up and Let Me Go” as the song for a next-gen “dancing silhouettes” iPod advert.
It gave the band its U.S. break and got them to number one on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart after a hasty release of the single, which, in the words of the band, was not actually the best from their album, We Started Nothing. “We don’t even see that as our strongest song,” a confident Ting Ting-er told USA Today. “We love that song, but we have bigger songs on the album which people probably haven’t even heard yet.”

 

BONUS: “Fly Me Away” by Annie Little – Amazon Kindle, 2010

Just to show that Apple isn’t the only consumer electronics/music company that can give artists a friendly career boost, here’s Annie Little in the cool stop motion Kindle advert that won the Amazon and audience vote in a recent video contest and is currently airing on national TV.
The song has gone down so well in fact, that Little has since released an EP (an Amazon exclusive, of course) with this tune and two others, suggesting that while Apple has traditionally been seen as the musical kingmaker, perhaps there’s room in the market for other influencers.

 

 

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