Tired of representing your affection for a musical act with T-shirts, wall calendars, and cruises? Want to get back to what it was all about in the first place–the music (and the accompanying profits)? SongVest has a deal for you!

Starting next month, Madison, Wis.-based SongVest plans to auction on its Web site portions of the rights to 18 songs recorded by Garth Brooks, Aerosmith, Cher and others…

One of SongVest’s co-founders, David Prohaska, says his company is pitching the songs as the ultimate memorabilia, rather than as money-making investments. Among the tunes SongVest is selling rights in are the “(Theme from) The Monkees” and “Friends in Low Places,” which has long served as the signature anthem of Mr. Brooks. Some titles are expected to fetch more than $250,000 on the auction market.

It’ll be somewhat like when Michael Jackson bought the Beatles publishing, except on a vastly smaller scale. The only catch: You won’t have any control over how the song is used and where. Basically, you’ll get a certificate, and, if you’re lucky, a semi-regular royalty check. Just like the stars do!

The idea was partially inspired by Christian rock act Stryper, who auctioned off half of their interest in “Always There For You” and another song last year for $25,000–ten times what the songs would theoretically be worth via a traditional sale. (You can judge for yourself.) Frankly, I think whatever church is paying the pastor who purchased the tracks might want to reconsider their salary structures.

The song list isn’t terribly exciting at the moment (country songwriter Trey Bruce, who has written a number of Randy Travis tracks, dominates what’s available), but if anyone wants to chip in and purchase “I Swear” as a collective, I’m in for $20.

Dream On: Own Part of a Hit Song [Wall Street Journal]

0:00 – we see a pool of red paint (or blood, let’s just call it blood) on the floor of a white studio.

0:06 – Garth, head tilted, wearing a white hat and matching suit, rises out of the red mess staring at us and playing a white baby grand.

0:25 – The blood drains underneath his foot pedals, and Garth gives us a knowing stare. “Two shadows starting to softly combine…”

1:09 – Following the first chorus, Garth wipes his hand across the screen, dripping blood and revealing the silhouette of a cowboy at dusk tossing his hat in the air.

1:32 – Blood splashes across Garth and the piano every time he moans “ooohhh…the red strokes!”

1:59 – As a guitar solo begins, the camera pans away from the white-suited Garth at the piano bench to reveal another Garth in red and black, playing the six-string in question and giving us an equally creepy-ass stare.

2:23 – Garth cries “the blues will be blue…” as blue paint drips out of his fingers and onto the keys.

2:28 – “…And the jealousy’s green” accompanies a shot of dollops of green paint oozing out of Garth’s pant legs and on the floor.

2:30 – A torrent of blood far more violent than Carrie’s falls from the ceiling, staining the walls, covering the piano and pouring on Garth’s head as he screams “when love picks its’ shade, it demands to be seen!”

2:40 – The blood, like all the colours before it, disappear from the stage, but Garth’s intensity remains constant.

2:54 – Overcome with emotion, Garth clenches his right fist and shakes it as he sings “fearlessly drawn!”

3:02 – Blood seeps out from inside the piano as Garth crashing into the chorus for the umpteenth time.

3:10 – Garth flashes us a look that says “I know that blood is pouring out of my piano and I am entirely ok with that. In fact, it feels good. Patrick Bateman good.”

3:12 – Blood has covered the entire floor, as Garth kicks his feet in the red muck.

3:22 The walls are streaked with red, as the blood appears to be moving up towards the roof.

3:29 – The blood disappears again. A post-orgasmic Brooks places his hands atop the piano and sings “Steam on the windows, salt in a kiss. Two hearts have never pounded like this.” The camera pans upward, as blood drips from above, covering the frame in red.

Oh, the red strokes
Tempered and strong
Burning the night like the dawn…

Be very afraid.

Garth Brooks – The Red Strokes [YouTube]
Video Spotlight: The Red Strokes – Garth Brooks [TwisterMC]

As Ambassadors, Vassar and Little Big Town will be fully
integrated into the Red Roof Loves Country Road Trips campaign. Both
the musician and the band are prominently featured on
www.redrooflovescountry.com in on-the-road Short Films and interviews.
Guests booking rooms at Red Roof or staying at the hotel will hear
Vassar and members of Little Big Town’s voices when they are placed on
hold or request a wake-up call. Vassar and Little Big Town will also
be featured on hundreds of Red Roof Loves Country Road Trips posters
and oversized postcards with their tour schedules cross-referenced
with nearby Red Roof locations. Vassar will also be making appearances
at select Red Roofs – meeting and greeting fans and guests. “A hot
shower and a clean bed, it’s what I want most on the road,” says
Vassar, and as he Road Trips across the country this summer, Red Roof
is fulfilling all his travel needs.

So if you don’t want Little Big Town providing your wake-up call, then don’t stay at Red Roof hotels. Good to know.

Red Roof Loves Country! [Reuters]
Red Roof targets country music fans, followers with multimedia campaign [Nashville Business Journal]

Substantial promotional effort was involved in marketing the Eagles and Bon Jovi to the country audience, but that’s simply part of the music industry machinery. I can’t imagine that either group sat down and said, “Let’s see what we can do to pander to the country audience.”

I don’t follow country nearly as closely as I would like to, and I’ll admit that it does seem to be the genre of choice for just the kind of aging white dudes who make up Bon Jovi and the Eagles, so their intentions were probably at least a little sincere. It just seems to me that the opportunistic incursion of dinosaur rock acts into a still-evolving genre can’t be good for that genre’s evolution.

CMT Music Awards Nominate Rock Acts [CMT Blog]
CMT Music Awards: Nominees [cmt.com]

Energized by this renewed sense of relevance, Brooks still remains wary of some aspects of 21st century music culture. He’s not fond of iTunes, remaining loyal to the album format. And when the subject of illegal downloading comes up, watch out.

“What is popular isn’t always right,” he said during a 20-minute rant. “My dad, who is 70-something, all he wants to do is eat sugar. All my child wants is to eat sugar. But we know it’s not the best for them.

“As a society, all we want is more free music. But let’s talk about me being on a soccer field, and hearing ‘More Than a Memory’ on somebody’s phone. I go over there and say, ‘Where’d you get that?’ and they tell you: a file-sharing place. I call that place and they say, ‘We can’t do anything until you write us a letter.’ Now how screwed up is that?”

Brooks knows that a multimillionaire like himself is unlikely to elicit much compassion from the music-should-be-free crowd; he cites the songwriters behind most country hits as piracy’s real victims.

His solution?

Internet police.

“It’s gonna have to happen,” he said. “Every illegal download you do, you’d get a $25 ticket, like a parking ticket. What would 10 cuts for $12 feel like compared to that? And the people who create the songs will be able to pay for their children’s school.”

Ah, Garth. We were with you–c’mon, who wouldn’t love to see a reapplication of parking laws in the world of BitTerrorist hordes, if only for the massive lulz inspired by both the inept ways of “tracking people down” and the targeted kiddies’ inevitable tantrums?–until you tried to paint the whole “and then these peoples’ kids can get into expensive schools” picture. Weren’t you about the people, man? Even those who could only afford educations that were paid for by their tax dollars?

Garth Brooks is almost the retiring sort [LAT; HT Ned Raggett]