Idolator

Art Brut is the latest band to be taken under the wing of T-Mobile's advertising department with the above ad, which debuted during the Grammys last night and which is, I guess, supposed to serve as a testament to the band's canniness as far as its ability to market itself. While I do think that your average non-blog-reader will be able to figure out that the Brit collective is a real band—and not just some ad exec's caffeine-fueled "inspiration"—more easily than she was with Of Montreal's T-Mobile spot from a few months back, part of me wonders why Art Brut's reps didn't fight to have the band's name chyroned on the screen for maximum Google potential. You just know that Teyana Taylor would have her lawyers write a "my name must be on screen for at least four seconds" clause in her contract. [MySpace; warning, embedded remix of OneRepublic's "Apologize" inexplicably within^*] More »

When Of Montreal's ad for T-Mobile came on during last night's American Music Awards, my initial reaction was along the lines of, "What music-blogger hell did this crawl out of?" And it still stands. I mean, reunion-show jokes? Band meetings that are conducted in fancy-ass hotel rooms while Kevin Barnes and Co. are in full stage makeup? I'm going to hazard a guess that most of the Daughtry fans watching the show didn't realize that Of Montreal is, you know, an actual working band with records out, especially with the feather-flying celebration at the ad's end. More »