Neil Young may have actually signed off on some of the rights to use his music in ads when he sold 50% of his posts to Hipgnosis Songs in 2021. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t reserve the right to participate – subtly – when his music is licensed for commercials from now on.
Young apparently didn’t quite agree with an NFL ad over the weekend that used Beck’s newly commissioned cover version of “Old Man” as its soundtrack. The veteran rocker did not affect the Beck hood or its use directly, and it is not accessible for suspension. But it seems Young said it all in a photo posted on his official Instagram account on Monday.
The posted image has been a constant from his music video for “This Note’s for You,” a protest song that denounced the use of music in advertising, since 1988, when the sale to Madison Avenue was still a hotly debated issue in rock and roll circles. (The title was a take-off on the ubiquitous “This Bud’s for you” slogan at the time.) “Sponsored by Nobody,” legend reads over a fake beer bottle Young holds the camera in the photo he reshot on Tuesday.
As old fans remember, Young blasted from the company in the song with a song like: “I don’t sing for Pepsi / I don’t sing for Coke / I don’t sing for nobody / Makes me sound like a joke.”
In the advertisement for a game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, the NFL commercial depicted Beck performing an acoustic performance of “Old Man” as a hilarious comment on the idea that quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, are real “olders” in their profession.
When the deal was signed in 2021, Merck Mercuriadis, founder of Family (Music) Limited and Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited, said he felt confident he and Young would be on the same page on how to license his catalog. “We have a common integrity, spirit, and passion that grew out of our belief in music and these important songs,” Mercuriadis said. There will never be a ‘burger of gold,’ he added, citing Leung’s ‘Heart of Gold,’ but we will work together to make sure everyone hears them on Neal’s terms.
If Young has an issue with this usage, we’d hope to hear his reaction if anyone suggests syncing “Cinnabon Girl.”
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