Diet Coke ad puts fizz into WA band
It was once a line in the sand that many bands would not cross - the difference between being a sellout and a true artist.
But times have changed.
With the fragmented nature of the music business and the demise of CD sales, these days getting airplay on a commercial, TV show or even a video game is akin to Molly Meldrum telling the Countdown audience to "do yourself a favour".
Locally, Perth bands trying to make it in the ultra-competitive music world - such as Boom! Bap! Pow! - are reaping the benefits.
Late last year the band's song Suit was picked by Diet Coke for a major commercial, which has since been played thousands of times to prime-time US TV audiences.
The song was picked out of thousands sent to the company, and has since created a domino effect for the Perth band, with Microsoft also using Suit for a campaign in Japan.
A US furniture store chain and an online fashion store have also used it.
Lead singer Novak Bull said at first the band felt sheepish about promoting the fact their music had been picked up for use in an advertisement, but after it was outed by friends and on social media, they had received nothing but congratulations.
It has also led to an impending tour of the US and a bump in online sales.
Though the group preferred to keep the dollar amount to themselves, they said it resulted in a boost to the band's bank account and provided a "Christmas bonus" for all band members.
"I think the stigma around this sort of stuff has gone," Bull said. "And if we can get a little bit of reward for doing something that you love, as long as our music isn't supporting anything too evil, why not?"
