Band of Horses Unashamed of Shilling for Wal-Mart, Ford

Posted on Sep 14th 2007 1:00PM by Spinner

Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell sees "no negative" in licensing his music to big business and doesn't care if you think he's a "corporate whore." In fact, he's "stoked" that the band might "pick up some new listeners in the process."

The Seattle-based group's song 'The Funeral' provides the soundtrack to retail giant Wal-Mart's "Save Money. Live Better" campaign, and Bridwell told Pitchfork that he's given Ford Motor Company permission to use a song from the band's forthcoming second album, 'Cease to Begin.'

Corporate whore? Eh, maybe. Cranky? Absolutely. Read the entire letter Bridwell sent to the 'Fork after the jump.

Dear friends,

As you may have heard, there's been some recent discussion of a couple of licenses for BoH songs. Just to provide some clarification...

I did allow Wal-Mart to use a song for a new website they created and have also given permission to Ford Motor Company to license a song from our new album. Because some people see Wal-Mart as a huge, evil corporation, they seem to be especially bummed about this license and see us as posers and/or corporate whores as a result.

I'd like to just state for the record that we let all kinds of folks use our songs in all kinds of mediums - TV, films, school projects, etc... My personal stance is that once that music is recorded and released to the world then I don't really care where it goes. "The Funeral" has been licensed to death (ha, wretch) at this point and if somebody wants to throw down some duckets for it, then feel free. It also beats the hell out of stealing batteries from Wal-Mart to sell them back for 8 bucks.

As for Ford: I drive a 1986 F-150 that still runs great. Maybe I'll get the a/c fixed with the cash they kicked down. I'm also stoked that people will hear our song on TV and we might pick up some new listeners in the process. I see no negative.

That's our reasoning and I'm okay with it. I hope fans of the band are, too.

We promise to use the money to buy camcorders (at Wal-Mart) for people to film "The Funeral," so I can get mad and crap my diaper. Fuck it.

-bb