Every once in awhile mindless distraction via the internet is a great, great thing--the risk being getting sucked endlessly into what I like to call those "just-one-more-page sites". My latest addictive find is http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com. My favorite note, of course, is this one. Oh, Graham.

$10 million plus is what Portfolio.com's "back-of-the-napkin" analysis estimates as the licensing potential for Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven". Thus far, the value of the song's earnings--for public performance royalties and sales alone--is $562 million. Keep in mind, there are multiple albums by the band containing equally incredibly classic and amazing songs, so multiply that by ten or fifteen or fifty or so and you've got a good idea what that might look like. On paper. Or in your bank account.

Much was made when Zeppelin et al agreed to license "Rock and Roll" for the Cadillac commercial campaign; they own their own publishing--a rare, glorious thing for a band of their stature--and have much more control of their work. And indeed, that rare license rankled fans. But why the band could potentially make millions of more dollars but doesn't is neither here nor there. I don't think it's a question of needing more money or having enough--Cadillac commercial aside--it's that they don't need the exposure.

There's a bit of schizophrenia going on in the general public's mind in regard to licensing, particularly for commercials. The selling out debate has its ebbs and flows and lately it's been in ebb mode. But it's always been there--The Who released an album about it, The Sex Pistols openly swindled fans, and Carly Simon finally managed to shock people with a ketchup endorsement.

On the flip side, there's commentary like this, heralding the emergence of TV as the new radio. New artists are simultaneously selling their music along with the product. These commercials are in heavy rotation, artists don't have to "pay" for the exposure (quite the opposite) unlike commercial radio, and the song, in a national commercial campaign, reaches a huge amount of ears.

Basically, TV exposure is for the young. The public accepts that a new band needs the income and the exposure, and also discovers new music this way. But Led Zeppelin is already embedded into their iPod as well as their musical being. It's a badge of taste and distinction. And if ever Feist or Joe Purdy or the next artist with a hit on an iTunes commercial lasts half as long or consistently writes and records music a third as good as Led Zeppelin, then they too eventually will be seen as selling out because by then, they don't need to advertise their wares no matter how much they get paid to do so.

I've been a little jealous lately of my as-yet-unmet colleague/competitor Lyle at Bank Robber Music, a NY based licensing company that's been having fun using some of its music in homemade videos and posting them on its site. There's a tongue in cheek Sex In The City sampling and a quirky little office piece too. Perhaps, if I one day wake up with some untapped video syncing skill and more hard drive space and RAM, I too will do the same.

At around the same time I saw Lyle's videos, I came across an article written last year titled Music Licensing In The Era Of YouTube, in which a company called Dollartracks (apparently now very defunct) offered music for a few dollars to license in, among other things, You Tube videos.

If there's one thing the RIAA has done accidently right in its disastrous attempt to sue music fans out of being music fans, it's inadvertently educated the general music listening population at large that it is illegal to use a Coldplay song in your high school reunion video and upload it to YouTube.

Indeed, I get various requests--mainly from high school science teachers--politely asking permission to use Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" for science project videos, and for whom there's little I can do; EMI grants permission for the master and guiding the honest school teacher through the morass known as clearance is more than I can muster.

Simultaneously, the seemingly increasing discussion of ways to replace music income post-digital file sharing age, which includes variable pricing, merch sales, touring income and public performance royalty-like income from file sharing, tends to omit the licensing side of the business. Mainly, I suspect, because film and TV licensing aren't necessarily consistent bets and also because they're not sold to the general public.

So what better way to sell a single for $5.00 as a YouTube license. And what a good way to get the bonus of exposure and fan endorsement at the same time? Getty, in conjunction with PumpAudio offers music for this purpose but it's only a matter of time when someone does it right, markets it for the YouTube audience and the consumer licensing business will take off.

Even in the world of licensing unknown startup artists there are some that always do better than others. I love these songs above and beyond their licensable accessibility and, while you might readily recognize a regularly licensed track from Death Cab For Cutie or (I feel it coming) MGMT, these are great songs too.

I've abbreviated the songs, because I can't upload more than 2MB. Bleh.

Sex And Reverb: CORONER.
Great laid backed super-melody. Most recently used in an episode of Men In Trees, Sex and Reverb tracks get regularly licensed for film and TV, including CBS' Numb3rs, NBC's Knight Rider, Fox's Drive, and ABC's What About Brian.

SuperGiant: HERE SHE COMES.
This song is brand new, and I love the bluesy, Beatles-like feel to it. SuperGiant's generally electronic/rock hybrid sound was spawned in the UK as H2S04 and was licensed for episodes of HBO's The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. The band's other incarnations have been used in What About Brian and Dirt.

The Elevator Drops: JULES.
Recently use in Toyota's Sequoia commercial. It's a chaos of pop sound. The band's Sex Pistols-like Resistance will also be heard on the upcoming Dakota Fanning/Forrest Whitaker feature Winged Creatures.

Derby: STREETLIGHT. So happily upbeat and poppy, Derby was used five times in last year's season of Men In Trees, in ABC's Eli Stone, and this month, a nationally airing Coke commercial.

Brainpool: JUNK.
With incredible production, Swedish artists Brainpool can effortlessly run the musical gamut of influences, which range from Brian Eno to Led Zeppelin. Licensed in Notes From The Underbelly and One Tree Hill, , this Swedish Grammy award winning band is virtually unheard of in the States.

Parry Gripp: DO YOU LIKE WAFFLES
Sadly, this song has never been licensed. I had Parry (of Nerfherder fame) write this on spec years ago, in response to a kid's breakfast product and it was never used. But it has spawned countless YouTube inspirations and literally over a million views.
Maybe someday it'll sell a waffle, too.