Introducing The ‘Prommercial’

U.K. band Faithless was part of an ad campaign on BBC’s Channel 4 Aug. 15 – in itself, not a big deal. But the Independent heralded it as nothing less than a watershed moment in the music industry.

That’s because Faithless – a band that has been around 15 years and does not have a record label – got to play the music video for their new single during a three-minute commercial break on “Big Brother,” and they did it with the backing of Italian car manufacturer Fiat.

It was dubbed a “prommercial.” The electronica band included a Fiat Punto Evo in the video.

“They want to sell cars and we want to sell music,” Faithless’ Sister Bliss told the Independent. “It’s getting that symbiotic relationship to work, which is interesting and challenging.”

She added that she didn’t feel any antipathy to being part of a commercial.

“You do what you can to get your music out there,” she said. “People who get up in arms about these things obviously have no idea about how desperately difficult it is to put records out now and make any sort of living out of it, especially in this period of excessive [free] downloading.”

According to the Independent, the band “got no money for the Fiat project but enjoyed being able to make a big budget video in Prague followed by intense television promotion.”