The New Music-World Order ...

As if there is any doubt as to what has happened to music in the wake of MP3's, I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard the familiar intro to one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs titled 'Today.'

I turned around the nook and peered into the television and saw good ol' fashioned down to earth American images ... people working hard, fruit off the farm truck - I was starting to think they leased one of their songs to a non-profit organization. Alas, it was a commercial for VISA.

In the 90's this commercial would have been enough to get people on the streets with pitchforks and torches. They'd be hunkering down at SP headquarters and calling them sell outs. I wonder how this commercial makes the band feel? Do they care? Was it a hard decision?

I certainly doubt it. The music industry has changed to such a degree that licensing your music to a big corporation like VISA is just plain smart, and it is the way to go.

Does VISA tying the Smashing Pumpkins make me like their brand more? Not necessarily, but I must admit it pulls at my heartstrings a bit. However, VISA's problem isn't necessarily an image problem - it's the fact that they are selling me a predatory service, charging me ridiculous fees if I am a day late on my monthly payment (of which, the day seems to change from month to month), and giving me an interest rate that isn't in my best interest.

So marketing team of VISA who I am almost certain is reading this, kudos to you. I hope you paid the Smashing Pumpkins well.

And to the Smashing Pumpkins who may or may not have a social media monitoring team - thank you for all the great music and I wish you would come back to Portland, OR and put me on the guestlist +1 because I haven't had a decent job in years and wouldn't be able to afford a ticket if you came to town.