Do we need to hear "1234" every 1,2,3 or 4 minutes?

[Jaimoe]

Since Feist didn't receive any wrath for selling out, that was left to Wilco, I was wondering if anyone is bothered by Feist shilling two singles for commercials? The main thing that bugs me is that the 1234 commerical is on every channel almost every fucking commercial break. But hey, it's helped her new album climb the charts.

I had little interest in the new Wilco album until I heard how good those songs are in the commercials. I'd never heard Nick Drake until that Cabrio commercial five or six years of so ago featuring "Pink Moon".

Here's a Feist article from yesterday's Star, written by the talented prick Ben Rayner:

For Feist, iPod makes it easy as 1234

TheStar.com

Second single from The Reminder shoots up charts after repeated play in new Nano ad

September 28, 2007

Ben Rayner

Pop Music Critic

After months of grazing the international mainstream, Canadian songbird Leslie Feist looks poised to make a major commercial breakthrough in the States and the U.K. through her recent association with an ubiquitous, tiny silver gadget.

Feist's charming "1234" – the second single from her hit album, The Reminder, and a co-write with Australian singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann (who records as New Buffalo) – has been worming its way into skulls on both sides of the Atlantic at an alarming rate since it was picked up for use in an iPod Nano commercial earlier this month.

In its second week on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, "1234" has shot up to No. 28 from a No. 61 debut. Its digital sales have almost doubled, from 41,000 downloads to 73,000.

The Reminder, too, has spent the past few weeks clawing its way back into the Top 100 on the albums chart, rising to No. 36 in the most recent Billboard rankings.

It peaked at No. 16 stateside upon its release this past spring.

In Canada, "1234" has yet to register on the radio-airplay chart, but in two weeks on the digital-download chart – arguably the more accurate barometer of popular tastes, anyway – it's rocketed from No. 21 to No. 3. And it's been hovering around the No. 1 spot in iTunes Canada's hourly rankings.

Meanwhile, The Reminder, which already spent a good chunk of the summer haunting the Top 10, rose from No. 42 to No. 26 on the album chart for the week ending Sept. 27.

"The single is about to go Top 20 in the U.K. for the first time. It's had a 200 per cent (sales) increase in the United States, a 100 per cent increase here at home," enthuses Jeffrey Remedios, co-founder of Feist's Toronto label, Arts & Crafts.

"Radio has woken up to the wonderful magic of this song that we've been pushing for three months ... and finally we're seeing some pronounced upward momentum up the charts, maybe all the way to the top of the AC chart."

Feist isn't the first to benefit from exposure in one of Apple's iPod commercials. Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" was one of the first songs to attain a breakthrough, while Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc." and, more recently, the Fratellis' "Flathead" have attained a certain measure of cultural ubiquity.

Indeed, so great is the demand to know which song features in which iPod ad that Macintosh maintains an online list of the tunes it has licensed on its support page.

Geoff Mayfield, the man in charge of watching the charts for Billboard, says it has become quite common for artists to make "substantial" gains on the charts when their songs feature in the "right" (rather than "dorky") commercials.

"She's absolutely got a bit of juice from that spot. It's a really clever campaign," says Mayfield. "We've seen this pattern with previous Apple spots. They're very smart. They always choose something that isn't quite well known."

With, Mayfield adds, the notable exception of U2, who used a 2004 iPod ad to preview "Vertigo," the first single from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.The result when the CD arrived? "The biggest single SoundScan week of their career."

Feist has already lent "1234" to an eBay commercial in Australia, and her songs "Mushaboom" and "Gatekeeper" have respectively been heard in ads for Lacoste perfume and HSBC during the past couple of years.

Her "I Feel It All," also from The Reminder, was heard this month in commercials for the Bell Lightbox at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The growing impact of her iPod-related notoriety, however, is on another level altogether.

"You can trace it directly to the iPod commercial," says Remedios of Feist's burgeoning success with "1234." "Right after it aired, if you went to ... one of those sites that keeps track of what people are searching day and typed in "Nano song" or "1234 song" or something like that, all of these combinations started to spike.

"It's totally wonderful and deserved. Its just like the right song and the right product mix at the right time. We're really seeing a real sea change with the penetration of this record."

[bouche]

I couldn't believe how rudimentary the songwriting of this tune was when I saw it on a letterman clip.

"I need a lyrical hook..hmmm...how about counting?"

[paisley]

saw Feist play in a bar here in town 6 years ago for $5 (with 2 other people on the bill) so I'd still call her more struggling than established... well maybe she's fairly comfortable now but she hasn't been filling stadiums for the better part of a decade

its only artists I have an emotional attachment to that I get upset about selling out (neither Wilco or Feist, though I do enjoy some of Leslie's music)

[Jaimoe]

I think Feist is a great singer/songwriter. It's refreshing to see a woman in her 30's getting video and chart hits. I just have a problem with that single being on every freaking commercial break.

[MarcO]

fantastic song, excellent video.

[paisley]

yeah I like the 1234 song too =)

(and fortunately don't watch many channels that have commercials)

[NewRider]

Nellie bought me one of those ipods this week so I have no problem stomaching the commercial another 450'000 times or so!

[phishtaper]

i like the song. its catchy.

[captainsunshine]

That commercial is slowly driving me nuts...

[djmelbatoast]

Sell-out.

[bouche]

I should go back and edit my comments about Feist and 1234. Being annoyed with lyrics is not really my thing. My limited experience with this tune was an appearance on letterman that I saw on YouTube and then a quick commercial clip for iPod.

I just came across the full video and I must say that I'm more impressed with the tune (love the horns) but mostly the entire video. I gotta be thankful that there is some real music being made and actually a well done video. You just don't see that shit anymore.

[DevO]

I can't get this damn sweet tune out of my head!

[Jaimoe]

Incidently, that 1234 video was a first take. I saw an interview with Feist and was shocked when she said it was a first take.

[ollie]

Alternative rock for the soccer mom set. Feist makes "nice" music.

[phishtaper]

y'all are just jealous because ya don't look good in a sequined blue jumpsuit.

[AD]

I'd rather hear a good song by her than a bad song by a Nickelback or some other band of that ilk... Think of how bad it could have been!