DENNY’S IS THE NEW MTV
Feb. 11th, 2009 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogOne of the great issues for the music industry in the last few years is how to break new bands. Traditionally, the job has gone to radio and later MTV, but Clear Channel isn’t interested in playing you anything you haven’t already heard, and MTV hasn’t played any music videos since 1999. Which leaves VH1, and they won’t play any video made after 1999, as far as I can tell. There’s also YouTube and MySpace, of course, but you still need something to drive traffic to your band’s site or YouTube channel.
Which is why the hottest place to break new bands in 2009 is, apparently, the Denny’s food menu.
PRODUCTION NOTE: I realize this may not be news to any of you, but I’ve been out of the US for awhile now, so please bear with me as I digest this nugget of information. If it IS news to you, basically Denny’s has started a Rockstar Menu featuring signature dishes from today’s hottest acts.
Like so.
Brought to you by Dr Pepper®. Obviously.
As usual, I have mixed feelings about this kind of thing. Intellectually, I understand that with radio and MTV of limited help, bands are trying all kinds of avenues to get heard, be it TV ads or Starbucks.
On the other hand, there just seems to be something WRONG about opening a restaurant menu and seeing menu items created by emo bands and Katy Perry, alongside promos for their new albums (though I admit I can’t help thinking it’s a wonder the wonks at the Hard Rock Cafe didn’t think of it first).
Apparently it’s working out fine for Denny’s, if not the bands – they’ve just struck a deal to roll out an in-house TV network in which TV screens will repeat a 60-minute entertainment program (including 20 minutes of ads) while you consume yr Hooburito and Fake Lesbian Cherry Chocolate Cappuccino that will feature the bands who invented yr meal.
At which point the sun explodes, I think.
But who am I to be critical?
FUN FACT: The company helping Denny's install that TV network is the same one who runs similar networks for Arby’s, Captain D’s, CiCi’s Pizza, Del Taco, Hardee’s and Taco Bueno. They're called "out-of-home networks". And it is Big Money. Which means you will be seeing much, much more of it. Congratulations.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have been known to eat at a Denny’s – usually around 3am before a major exam. The last time I ate in one was probably in the City Of Campbell, CA in 2000. It was that or Applebee’s. I have standards, you know.
Off the menu,
This is dF
Which is why the hottest place to break new bands in 2009 is, apparently, the Denny’s food menu.
PRODUCTION NOTE: I realize this may not be news to any of you, but I’ve been out of the US for awhile now, so please bear with me as I digest this nugget of information. If it IS news to you, basically Denny’s has started a Rockstar Menu featuring signature dishes from today’s hottest acts.
Like so.
Brought to you by Dr Pepper®. Obviously.
As usual, I have mixed feelings about this kind of thing. Intellectually, I understand that with radio and MTV of limited help, bands are trying all kinds of avenues to get heard, be it TV ads or Starbucks.
On the other hand, there just seems to be something WRONG about opening a restaurant menu and seeing menu items created by emo bands and Katy Perry, alongside promos for their new albums (though I admit I can’t help thinking it’s a wonder the wonks at the Hard Rock Cafe didn’t think of it first).
Apparently it’s working out fine for Denny’s, if not the bands – they’ve just struck a deal to roll out an in-house TV network in which TV screens will repeat a 60-minute entertainment program (including 20 minutes of ads) while you consume yr Hooburito and Fake Lesbian Cherry Chocolate Cappuccino that will feature the bands who invented yr meal.
At which point the sun explodes, I think.
But who am I to be critical?
FUN FACT: The company helping Denny's install that TV network is the same one who runs similar networks for Arby’s, Captain D’s, CiCi’s Pizza, Del Taco, Hardee’s and Taco Bueno. They're called "out-of-home networks". And it is Big Money. Which means you will be seeing much, much more of it. Congratulations.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I have been known to eat at a Denny’s – usually around 3am before a major exam. The last time I ate in one was probably in the City Of Campbell, CA in 2000. It was that or Applebee’s. I have standards, you know.
Off the menu,
This is dF
