If you ever want to make in the music industry, there are a couple of roads you can take. You can pimp yourself on social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook or Twitter. You can tour relentlessly and earn some cred along the way. Or, you can just get your song placed in an Apple ad, which according to Billboard is the Number 1 way to gain success and recognition in the industry.
Apple ads have always received ridiculous exposure and it shows. For example, Feist’s “1,2,3,4” was used in an ad for the iPod Nano. Within a month, traffic to the artist’s YouTube music video grew 1200%, and after 3 months the video was receiving 5 times more monthly views than the pre-Apple hits. It’s hard to imagine all of this fame sprouted from a clean, short and concise commercial.
Nowadays those golden 30 seconds of airtime can make an artists career, earning them record deals and instant success. For music supervisors, choosing the right artist to place is key in making the product successful (not to mention the artist). 
Obviously a supervisor looks for someone with a catchy sound, cross-cultural impact and existing fame or hype. However, using a well known artist might break the bank, and a company about to launch a new product has to consider costs. Consequently, more obscure yet impressive bands with that special something are often chosen to be the company’s new babies.
The Ting Tings are one of those bands. They were originally recognized at South by Southwest by some of the Apple executives. The Ting Tings manager explains in an interview with Billboard, “They all seemed to really enjoy the band live. A lot of them were talking about ‘Shut Up and Let Me Go’ but we had no idea we were 
being considered for a commercial at that stage.” After their placement on the iPod ad, the sales for the single increased 2181%. They were then able to go on a national tour, having some showcases in Apple stores.
Many artists like The Ting Tings, Yael Naim, Chairlift or The Fratellis can hold Apple accountable for where they are now. With the company’s simple, happy, colorful and animated ads, Apple is able to make the product, the featured artist and the brand appeal to just about anyone. All it takes is 30 seconds, 30 seconds to sell a product while making a band’s career.
