The Feelers recorded RWC ad song for free.

I heard a rumour to the effect last week that the Feelers had recorded the Jesus Jones cover for free (which seems absurd, unless they got really good free seats for the RWC in exchange) , and it was confirmed in the Sunday News by Hamish Gee of the Feelers. Gee says that "If there was a New Zealand song, no matter how good that song was, then for people in Argentina who don't know that song it won't have as much impact. I am not a marketing genius, but I think it is smart to use a song that everyone will recognise."

A song that people will recognise on the global (read - rugby-playing) stage is a top idea, but it's arguable whether Right Here Right Now is a song everyone will recognise, given it was a hit in a small number of countries, mainly English-speaking ones, like the US, UK, and NZ. I think that a one hit wonder from 1991is probably not going to be that widely recognised. This is basically a lost chance to push some NZ songwriter out to the world.

There's no reason for the NZ RWC organisers to be patriotic just to please a bunch of whiners, but there is an opportunity to showcase what makes special, but that doesn't appear in teh ads either - maybe they will showcase NZ in subsequent ads  - this is just the start of the campaign, after all. And it can only improve from here.

Arch Hill's Ben Howe wrote an interesting post on it, have a look... "latest blog on various music biznez, Taite prize, Jesus Jones etc " @archhillmystery via Twitter

ADDED From NZ Herald: "Former NZ Idol judge and music industry professional Paul Ellis said the choice of song was "lazy" and the job should have been given to a local band. The well-informed Ellis said the initial contract to use the song for the ad would be worth about $200,000 and the artist would also receive royalties."