Sooner or later, it happens to everyone. You’re watching television, and suddenly a song you love pops up in a commercial. Perhaps it’s “She Sells Sanctuary” being used to hawk SUVs to the same jocks who beat you up in high school for liking the Cult, or the Gap co-opting Badly Drawn Boy to push ugly scarves.

ourteen years after Nike outraged Beatles fans, and the surviving Beatles, by using “Revolution” in a sneaker ad — Michael Jackson controlled the publishing rights to the song‹the revolution is over, and the advertisers have largely won. Bruce Springsteen famously refused a reported $12 million to license his song “Born in the U.S.A.” to Chrysler in 1986 and remains one of the handful of high-profile holdouts. (Others include Neil Young and Tom Petty.) But such opposition appears to be in retreat. “Artists no longer feel stigmatized about being used by corporations,” says Cyndi Goretski, artists-and-repertoire manager in the licensing division of Warner Music. Counterculture anthems by the Who or Jimi Hendrix now sell cars. When Sting couldn¹t get airplay for his recent song “Desert Rose” or for the video, which featured him riding in a Jaguar, he licensed the video to the company to turn it into an ad. The exposure helped “Brand New Day” become his top-selling solo album.