TBS Using Bon Jovi Music To Promote MLB Postseason Coverage

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TBS for the third straight year will use Bon Jovi to "promote its postseason baseball coverage," according to John Ourand in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. TBS is using the band's new single "We Weren't Born To Follow" in its promos, and Turner Sports VP & Creative Dir Craig Barry said, "The new song has a strong message of standing up and believing. That's what the postseason is about." TBS execs "would not say how much they are spending on the campaign." Barry said that he was "open to other artists, saying it was a 'unique scenario' to bring back Bon Jovi again." Ourand reports "shorter versions of the full-length music video will appear" this week on TBS. The video also debuted Monday on MLB.com and will "run on JetBlue and Frontier Airlines video systems from Sept. 15-30." TBS is "rolling out the full 2 1/2-minute video to 15,167 movie theater screens starting Friday" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/31 issue). YAHOO SPORTS' Kevin Kaduk wrote of the song, "I'm sure it won't be long until it's burned into our minds and we're mindlessly singing at work, at home, at the gym, at church and in our sleep" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/31).

MUSIC MAKERS: The Dave Matthews Band will serve as the official band of ESPN's college football coverage throughout the '09 season. The band will provide 10 original songs -- seven from the recent release "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King" -- for game and studio telecasts on multiple platforms. Uses for the music will include highlight montages, promotions of upcoming shows and coming in and out of commercial breaks (ESPN).