Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180042
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
Microsoft will get some satisfaction - for a price.
The Rolling Stones, ending their ban on selling song rights to advertisers, will let Microsoft Corp. use their hit ``Start Me Up'' in a commercial for Windows 95.
While news accounts in Britain suggested the group was being paid up to $12 million for the song rights, a Microsoft spokeswoman on Thursday said, ``It's more like a couple million.'' She was not specific, however.
The song will be used on the first TV commercial for the new software, which goes on sale in the United States next Thursday.
The Sun, a national tabloid, reported that lead singer Mick Jagger set a price of $12 million.
``When Microsoft approached Mick, he quoted a ludicrous amount of money thinking they would turn him down,'' an unidentified Stones source was quoted as telling the newspaper. ``To his surprise they agreed almost immediately.''
It is the first time Jagger and Keith Richards, the Stones songwriters, have allowed songs for which they own the copyrights to be used in a commercial, The Sun and the Financial Times reported.
Earlier Stones songs, for which Jagger and Richards do not control the copyrights, have appeared in commercials.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates reportedly wanted ``Start Me Up'' for the Windows 95 ads because a key new feature of the product is an on-screen ``Start'' button to launch programs. The button is prominent in print ads that have appeared in the United States.
The TV commercial will appear in the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Australia.
by CNB