If I were a jingle writer for TV ads, I’d be a little worried about my job security. You may have noticed more and more bands and artists gracing TV ads with their songs over the last few years, and they’re not just shilling for iPods. There are lots of car ads and other products that seem to be stacking up rocks’ heavy hitters like records in a jukebox.

There was a time when I thought about this from the perspective of a music-loving idealist: I was sure I’d only be able to picture a Jetta every time I heard Kings of Leon or that I’d envision riding in some other kind of VW every time I heard a new Wilco song. In fact, it kind of irked me that indie bands like these – or long-respected artists like U2 and Bob Dylan – were licensing their songs for ads.

But then I started to notice it wasn’t just ads – these songs were everywhere on TV, serving as background to shows like “CSI” or “Grey’s Anatomy,” and some shows were even writing the artists into the episodes to perform their songs. I was used to this for movies, but the little screen?

That’s when it dawned on me – and many subsequent articles and interviews I’ve read on the subject have since confirmed – that many of these artists were no longer getting any airplay on radio, so they were getting exposure wherever they could – even on the tube. Even the legendary Dylan admitted that the homogenization of rock radio was making it nearly impossible for his newer material to be heard on the FM dial.

So I’ve relaxed my reflexive nature to shout “Sellout!” and admitted that maybe the slow death of the record industry will mean artists will have to shill to survive. I’ve even discovered a few new artists like the Caesars, Feist and the Fratellis while vegging. But then again, I still think there’s something pretty cool about Neil Young’s militant refusal to license any of his songs for anything whatsoever.

What do you think?