It strikes me as somewhat odd that M-Net chose the Parlotones to write and sing ''It's Magic'' - a new single for the pay broadcaster. Why? Because the Parlotones are actually at the same time very closely associated and linked in viewers' minds with rival broadcaster SABC3 where the Parlotones are in fact ''the official ambassadors of SABC3's carbon free campaign'' since March.
''Creating a song with the Parlotones made perfect sense as M-Net and the Parlotones are a natural fit,'' says M-Net in a press release.
However, South African TV viewers would have seen the Parlotones and their one specific music video on SABC3 the last few months where the carbon free initiative has been running for a while. It's a Parlotones' song - ''Stars Fall Down'' - that is the official song and soundtrack for the carbon free initiative promoted by SABC3 as one of the channel's projects. Now the Parlotones' ''It's Magic'' song has been created for M-Net in what the channel says is ''the first time that the Parlotones have written a brand new song for a TV channel, as well as the first time in South Africa that a TV channel is creating a radio release as part of a brand new campaign.''
While the Parlotones will now also be associated with M-Net, I think that if given a choice, it's quite likely that ordinary South African television viewers would choose and make a connection between the Parlotones and SABC3 rather than the Parlotones and any other TV channel - purely based on the rotation of Parlotones music and appearances due to the carbonfree project promos on SABC3. The Parlotones actually also performed in concerts earlier this year to raise awareness of SABC3's carbon free initiative.
It's interesting and an odd choice to me, that M-Net would choose the very same local band that's actually been involved with, or associated with, a project on another TV channel. Usually TV channels don't like to share or do the same kind of things as other channels or share the same talent.
Before now with M-Net's campaign and SABC3's carbon free project, the Parlotones' most prominent specifically TV related or linked TV association was in July 2008 when they appeared as part of MultiChoice's marketing campaign in on-air instructional promos (as well as live at the launch party which I attended at the time) of the first DStv HD PVR and high definition (HD) channels.
And on a tangent: If I have to venture a guess - and it's only a guess - it would seem that, should there be live entertainment, that the Parlotones would be the musical act to perform at M-Net's 25th birthday party in October? And that they would be singing ''It's Magic''?
