by Jacqueline Dodd

Created on: September 21, 2008

Sellout. I've heard dozens of people throw the term around on dozens of different occasions. Most often it is directed at bands and musicians, though actors, athletes and politicians are also capable of "selling out". But what does the word really mean? When you call someone a sellout - and for this article I've chosen to focus on the term the way that it would be applied to a musician - you are saying that the person has sacrificed their artistic integrity for a bigger paycheque, mass commercial appeal, radio airplay or a major label contract. Maybe even all of the above. It's quite a serious statement to make about an artist and must be the ultimate insult to someone who makes music for the masses - including the ones deeming them sellouts - to enjoy.

We all know a few famous artists who have been labeled with this term over the years. As a Bob Dylan fan who considers Like A Rolling Stone (from the second album he created using electric guitars after several completely acoustic records) one of my favourite songs, I was surprised to discover that even Dylan has been called a sellout by angry fans who assumed he'd given up his folk music roots for rock and roll. But is Dylan really a sellout? His 1967 album John Wesley Harding found him making a return to acoustic folk songs and was followed up by 1969's Nashville Skyline, a country album. Interestingly enough, nothing was said and the term sellout was never used when Dylan went the western route. The fact is that the man is an artist and artists - like all people - go through different phases at different points in their lives. They want to try their hand at different types of music. They want to shake things up by incorporating new sounds into their work, perhaps by using elements from genres of music that aren't their own. Original, longtime fans may say that Dylan sold out, but I believe that he was merely growing and evolving as an artist. That is why when someone cries sellout, it's always a good idea to dig a little deeper. What is considered selling out by one person is often viewed as the growth of an artist by another.

Artists also seem to get the term thrown in their direction when they switch from a small, independent record label to a major one. The California band AFI caught massive amounts of flak and came under attack on online fansites and messageboards when they switched from Dexter Holland's Nitro Records to major label DreamWorks. All of a sudden the former punks were all over MTV, their singles

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