Sure, a lot of people are down on radio (except for hip hop artists, and reggaeton artists, and country artists, and...). But in pop and rock worlds, radio doesn't break bands like it used to. So artists and labels go elsewhere to find listeners.

The change came when U2 licensed its song "Vertigo" for use in an iPod commercial, writes The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan in a post titled "The selling of Nirvana and TV's power over the biggest bands" at her The Watcher blog. The band also made a cameo on the HBO series "Entourage."

"Relevance to younger fans is often what established bands are searching for when it comes to television exposure," she explains.

It's a new era for rock bands. "TV is now driving radio," says author Charles R. Cross, who wrote the Kurt Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven. Nirvana's music was off limits to advertisers and TV shows, but last year "Six Feet Under" and the movie "Jarhead" used Nirvana tracks. Now the feeling is a band like Nirvana risks losing a new generation of ears if it doesn't license its music.

A quote from a music supervisor is a good summation of the change in attitude: "Ten years ago, it was looked at as something cheesy -- using your music for TV, as opposed to features. But now artists are looking for an opportunity to reach people who might be outside their normal fan base."

"Grey's Anatomy" (pictured) is mentioned in the post quite often, and if one reads enough newspapers and blogs the name will pop up from time to time. With a new album out by Psapp, hardly a review or article goes by without mentioning that the band recorded the show's theme song. There's even a Grey's Anatomy Music website that lists which songs were played in each show.

Additional reading: Last year the LA Times' Geoff Boucher wrote an article about The Doors' John Densmore and his refusal to allow his music to be used in commercials -- despite multi-million dollar offers. The Doors turned down a big offer from Cadillac but has since allowed its songs to be played on "Without A Trace" and "Saved."