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Chicagoist has gotten out of bed on the jaded and cynical side this morning, so bear with us. We were perusing the internets, as we do every morning, and came across this article in the Sun Times. And we thought to ourselves – what a kick ass job! How does one get to become a music supervisor on a hit show like The O.C.? Daydreams previously fantasized here at Chicagoist.
As we read about Ms. Patsavas’ journey from Glen Ellyn to Hollywood, we decided to gather more info about this hometown girl. She has quite the extensive list of credits and has been mouthing off to the world about her super-fantastic job just in time for the release of The O.C.’s 5th volume of music from the series.
Big corporation gets acclaim for helping unknown bands reach a wider audience. Big corporation wants to capitalize on that acclaim. Big corporation lets everyone and their dog interview their music supervisor who has been instrumental in picking the songs played as background on their television show. Big corporation gets the little consumers to buy even more of their soundtrack. Perfection.
We get that this is America and that we live in a capitalistic society. We also understand the power of music to convey a character so much more completely, i.e. Claire driving away in the Six Feet Under finale to Sia’s “Breathe Me”. Love it. We’ve also forced soundtracks down people’s throats, i.e. Neil Young’s Deadman . But we believe what has us so angered by this is that marketing is all that there is to this. It’s not really about providing a place to find new, great music. It’s about promotion and moving more units.
We understand that being picked for a television show is a great way for bands to get noticed, reach a broader audience than ever before, and make some green, but we also understand that it’s just product placement that won’t be TiVo’d away. And we don’t want to believe that our favorite bands are just clamoring for airtime like Coca-Cola so that they can become richer corporations. We want music to mean more than that. Then again, maybe, we’re just feeling old and nostalgic for the good ol’ days before image was king.
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They need to tone down the music on most programs. If the music causes dialog or news to be missed, it's too much.
WBBM radio is a huge offender. They have this blaring music playing over the start of their news - it's horrible. Particularly in the shower, where the sound quality isn't that great anyway. I know they like to THINK that people are listening to this on a $2000 Bose system, but most people listen on a cheapo shower radio.
can we agree that virtually every band wants to reach a larger audience? and that it takes money to do that? okay, so then what options do you have if CD sales are falling, illegal downloads are huge+rising, radio station ratings are falling, rolling stone circ. is falling, MTV and MTV2 stop airing videos, etc. you have to get the word out somehow. 99% of bands don't fit in the OC / gray's anatomy world, but they still need to get the word out.
if you're a tv executive, what can you do when your younger audience is shrinking, moving to online and video games, and is agressively avoiding commercials. you have to find new revenue somehow. and you have to find new ways to attract an audience.
the irony is that the people who bemoan the current state of music promotion are the same ones that have contributed to its current state. if you tivo, if you buy less cd's today then you did a few years ago, you are among the millions that have effectively changed the way music can be promoted.
i used to be in the camp that cried "sell out" at every opportunity. now, i see an MIA song used in a honda civic commercial and think "wow, that's a pretty cool ad. it fits both of them perfectly." who are we to care if it helps honda? it's not our music to sell, after all. at least honda is buying (and promoting) MIA and postal service and others. seems like everyone else is just downloading it off soulseek.
Blame it all on Moby, that works for me.
Also, sell-out or not, I would totally take a music supervisor job if I was given the chance.
I used to get upset about Mad. Ave. co-opting everything I thought was cool until I realized that the people making decisions on Mad. Ave. are just like me, only wealthier.
And then I felt a little bit older.
I agree to a point, but this once again revives the long debate over the thin line between success and sell-out. I think the bands have every right to pursue this method of promoting their music and selling records (they need to put food on the table too). But I do acknowledge there is a point where the true essence of the music is lost and it all becomes image and noise.
I think what determines the sell out is the context in which the music is used: Is the music being celebrated or used to further enhance the artistic power of a scene (i.e., the Six Feet Under scene), or is it merely one cog in a mindless and massive marketing ploy?
You could argue both for "The O.C.": On one hand, from the articles I've read, it sounds like the producers of "The O.C." genuinely appreciate the music by lesser known musicians and want to give the music its deserving exposure. But on the other hand, "The O.C." is this huge media phenomenon that's all about image--beautiful suntanned teenagers, the trendy styles they wear, and their incredibly privileged lives with largely shallow concerns (I watch the show, and it's not exactly Oz)--and the music is only one more piece in creating that image.
agreed with the 2nd dude up there. With DVRs like Tivos taking over, this infused product placement is becoming necessary, and TV execs will hopefully continue to find better and more creative ways to do it.
Just today, cablers announced plans to sell on-demand reruns for $0.99. That means more trouble for ad-buyers, so look forward to more (blatant?) product placement. It's coming. Trust me, I work on a major network show in LA, and just today in our producers' meeting this is all that was talked about.
We'll have to see if there is a market for on demand downloads and video Ipods. If I were an ad-buyer, I'd be nervous as hell, and if the TV producers don't have as much ad revenue, we have to use embedded ads somehow, unless every station charges like the HBOs.
It will certainly be interesting. Anyone see Sunday's live west wing brought to you by American Express? Maybe something like that will happen. That's definately better than a greenscreen ad board on a TV set that changes ads every week.... right?