I want to be on TV

December 13, 2005 5:03 PM

Have you noticed all the cool background music in television commericals these days? A lot of it is electronica, some ambient, some house, some trip-hop, etc. Who creates all of this music, and how do you break into the 'Television Commerical Music Production' business? How can I drop the hot beat for the next L'Oreal commercial?
posted by jasondigitized to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

Best answer: Simple: Get played on KCRW.
posted by jjg at 5:11 PM on December 13, 2005

A surprising amount of this music isn't manufactured, but rather licensed from artists, as jjg alludes to. I seem to recall Amon Tobin tracks behind some car commercials, and of course we all remember the deluge of Moby.
posted by selfnoise at 5:18 PM on December 13, 2005

To extrapolate on the ones licensed from artists that both jjg and selfnoise alluded to; The ones I've noticed in particular were the Bridgestone commercials of about a year ago which featured a remix of Roseanne Cash's "The Wheel", and more recently a Cat Power cover of The Nerves' "Hanging on the Telephone" on a Cingular commercial. I don't know how the licensing works per se but as far as I know you can't buy these songs anywhere, and there are no plans to release from the record labels. I'm wondering if we are going to see even more of this type of thing in the future.
posted by Emperor Yamamoto's Eggs at 5:24 PM on December 13, 2005

There are whole firms dedicated to sourcing music. They represent both the musicians, as well as find new music for ad agencies to put in their ads. Ad Age's Creativity magazine had a whole issue focused on it a while back.

Unfortunately, the best way, though, is to know a commercial director or an art director who works in an ad agency or at least get your music into their ears. Normally, the art director or the director (of the spot) will just pick music they like and get the art procurement (it's called something different everywhere) department to scrounge up the rights, or find something similar.
posted by Gucky at 5:24 PM on December 13, 2005

A friend who used to do digital post work said that often they would pick a song an approrpriate beat to use as the background while they were editing. The client would see multiple rough cuts of the ad with the sample soundtrack, then, when time came to choose the music, the client would tend to want the song they heard during the edit. Either they'd license it, or, if it was too expensive, they'd comission a knockoff. I don't know if this is still the way things are done, but if it is, getting in good with a couple of editors at a busy post house in a major market for commercial production could be a good first step.

Also, I'm pretty sure a similar question has come up on AskMeFi in the last month or so.
posted by Good Brain at 5:27 PM on December 13, 2005

There is such a glut of "good enough" electronic music now that this can't possibly come even close to a lucrative endeavor. For each Mitsubishi-driven smash, you've got a zillion schmucks toiling away for peanuts. See also: Hollywood and pornography. "Whatever's around" is good enough for most producers. Lots of people know how to push the buttons (metaphorically speaking) that trigger the appropriate emotion ... Sorry for the downer.

That said, I would definitely agree with Good Brain that you need to get in good with people who work at post houses and other folks in the film scene. Start going to underground music and film events, every city's got them (I hope you're in a city ...) Eventually something might click.

Of course, it is assumed that you already know how to / have made electronic music ...

[disclosure: I'm not a musician, just a long-time observer and participant in the underground/electronic music scenes]
posted by intermod at 5:48 PM on December 13, 2005

Change your name to Moby?

Or, what they all said :)
posted by cyrusdogstar at 6:22 PM on December 13, 2005

You should put some of your music on the web and post it to projects. Maybe some ad-type people read the site. :P
posted by delmoi at 6:54 PM on December 13, 2005

Well, I write some of it, and everything you've read above is pretty good - it's tough to make it pay, soul-destroyingly banal and - if writing to commission - exceedingly pressured.

I started years ago, having worked in advertising, with a lot of contacts in said advertising, production and editing houses, and with some clients too. I put together a demo CD and sent it to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. I phoned people and badgered people and bugged people and took people to dinner and crashed people's parties. I got a few bits of work, which paid for my shrink, but not much else. I refined the demo CD, moving to DVD, with commercial work I'd sold, and sent it to everyone in the world. More work started to come in - once people see you've done something, they're more inclined to hire you (like everything in life, sadly...)

Now, I make a reasonable living out of TV/Film/Commercial work, with some song-writing on the side. I have a publisher and a couple of good friends who drop my name any time anyone they work with even thinks "original music". Commission work pays on invoice if you sell it outright, or on royalty-cheque (bi-annually) if you can negotiate a royalty deal. Which you can't, but want. I get by, but the fact that my girlfriend earns more than I do means I can continue doing this until a song breaks, or the chance to score a movie or TV series comes along.

Would I do it again if I knew then what I know now? Probably, but only because, if you're gonna do this, you can't not do this... Can you not do anything else?
posted by benzo8 at 7:06 PM on December 13, 2005

People in advertising are some of the hardest working hipsters in existence. They get cool points from their peers by seeking out fly new music, slipping it under the clients radar and getting it on the air. You don't get on the advertising airwaves as a musician you get put on the air.
posted by Mr T at 7:18 PM on December 13, 2005

Pump Audio has made it easier for good independent artists to get thier music licensed into MSM commercial usage. From Wired: Pumping Indies on MTV
posted by fourstar at 7:59 PM on December 13, 2005

More background.
posted by jjg at 9:15 PM on December 13, 2005

FWIW I just heard some Prefuse 73 on the Scion website the other day.
posted by cellphone at 10:09 PM on December 13, 2005

This thread about the music in Adult Swim bumps might be relevant.

Who creates all of this music

Firstcom, among others. Maybe contact them about breaking in?
posted by mediareport at 11:02 PM on December 13, 2005

Anecdotes:

Heard M83's song Don't Save Us From the Flames in an ad for Pontiac's new sport utility wagon.

I also remember hearing Float On by Modest Mouse in a few ads, and most strangely, a while back I heard a song from The Moon and Antarctica in a Mazda commercial...
posted by tweak at 11:59 PM on December 13, 2005

Slight deviation, but if you live in the UK then this site allows you to find out what song was used on a particular advert.
posted by mr_silver at 12:49 AM on December 14, 2005

Continuing slight deviation, here's another similar site to ID tunes in ads.
posted by blastrid at 10:39 AM on December 14, 2005

These might help: Play Network
DMX
Gray V
posted by shoepal at 1:06 PM on December 14, 2005