We’re hearing more music than ever in some of your favorite films, television shows, and advertisements. From Cardi B’s hit song “I Like It On” for the latest Pepsi advertisements, to Gracie Abrams’s original song “Cedar” for the show "The Buccaneers". Artists' music is finding its way onto the big screen, however, is original or pre-released music finding more success on the television screen?
Accompanying audios have implanted itself into commercials for decades, officially beginning in the 1940s, to draw viewers in and stand out amongst the competition as the television became a household staple.
The early 2000s sparked the revolution of established artists collaborating with larger brands, such as Justin Timberlake joining McDonalds for his first ad for "I'm Lovin' It" in 2003. Since then, we've seen companies from liquor to medicinal to fitness, and more use massive songs for their widely viewed campaigns. With these large corporations churning away accompanying visualizers for their products, sourcing the perfect song to not only fit their products but also keep the viewer entertained, it's a continuous battle against competitors.
Wouldn't it be easier to curate their own unique audio for each of their televised ads?
The 70s experienced the surge of jingles for their televised advertisements, such as Almond Joy's "Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut / Sometimes You Don't" or Cheerio's "Gonna get a pow-pow-powerful, good, good feeling!". These timeless audios found enormous success and continue to be memorable tracks amongst Gen X and Millennials.
Although a vast majority are opting for officially released music, there are still some companies choosing the old school jingle route, such as Reece's Puffs cereal with "Reese‘s Puffs! Eat em up", which many have since remembered despite releasing over 15 years ago.
The over-saturation of ads that use some of the biggest music seems to be getting lost amongst the competition for air time. With back-to-back music overlaying on TV, brands don't seem to be finding the success they've been looking for.
The pendulum of what seemingly is more successful continues to sway in either direction, however, the vast majority of corporations are opting for current songs over the nostalgic jingles.
We're also seeing the sway of the same predicament in films where the decision of using present versus original music. There's use of both, however, the impact of requesting musicians curate a song that perfectly aligns with the film has seen massive success.
Adele's song “Skyfall” for the James Bond movie is a haunting piece of art that joins the film beautifully. As the artist had creative freedom to write and produce the Academy Award winning track, she was able to place details from previous Bond films, draw from its infamous chilling themes, and create a unique audio experience for the viewer.
The duo also crafted the song, “What Was I Made For?” for the world-renown Barbie film, specifically for the ending, and most gut-wrenching moments. Similar to the autonomy they had for the 2022 Bond film, they were able to craft a piece of art that aligns with not only its overarching concepts but one that also fulfills them creatively.
Other films, such as "Twisters" worked with artists on a complete playlist full of self-crafted music, working with Miranda Lambert, Benson Boone, Luke Combs, and Kane Brown to accompany the hit movie.
Many films or televised series don't choose the route of ideally tailor songs but instead prefer to work with pre-released music, such as the series, "Until I Found You" by Stephen Sanchez for the show Ginny & Georgia, "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw for One Tree Hill, and "Bye Bye Bye" by NSYNC in Deadpool. Many of these songs find home and success within these massive productions where the artist and their song are widely attributed to the visual they're associated with.
Current television shows that align with pop culture and current trends tend to lean towards the more recent music route, picking hit songs to keep their young audience engaged. Popular series, such as Gossip Girl utilized a varied range of music, between larger artists to smaller ones. Some of their most memorable tracks include, "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry, "Video Games" by Lana Del Rey, and "Good Girls Go Bad" by Cobra Starship. They instead focused on their vast audience within their early to late teens all while remaining within the most popular songs of the decade.
A majority of films choose to opt into brand new music, designed for their films over previously released music, delivering a well-rounded production and more unique viewing experience. Although there are outliers where a current song already lines up flawlessly with a specific scene, we see more motion pictures filled with new tracks. Movies like Top Gun: Maverick worked with multiple artists, such as OneRepublic on "I Ain't Worried" and Lady Gaga on "Hold My Hand", both of which were written and produced specifically for the film.
So where is music headed with advertisements, TV, and film?
Unlike advertisements, which are finding more success amongst their own jingles than pre-released music, television continues to solidify a strong fanbase when using unoriginal music and instead drawing from more current songs. Viewers seemingly prefer to hear some of their favorite music amongst the mix of their current watches to help tie the scenes together. As for films, more larger-scale projects are spending more resources on specially-made soundtracks with current artists and orchestral backings to join the visuals cohesively. These songs not only appear to have a cult-following but consistently earn innumerable accolades for their production and lead the films towards box-office success.
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