Any discussion about music being licensed for television would
be incomplete without bringing up the story of the band Phantom
Planet. The band’s song “California,” off of its
2002 album “The Guest,” can currently be heard as the
catchy theme song of Fox’s hit show “The O.C.”
The increased exposure that the band has gotten due to the
licensing of this song has been unprecedented, and casual listeners
can often identify the band just because of one song.
For this reason, dB Magazine interviewed Grammy-nominated
producer Mitchell Froom, who collaborated with the band on
“The Guest,” about his thoughts on marketing artists by
means of exposure on television shows. Froom is a veteran of more
than two decades in the music industry, having produced albums for
artists as diverse as Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, Cibo Matto and Paul
McCartney in addition to Phantom Planet. Recently, he has been
producing material for new artists such as Daniel Powter and the
Ditty Bops while also recording solo albums of his own.
dB Magazine: How has producing changed as a result of the
shift in music licensing?
Mitchell Froom: The only thing that has changed is that there
are so many bands that some feel that they have to get on TV to get
noticed. Older bands like the Beatles or Led Zeppelin would never
consider marketing their songs like that back in the ’60s or
’70s, but this is reality.
dB: Have appearances and the use of songs in TV shows
replaced radio play as a barometer of success?
MF: Getting on commercial radio is harder than it’s ever
been, with a few corporations owning the stations, whereas someone
who makes a TV show may like your song because they had heard it
somewhere before. That’s at least coming from a more natural
source than a record label pushing something to get licensed.
dB: Do you think artists try to tailor some of their songs
toward television licensing and airplay?
MF: That’s impossible, because there’s no
“kind of song” that a TV show would gravitate toward. I
have heard bands sound like others to get on radio, but for TV,
they need something more original.
dB: Do you feel that music now focuses less on artistic
expression and more on marketability?
MF: I grew up in the ’60s, back when commercial
considerations were really frowned upon. Led Zeppelin
wouldn’t allow a single to be released from their albums
because they thought being played on pop radio was uncool. People
used to go home and listen to whole albums, but now they go home
and skip around on CDs. The culture has changed.
dB: Is this marketing trend a passing fad or a sign of a
lasting change in the music industry?
MF: It’s just money. Wherever there’s money or
possible success, executives may tell a band like Modest Mouse,
“Hey go on this TV show. You can sell 50,000 more records if
you do.” (The band) will think, “OK, why not?”
I’m hoping we go back to a time where people would say,
“I really don’t want to be associated with
that.”
dB: Do labels generally put pressure on artists to make
their music marketable?
MF: Smaller labels don’t have the money to spend to make
things successful, so they don’t tell people to do anything,
which is great. With bigger labels, you’ve got people who
don’t know about music marketing and because of fear of
failure, they ask for “bulletproof singles,” which
don’t exist. This leads to bands sounding alike, which
becomes a comfort zone, but it makes a band an easier sell.
dB: Do bands like Phantom Planet feel like they’re
doing themselves a disservice if they end up being identified with
one show through one of their songs?
MF: (Phantom Planet) had mixed feelings being associated with a
TV show, but the record label said it could give the band some
income and potentially more fans. I liked the climate better,
though, when people wouldn’t think about this kind of thing.
It’s like when Tom Waits said, “If I wanted to work for
the man, I’d go work in a shoe store.”
dB: What is a bigger symbol of success at present in the
music industry: having a TV theme song or winning a
Grammy?
MF: To some (having TV theme songs) are signs of success, but to
some they’re signs of shame. If you win a Grammy, it’d
probably mean more to you because you’re getting people who
acknowledge you on your work rather than on what you sold. Anyone
who would say that television exposure is more important has never
been nominated for a Grammy.
““Mark Humphrey