Hells Kitchen Music, New York, has unveiled a portable music library of 1,200 tracks called Street Level. The library features :30 versions of songs from 100 independent and major label recording artists such as Carbon 9, Magnet, The Evinrudes, Zen Tricksters, Hedes, Dysfunkshunal Family, and Jools Holland. All songs will be available for commercial broadcast use at the end of March.
According to Hells Kitchen executive producer/creative director Donald Siudmak, the company has entered into spot representation agreements with all the artists who appear on Street Level. "Having come from the record industry, I know so many bands, so I thought, ‘How about if somebody tries to offer them up in a way that would be accessible to the client?’" related Siudmak, who was formerly a recording artist/producer for Rising Sun Records in Hamburg, Germany. He has been exhausting his contacts in the recording industry over the past four months to bring as many bands as possible to Street Level.
Siudmak said that what sets Street Level apart from other stock music resources is that almost all of its tracks contain vocals. He added that a potential advantage was that an indie artist from Street Level’s library could become a huge star tomorrow, thus creating added value for the agency.
Adam Seely, VP/producer at Grey Advertising, New York, told SHOOT he had spoken with Siudmak at length about Street Level and recognized its benefits: "What this does is takes a catalog of things that we thought were unavailable in the commercial world, and opens up a whole new door."
Hells Kitchen is offering Street Level, which includes 12 CDs of sample tracks, at no cost. If the agency hears a :30 it wants to use, it can either purchase the song or have Hells Kitchen re-cut the original version. The client also has the option of having the artist come into Hells Kitchen to sing another line, or record a new custom track.
Siudmak and Hells Kitchen composer/sound designer Peter Cannarozzi will be responsible for facilitating agency requests, including re-cutting a song or adding sound design. Depending on the project, Hells Kitchen might ask its composers Jose Parada, John Carney, Woody Pack, Ralph Perucci, and Louis and Ernesto Santana, to work on a Street Level job.
Both Hells Kitchen and Street Level are repped by New York-based Allen Alexander.
