Brian Banks, creative director/ chief composer of Santa Monica-based music and sound design company Ear To Ear, has launched Ear To Ear Artists, a boutique division that represents various recording artists in the spot arena, including Crystal Method, Thunderpuss 2000 and BT. Banks said the new division offers clients access to a broad variety of contemporary artists, and that he will act as a liaison, communicating specific client needs to musicians who are less familiar with spot music constraints such as the short format and voiceovers.
Additionally, the Artists division represents film/TV composers David Benoit and Alf Clausen, and music producer/ writer Peter Lorimer.
"Ear to Ear Artists is the result of something that I’ve had my ear to the ground on for some time," said Banks, who began his career in the record business before moving on to score features and eventually breaking into the commercial market. "In the last several years [in the spot arena], there’s been quite a move to licensing records. Part of it is nostalgia, and part of it is the desire for people to want the real deal. The problem," he continued, "is that recording artists don’t work with film for a living. I have a lot of record experience and I have lots of commercial experience. What I do is bring in a [recording artist] and I can facilitate what has to happen, so that the agency people can speak to me about the requirements, timing and delivery, and then I can go talk music to the artists."
Banks also noted that buying an original piece of music from a musician, as opposed to licensing an existing one, is a cost-effective but upscale option for his clients. "If you have a new piece of music that doesn’t have record cachet associated with it, but it’s a custom piece of music, these [musicians] will come in and do it for significantly less [money]," he said. "It’ll be more than a regular jingle house, but somewhere in the middle. So there’s a cost savings and there’s a custom piece of music written by the artist that [a client] can build a brand identity with. So there are a lot of advantages. There’s a financial advantage. There’s an identification advantage. And there’s a facilitating advantage."
Crystal Method is known for its remix of Garbage’s "Stupid Girl" and the single, "Now is the Time" for the City of Angels soundtrack. The band’s music video for "Comin’ Back" recently took home an MVPA award for best cinematography. Electronic/dance artist BT scored the recently released feature Go, and stirred up the British dance scene with five Top 20 singles. Thunderpuss 2000 is an internationally known production and remix team who hit number-one on the Billboard dance chart with the remix of Whitney Houston’s "It’s Not Right, But It’s O.K." Benoit’s composing credits include the telefilms The Final Descent (’97) and The Christmas Tree (’96). Clausen’s composing and scoring credits include episodes of The Simpsons, Moonlighting and Alf and feature films including Half Baked and Weird Science. He has also scored spots for Miller Beer, McDonald’s and Philips. Lorimer has collaborated with recording artists such as David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and Queen Latifah.
Along with the aforementioned musicians, Ear To Ear Artists has informal arrangements with about 20 additional recording artists, and access to many others. Banks said that during his 20 years in the music business, he’s developed personal ties to many artists and facets of the business. "What I’ve been telling people is that if you have an artist in mind, call me because there’s a high likelihood that I can get you to that artist faster than anybody, and I know how to work with that person to get the commercial [scored]," he said.
Banks expects to oversee several assignments under the Ear To Ear Artists banner each year, perhaps one a month, but he said he’s not sure what the demand will be. Already he’s had some inquiries, but at press time no assignments had been lined up. "[Volume] will really be what the industry will bear," he said. "But there’s [a lot of] music out there being generated by Nos-talgia Records or contemporary artists that are taking a recent hit [and selling it for a spot]." He also believes more agencies will want to hire recording artists now that they can deal with a spot music house like Ear To Ear Artists. "I’ve had many conversations like, ‘We want to use this artist or that artist, but we can’t be bothered,’ " Banks said. Other times, he continued, "when I’ve told people I’m doing this, they say, ‘Thank God,’ " because the last time they worked with a musician there were many complications. "But [they said] if they could just talk to me, and I could interface with the artist, it would be great. The biggest drive for me," he said, "is that I can actually do this for my clients, and they want it done."
Banks launched Ear To Ear in ’93. Early in his career, he worked as a freelance session musician for various composers, arrangers and producers, among them Neil Young, Supertramp, Quincy Jones and Giorgio Moroder. In the early- to mid-’80s he produced or preproduced synthesized scores for features such as The Color Purple and Stand By Me. Between projects he also wrote music for spots. Working with then-partner Anthony Marinelli (now of Music Forever, Hollywood), Banks scored Young Guns and Internal Affairs. Soon after, the pair began pursuing the spot industry in earnest. They went their separate ways prior to Banks’ formation of Ear To Ear.
Last year, Banks covered the ’60s single "Superman" for a Lotus spot out of Ogilvy & Mather, New York, which is currently airing nationwide. (Originally recorded by The Click, "Superman" was later covered by R.E.M.) Based on the "Superman" spot’s success, Banks has produced a full-length single of the song for Lotus under the Ear To Ear Artists moniker. The single will be distributed by 4 Play Records and, according to Banks, 4 Play plans to hire four or five international mixers to remix several versions of his original track. The remixes will then be released on a compilation CD. Banks will remix one of the versions himself.
In addition to the Lotus spot, Banks has recently scored commercials for IBM out of Ogilvy & Mather, New York, Scotia Bank for BBDO Toronto, the Discover Platinum Card for DDB Needham Chicago, and America West Airlines out of Publicis & Riney, San Francisco. Additional credits include spots for Carl’s Jr., Saturn, Kodak and Pepsi.
Banks is the sole composer at Ear To Ear. The music house is managed by Banks’ wife, Sarah Banks. John Author serves as executive producer and Amy Scott oversees advertising and marketing. Ear To Ear also maintains AudioBanks, an independent, five-room audio postproduction facility located on the Ear To Ear premises. AudioBanks’ staff engineers include Chris Winston, Sonia Castro, Dona Richardson, Tony Pepper and Andy Simon. AudioBanks services a variety of clients, from Coke, Sony and BMW to MTV, HBO and Warner Bros.
