Gregory Grene, Draftfcb New York’s director of music, is a member of a band called The Prodigals. A couple of tracks he wrote for–and which were performed by–the band have found a new life on the big screen as they were licensed for Pride and Glory, the recently released cop drama starring Ed Norton and Colin Farrell.
In a sense the movie music coup reflects how agency music producers find themselves diversifying as the worlds of advertising and entertainment (including the record industry) come together. The professional accomplishment of Grene and The Prodigals gaining exposure for two tracks that amount to about two-and-a-half minutes of Pride and Glory is mirrored by Grene’s agency endeavors which now find him delving into the record/entertainment industry for brand building work that as it turns out not only benefits agency clients but also the recording artists themselves.
“Things have changed dramatically over the past few years in terms of the role of the agency music producer,” assessed Grene. “Three years ago we [FCB N.Y.] licensed and broke the track ‘I Like The Way’ for a band called BodyRockers in a Diet Coke commercial. The album [released about a month later] carried a sticker label that read, ‘as featured in the Diet Coke commercial.’
“Advertising has become radio–the conduit for music and performers to gain exposure and get discovered. There’s no longer a stigma attached to having your music in a commercial or branded content. An artist can end up with his or her music brought to millions of people with a heft that no record label can match at this point. Advertising has to an extent become an avatar of where musical taste is going.”
Grene added that he now finds himself scouting for talent, relying on trusted contacts at record labels and in the publishing community. “There is a wealth of talent–and for that matter a lot of non-talent–out there. Thankfully I’ve been able to build a network of people whose judgment I trust when they recommend that I check out an artist.”
Indeed Grene’s track record of talent he’s brought into the agency for in-house brown bag concerts has proven to be a harbinger of good things to come. Artists like James Blunt and Priscilla Ahn have gone on to major success. And at press time, Grene noted that the agency just had in an unknown band The Morning Benders whom he said won’t be unknown for too much longer.
At the same time, continued Grene, commercial music houses have access to artists like never before. He stressed that original music from spot music professionals–as well as when those pros work in concert with new artists–still has “a definite important place in what we do…The music houses have the industry pros who can deal with infinite tweaking that sometimes an artist can have a hard time dealing with. For some artists, it’s hard to bring their heads into this new space. Original music houses understand this space thoroughly.”
Parkins
Loren Parkins, senior VP/executive music producer, BBDO New York, pinpointed several ways that “my role and the job as ad agency music producer have evolved over recent years.”
For one, he cited “significantly more involvement with publishers and record labels to find licensed songs and music for commercials and other content our agency creates. There is much more interest from artists/publishers and labels to license their music for advertising as the record business continues to try and re-define its role [and source of income] in the 21st century. These days, advertising agencies are a great resource to publishers and artists, and are actively sought out to provide an outlet for their music.”
Parkins also noted his responsibilities for producing and providing music for non-broadcast media. “We don’t just do television and radio anymore.. As BBDO conceptualizes and creates content/events/media that go beyond the traditional, the role of music producer also expands to support those needs.”
Additionally, Parkins pointed to “significantly greater access to new bands, artists and composers through music festivals, blogs and always a great resource–college and public radio. This helps us in the always important role of finding the next best ‘unknown’ [unsigned] band or artists for use in a commercial that could ultimately make the artist and commercial a hit.”
The agency music producer, continued Parkins, must also keep abreast of the old as well as the new. “As much as we are always interested in finding the next and newest indie music star, there continues to be a desire to use more traditional styles of music [pop/rock/classical] and continuing to review the old as well as seeking out the new is important.
And finally, Parkins observed that “as technology and software for creating music has grown so significantly over the recent years, the result has been a significant decrease in ‘live’ music sessions. Going to a studio and creating a track from the ground up is not as common as it was even five years ago. Can people tell the difference between a violin ‘sample’ or a real violin these days? I don’t know. In addition, as technology has improved over the years, the time given to create music has decreased, so many composers work from their home studios or out of town, and have to ‘mail it in.’ This in turn makes the process of a producer working in the same room as the composer and musicians that much more infrequent.”
Rabinowitz Under the Pantene/Grey Music label, an iTunes single titled “Shine” performed by Rosi Golan has been released. For Josh Rabinowitz, senior VP/director of music at Grey Group, New York, this single reflects part of the agency music producer’s everchanging role.
While continuing to tap into original spot music houses and established talent, Rabinowitz and his counterparts at other agencies are seeking out new artists, coming up with different ways to A&R music.
For example, “Shine” emerged from a competition designed to yield a track for possible usage in a Procter & Gamble spot promoting Pantene’s women hair care products. Rabinowitz sent out a call for entries through the MIDEM organization to its conference attendees. (The annual MIDEM confab in Cannes is billed as being the world’s largest music conference.) The call for submissions simply asked, “Can you write a head-turning song?” and then proceeded to run down some prerequisites such as it has to:
• Have a “loved by all” sound (a mainline pop feel).
• Make women feel good about themselves, strong and empowered.
• Be immediately branded yet never a jingle.
• Work as an instrumental and in various forms and lengths.
• And creatively interpret the brand messages of “shine” and “let the best of you shine through.”
The competition generated nearly 400 submissions to a joint MIDEM/Grey website. This past January the top 20 entries were presented to an audience during a MIDEM conference session headed by Rabinowitz.
Now “Shine” is available on iTunes, with the client sharing in the revenue being generated, and the majority of the proceeds going to the artist.
Rabinowitz observed that the Grey/MIDEM initiative is indicative of the new dimensions that agency music producers are now charged with bringing to the advertising music mix.
Meadows
Bill Meadows has seen his role at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, expand for reasons that go beyond his personal career advancement. He started out seven years ago at the agency as agency music producer and now serves as executive integrated producer for music, celebrity talent + public works.
Clearly his new title is more expansive but Meadows points out that over the past several years, the responsibilities have grown in general for anyone involved in music on the agency side. “My nine-to-five job here evolved into dealing with and seeking out artists of all kind, continuing to connect with original music and sound houses, licensing, working not only on broadcast spots but music-driven events.
“The fact is,” continued Meadows, “that we have to be more proactive than ever in seeking out opportunities for our clients, finding the best people to work with, the most relevant talent, composers, artists and events. These dynamics are what have caused agency music producers to organically grow into many more different areas than what was the norm years ago.”
He noted that a brand’s platform has become a platform for recording artists while new media platforms are emerging for brands. This changing, growing landscape in turn has necessitated that agency music producers extend their creative reach and expand their roles.
