"Merging Markets"

[Koolan]

Merging Markets

Television exposure expands frontier for new music

 

For better or worse, the Grammy Awards can be extraordinarily difficult to watch. With an annual viewership of almost 30 million and a long, successful history, the Grammys are the oldest and most respected of any music awards show. But in any year in recent memory, dozens of brilliant albums have fallen by the wayside, for the most part not even nominated, due to a lack of sales or media juggernaut status.

 

Take 1997 for instance. Two landmark albums, Beck's "Odelay" and Radiohead's "OK Computer" – both unanimously respected modern classics – were nominated for the coveted Best Album of the Year award, and for once it seemed that whichever won, the result would still be a victory for pop music. The winner? Celine Dion's "Falling Into You." Even after this apparent triumph, the Canadian singer didn't reach her greatest success until she sang "My Heart Will Go On," the love theme from the high-grossing film "Titanic." Her sales went through the roof, dwarfing any boost she may have gotten from the Best Album Grammy win.

 

Though the goal of the Grammy Awards, in the words of Communications Vice President Ron Roecker, is to "celebrate excellence," in the post-millennial era, award shows, ranging from the Grammys to the Billboard and MTV Video Music Awards, often seem a dime a dozen, with only the hosts and wardrobes changing. Much like Dion's foray into film, many artists have found an unexpected venue to celebrate their excellence for new audiences: the weekly television serial.

 

Music and television have always gone hand in hand, from the Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" to MTV. The entrance of the pop song into the world of dramatic television is a newer development, reaching its greatest current apex with FOX's "The O.C." The show, much like "Dawson's Creek" and other series from the WB network before it, aims at a younger, more adventurous demographic than the Baby Boomer-leaning Grammys and often features music so current that it's not even out yet. The Beastie Boys and U2, both Grammy nominees this year, premiered their new tracks on the music-embracing show.

 

"I think that from its inception, (series creator) Josh (Schwartz) wanted music to be its own character," said Alexandra Patsavas, the show's music supervisor.

 

The first season of the show made a household name of Adam Brody's nerdy Seth Cohen character, as well as a few of his favorite bands. Aside from his beloved Death Cab For Cutie, currently in pre-production for their major label debut, the beginning of the wave of success for groups like Franz Ferdinand and Modest Mouse coincided directly with their songs' placements on "The O.C." Modest Mouse returned to perform live this season, along with The Thrills, The Walkmen, Rachel Yamagata and fellow Grammy nominees The Killers. Using lesser-known bands serves both the show and the musicians; licensing fees are far lower for up-and-comers than big name artists, and having a song or appearance featured on a popular show might be the beginning of a group's journey to stardom.

 

With the music industry being harder than ever to break into, the selection of music played on television shows might be equivalent to that of the early days of FM radio, without the mandated playlists of the ClearChannel era. Musical directors like Patsavas play as DJ, providing both a soundtrack for the show and exposure for the artists.

 

One such artist is Tyrone Wells, who gained notoriety at UCLA last year by performing "Need" with Mark Chipello at Spring Sing, winning the awards for Best Solo/Duet Entry and Best Overall Entry. Wells has had several songs from his album "Snapshot" featured on four different television shows, including "One Tree Hill" and "Rescue Me."

 

"They used one of my songs at the end of 'Rescue Me,' and they used almost the whole song which is pretty crazy, to let it play for that long. Because that song was so well placed with what was going on in that show, all of a sudden my CD just started selling like mad online, and I ended up going all the way up to No. 2 on CDbaby.com. They have over 70,000 artists on there, and for me to be No. 2 in sales for several weeks, that's great. And that's a direct result of TV placement," said Wells.

 

CDbaby is a prominent venue for independent artists to sell their work. And with a primary fan base in Orange County, the nationwide exposure for an artist like Wells is invaluable. Youth-oriented shows like "The O.C." and formerly "Dawson's Creek," briefly feature album covers and a snippet of songs played during the episode at its end, giving name and face to the audio. Sections of many shows' Web sites are devoted to listing the soundtrack for the latest episodes, much like the DJ playlists posted on the sites of free-form radio stations like KCRW.

 

For the more casual fan, a more direct form of exposure is provided by retail soundtracks. Movie soundtracks have always been successful, but television has only recently taken advantage of the medium. "The O.C." has taken the art of the soundtrack to a new level, presenting them as "mixes" and even releasing one based on Seth Cohen's imaginary "Chrismukah" holiday. The album creates the impression that Seth burned the mixes just for you, helping to establish the personal connection between characters and fans, which in turn adds meaning to the songs – and incentive to buy the albums they originated from.

 

But the Grammy Awards portray themselves as the music industry's foremost showcase on television, though most of their purported diversity is absent from the actual telecast.

 

"We're really about introducing people to a wide variety of music and performances and talent," Roecker said.

 

But this vision doesn't necessarily come through on screen. A vast majority of the awards – approximately 95 out of the 107 categories – are given before the show, leaving only a few to be awarded on air. An avid listener may seek out the nominees for Best Traditional Folk Album at the local record store, but with a few minor exceptions, the nominees and winners presented on the telecast are familiar, marketable faces. When the variety offered by the Grammys is so large, it almost seems a waste not to reveal it to the world.

 

"In terms of satisfaction and prestige, Grammy awards are important, especially in fields other than popular music. No other awards are given for many of the genres the Grammy covers," said Professor Anthony Seeger of UCLA's ethnomusicology department.

 

Grammy nominees and the eventual winners are selected by an 18,000-person vote. Anyone is eligible to become part of the group, as long as they have six professional credentials. While this may open the field to submissions by independent musicians, seeing one in the "top four" categories is a rarity. With such a large voter panel, the Grammy telecast ultimately reflects the pre-existing preferences of the public, with little in the way of surprise.

 

"The categories that we put on air are people who we know are attending, categories that are diverse and that people would be interested in knowing who the winners are," Roecker said.

 

Though the major awards rightly remain static from year to year, with 18 performances in the upcoming telecast, the Grammys might be better served by drawing musical acts from some of the more esoteric categories. With the best performing slots reserved for the marquee acts, showing off on the Grammy stage isn't an easy peak to reach for even the most talented of emerging artists, and that's assuming they nab a nomination in the first place. Modest Mouse, for instance, toiled in obscurity for years before winning Best Alternative Album, with the promotional tools of Epic/Sony Records behind it. Receiving radio or MTV airplay is a similarly difficult task, and so for many bands, the hottest place to be is on your television.

 

"As far as breaking into, say, MTV or radio, they are such controlled and guarded environments. It's heartbreaking from a songwriter's point of view because a lot of radio play is not on the merit of the song or the artist, it's the money that's behind that artist or song," Wells said.

 

This is not to say that corporate America will never rear itself on the shores of "The O.C.," but for now, television seems to be the final frontier for new music. Though lacking the global appeal of an annual extravaganza like the Grammy Awards, successful shows like "The O.C." rake in ratings and millions of viewers on a consistent basis. With a new episode each week, the opportunities for exposure and discovery are nearly endless.

 

"I think that consumers and music lovers are really ready for great music," Patsavas said. "I know I am."

 

Source: http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=31929

 

Too bad pop music is not in nowadays.

[1Celine12]

That's great!!!!!!!!!!! You go Celine!!!!

[MontYeo]

Whaddayamean! What's "odelay" or "ok computer"? A unanimous choice but from a small group. The majority obviously preferred Celine! Falling Into You was certainly a landmark album for Celine - as it launched her into the big time in the US and English market. It was also my first introduction to Celine - I listened to it over and over again - it was and still is great! I had heard Celine sing before of course, but I didn't know her then - Beauty and the Beast - I liked the sound of the singer singing the title song at the end of the movie - distinctly different from and vastly superior to Angela Lansbury's teapot or the voice of Belle in the cartoon (although good in themselves). I kept wanting to hear her again but I didn't know how......I kept finding the renditions of Beauty and the Beast were not sung by her.

 

Anyway, 10 years on, I feel blessed to be able to hear her wonderful singing - truly plus d'un peu d'or autour de sa voix!

Edited February 11, 2005 at 07:25 AM by MontYeo