License, Library or Original Score?: While radio and video hits keep coming, composers are challenged with selling clients on original scores

Post, March, 2002 by David John Farinella

What brand do you think would come to mind if you heard "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"?

In a commercial environment, ultimately the client is looking for a brand -- a signature sound. When Mike Mazza, VP Publicis/Hal Riney, first spoke of the sound he wanted to create for Sprint PCS he described it as "an ongoing soundtrack where the music in each spot is based on the same theme but is different, like in a move." For me, those were the magic words that led to a better understanding of "the bigger picture" in advertising and my role in it. I have to create music that identifies the brand, tells the story and is "cool" -- no small task. For Sprint PCS, we created a signature character-branding sound, consisting of the guitar music and ping sound, which holds the campaign together.

But with all this said, if agency creatives working on a campaign have their minds set on a piece of licensable music that fulfills all the goal requirements listed above, works within a bigger campaign, they can all agree on it and they can afford it...great!

Capturing the essence with an original song

NEWYORK -- "If the fit's perfect, a spot can benefit from the built-in equity of licensing a well-known song," notes composer/producer Craig Snyder of Snyder Music (www.snydermusic.com). "But," he continues, "original underscore has the distinct advantage of being created specifically for the purpose of capturing the essence of the film, and supporting it. If the spot's creative vision is its driving force, then original music can work in tandem with the visual to create a commercial that is bigger than the sum of its parts. The problem I have with licensing is that it sometimes takes the place of imaginative creative.... a quick fix. More likely a pr duct can best be served by an original track that supports and enhances the creative vision of the spot."

A case in point is Snyder's music for the recent Coke spot Street Fair for McCann-Erickson. A back lot of Paramount Studios was transformed into a Manhattan street fair, where the storyline is captured in a single fluid master shot with no cuts, dissolves or effects.

"Uniquely. Snyder's music track for Street Fair was created to propel the action and provide a soundtrack for the story. After the spot was shot to his high-energy, very percussive party music, Snyder returned for sweetening and replacing the synthesizers with real musicians.

"All of the action was live and continuous, hitting the music in realtime." he says." It called for a close collaboration between the director, the agency creatives and myself in order to execute this unique concept. Only original m sic could meet the challenge of a concept with this kind of creative vision."