Steve's 'Gator: Lightly buttered toast and a sausage link of music news

Comments (2)

Hans,
I'm probably being naive for even suggesting that it's a new development, but what would you point to as the catalyst for the recent trend of choreographing teen-oriented shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" to hip soundtracking? TV shows have been scored to pop music for years, but why does it seem so noticeable lately?

Posted by mac | September 25, 2006 4:14 AM

We were chatting about this 'round the office the other day. I think it's a direct result of commercial radio's shutting the door to good new music (or effectively reducing it to a trickle) in the interest of saturation rotation. On top of that, music journalism has followed suit--only wishing to cover bands that are getting big commercial radio play (in order to sell their magazines, it's a vicious cycle).

So the only hope some bands have of getting any exposure at all is soundtracks and commercials.

It used to be that most bands resisted licensing their work this way; it was thought to be a form of "selling out." Now it's probably the only way IN, to actually make a living as a professional musician.

Still, MySpace and YouTube are fast changing the old formulas, I think.

Posted by Hans | September 25, 2006 8:48 AM