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n increasingly vital part of produc-
ing any successful show. Thats true
not onlybecause of the present glut
of original programming, but also
because music technology keeps
dramatically evolving. Facebook
ndApple, for example, are prepar-
ing to enter the song-recognition
rena dominated by apps from Shazam and
SoundHound, with all players basing their
strategies on the valueof n the overall mix.
Even he unlikeliest seriessay, lot-
heavy early-American spy drama with a sin-
cere attachment to historical ac-
curacymake determined efforts
to incorporate the downloadable
ear candy that draws young view-
ers, fosters audience involvement
and cements brand identity.
Every cable show, every
network show, wants to have a
oung audience, says Barry Josephson, pro-
ducer of AMCs Revolutionary ar drama
Turn. So for us, to use artists who [young]
eople know, potentially theyll be interested
n our show from that angle.
The lengths to which Josephson nd his
creative team go to satisfy both marketing de-
mands and the series sense of historical integ-
rity suggest the importance todays TV produc-
ers place on conveniently downloadable tunes.
The process begins with music supervisor
Thomas Golubic, who compiles lists of actual
period songs. The production team, including
Josephson and showrunner Craig Silverstein,
then brainstorms about possible contempo-
rary musicians who could re-interpret the old
tunes with a modern edge.
With music producer Tony Berg, the team
stocks each Turn episode with olished,
1 4 B R O A D C A S T I N G & C A B L E J U N E 1 6 , 20 1 4 B R O A D C A S T I N G C A B L E . C O M
SpecialReport: Music for Television
PEPPERING SOUNDTRACKS with licensed songs and contempo-
rary artists is no longer the province of auteur TV showrunnersit is
Showrunners Tune UpTo Reach Young ViewersCurrent glut of quality programming makes music an
increasingly vital, clutter-busting tool for producersBy Greg [email protected]|@GregEvans5
A vances inmusic
technologyan the need
o buil v ewerloyaltyring music center stage.
WHY THIS
MATTERS
MarkLevine/ABC;Antony
Platt/AMC;CliffLipson/Showtime;HBO
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B R O A D C A S T I N G C A B L E . C O M J U N E 16 , 2 0 14 B R O A D C A S T I N G & C A B L E 1 5
Americana-tinged traditional tunes like Tur-
pin Hero, Spanish Ladies and Bonny
Portmore, as interpreted by such indie artists
s, respectively, Jake Bugg, Sarah Blasko and
aura Marling & Jonathan Wilson. (During the
debut season, the shows sole original song
was its theme, Hush, by The Civil Wars JoyWilliams and The Nationals Matt Berninger.)
Measure for Measure
Both Josephson and Silverstein insist that
marketing and promotional considerations are
of secondary importance to the artistic merits
of the songs and the dramatic ambience they
create, and for good reason. While the music/
TV cross-pollinations have clear benefits to the
music side of the equation (increased artist visi-
bility and download purchases, for starters), the
upside for theTV shows is harder to quantify.
At their best, song selections and theme
music galvanize an audience, says Russell
Ziecker, executive VP for television music
at Lionsgate Music and Publishing, who has
supervised music for shows including Mad
Men,Weeds,BossandNashville.
In the case of ABCs Nashville, galva-
nize might be an understatement. The soapy
drama, set in the country music capital and
loaded with musical performances by cast
members, has spawned a concert tour, four
high-selling soundtrack CDs (more than
600,000 copies sold) and more than 3 million
individual songs downloaded from iTunes,
according to Lionsgate andABC.
Nielsen ratings, however, sound a less
resonant note. Nashville was on the verge
of cancellation before getting a third-season
pickup last month, thanks n part to a sweet-
ened tax incentive package from the state of
Tennessee.Turn, eyed as a potential succes-
or toBreaking Bad andMad Men, scored
2.1 million live-plus-same-day viewers in its
premiere but has since declined to average
between 1 and 1.4 million. AMC has not in-
dicated its stance on bringing the show back.
Shows Thrive on Live
Shazam, the leading music recognition
pp with more than 420 million users in 200
countries, touts what company executives
ay s an increasingly significant contribution
o both TV viewership and engagement. The
tools come into play n particular with music-
heavy programming like the Grammy and
Country Music Awards broadcasts.
According to figures released by CEO Rich
Riley, Shazam was used more than 54,000
times during Januarys Grammy Awards,
as TV viewers used the app to identify and
download purchasable songs from iTunes and
Amazon. Prior to the telecast, Shazams news
feed reminded more than 10 million iOS and
Android users to tune n.
With numbers like that, theres little won-
der that Facebook wants n on the act on. ast
month, the company announced plans for a
new feature that allows iOS and Android users
to identify sn ppets of and mus c recorded
v a smartphone microphones. The sn ppets are
then matchedto a Facebookdatabase and iden-
tified; with the users perm ss on, the song or
show is then tagged on the users feed.
Apple, meanwhile, has confirmed that its
iOS8, expected by September, will include
hands-free, Siri-operated Shazam song rec-
ognition and iTunes purchase.
or musicians and their record labels, the
visibility offered by T shows, along with the
possibility of a boost n digital downloads,
can be irresistible, enough so even to sweeten
their deals with TV producers and networks.
Turn showrunner Silverstein says that Uni-
versal Music Group will release a soundtrack
of all the series songs (a few are currently
available as individual downloads on iTunes
via AMCsTurnwebsite).
As part of the deal, Universal provided an
undisclosed sum of money to offset the artist
and production costs that the urn produc-
Far left) Music is used to help establish the many moods
f ad Menstar Jon Hamm; Universal is planning a
oundtrack promoting the new AMC dramaTurn.
Dean Martins album Live at the Sands Hotel
sent season 4 of The Sopranosoffstage swinging.
Every cable show, everynetwork show, wants tohave a young audience.So for us, to use artistswho [young] peopleknow, potentially theyllbe interested in ourshow from that angle.
Barry Josephson,
producer of AMCs Turn
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tion budget might not have otherwise al-
lowed, Silverstein says.
Creating Sonic Signatures
Terence Winter, executive producer and
writer of HBOsBoardwalk Empire(which
won a 2012 Grammy Award for its firstoundtrack C ), says music is a core element
of the show. Pairing 20s tunes with contem-
porary artistsPatti Smith, David Johan-
en and Elvis Costello, among many oth-
ersprovides both publicity hooks and the
chance to expose the artists fans to a little-
known era of American musical history.
Winters own history, as producer and writ-
er of the music-heavy The Sopranos, prepared
im well to orchestrateBoardwalks musical
approach. He says Sopranos creator David
Chase always gave himself opportunities to
use music, often by making certain that, say,
a radio or stereo was included in a setting sothat a song could be added to a scene later,
when inspiration struck. (Dean Martins ve
t the Sands Hotel album, for example, was
used to devastating comic effect at the end of
Whitecaps, the fourth-season finale.)
Winters next project is an as-
yet-untitled HBO drama series
created by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger.The series stars Boardwalks Bobby Can-
navale as a New York City music executive in
1973, the dawn of punk, disco and hip-hop.
Shooting on the pilot begins this month, and
Winter says the soundtrack will include mu-
sic written for the series as well as rec-
ognizable recordings from the era of
Led Zeppelin and the ew York olls.
Winter insists, though, that song
choices for his series are made to
enhance story, not for market demo-
graphics (a luxury, arguably, that pay-TV outlets such as HBO can afford).
Still, a well-chosen col-
lection of licensed songs
inevitably contributes
to a shows brand iden-
tification. Ann K ine, a
music supervisor whose
career stretches from
BCs to Showtimes
Shameless, says the lat-
ter shows use of brash
American indie bands
like Wild Yaks, Fidlar and
The Moog captures the tone of the series. talso trumpets the shows appeal to a youth-
ul, engaged viewership.
The bands fans and our fans create a
community, line says. feels like youre
part of something, together.
SpecialReport: Music for Television
Boardwalk Empires(above) first sound-
track won a Grammy; Shameless features
indie bands favored by young viewers.
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h o l d e r ' s e x p r e s s w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . H o w e v e r , u s e r s m a y p r i n t , d o w n l o a d , o r e m a i l a r t i c l e s f o r
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