Trailer Media has executed music search and supervision for George Patterson Y&R, Sydney, for new LG TVC Australia. CREATIVE speaks with Anton Trailer about what it was like souricng the music and working with the agecny and production company.

To watch the spot click here

What's the inspiration behind the music and this track?

The key music brief for this campaign focused on the need for something that parodied sadness. Preferably it would have lyrics that centred around a broken heart; but would have the capacity to make you smile.

It was clear from the treatment and early meetings with the agency and production company that something from a previous era would work best; to give the spot both a nostalgic and soulful quality. Working closely with both the agency and the director we paralleled and worked our search alongside that of the creative brief, dispelling themes or ideas that didn’t feel right or adding styles or genres that could open up renewed thinking or angles.

Key reference tracks included Motown’s Jimmy Ruffins ‘What Became Of The Broken Hearted’ through to 1950’s Doo Wop tracks like The Edsels ‘Do You Love Me Like I Love You’. Having identified these older tunes we also opened the search to include more contemporary and even pre-release artists.

With a recent trend for contemporary artists to incorporate the sounds and essence of the past (a la Amy Winehouse sounding something like Billy Holiday or Duffy a modern Dusty Springfield, or vice versa!) there were further options worth entertaining from some great independent labels and that nod to the nostalgic or retro was certainly worth considering.

Roy Orbison and ‘Losing You’ came through as part of the extend search and quickly became a firm favourite for all concerned. Aided by the fact this was a premium track never used before on TV by a world renowned artist.

How does the music compliment/support/carry the storyline?

There’s a real sense of harmony here. The music and film complimenting each other perfectly; which has been nailed brilliantly in the edit. The storyline and film sequences seem to fit perfectly.

A fit you can never be 100 per cent certain of until you get to the edit stage. The real sense of lose is conveyed right from the opening shots of abandoned washing machines and fridges with the lyrics ‘teardrops fill me’, where you definitely get the sense of lose and feeling of a heavy heart.

These melancholic overtones continue as we move from one dumped item to the next. Once we cut to the family at home and the v/o kicks in, as does the strings, there’s a lift in the tone and a distinct air of optimism created by the music.

The strength and solidity of the Roy Orbison vocal is really quite a powerful weapon in this spot and alongside such strong and clear cinematography you can quickly understand why the director saw the need for the right music as being a pivotal part of his creative thinking.

What was it like collaborating with the agency and the production company when working on the spot?

The agency producer and creatives were very happy for us to work directly with the production company/director pretty soon after the first briefing. With the music a key part of the creative with this spot it made sense for us work closely and share thought processes with the director, Sean Kruck (@radical.media), to quickly shape the musical direction and hence save time.

It was important for us and nice to be let loose on what we do best and given the freedom to have some varied musical thinking direct with the guys shooting the commercial. We had worked with the director before and we knew he knew his music and what he wanted for this campaign.

The music brief changes like any creative brief or process, we were there to quickly offer up our thinking and ideas translated from his vision. They knew with us that they would get interesting and different ideas to the norm and it was great for all parties to let us fly with what we thought could work and what was available and affordable.

How long did it take to source the track?

From the initial briefing to the air date on the 14th November it was a journey of about five weeks.

What's the process involved in this?

Having been briefed by the agency and in this case by the production company and  director we refined the direction and conveyed the brief to our extended network and worldwide database of labels, artists, artist management and publishers.

As reference we had no animatics or film to show but we had a treatment and a clear idea of where all parties wanted to go musically. Having trawled our own catalogue and immediate contact base the first phase search went out to contacts in Europe (particularly the UK where we have an office) and The Americas as well as Australia and NZ.

Ideas came in overnight in time for the following morning. We refined the options and ideas before forwarding to production. We knew all involved were keen to hear plenty of options. Something we don’t always encourage but was needed in this case due to the exploratory nature of the brief.

Refined thinking after each set of ideas allowed us to go back out for a second and third round of searching. We considered and pitched the idea of a bespoke composition from one of our experienced writers and although this would give us a certain amount of control over the music it really wasn’t going to give us the authenticity we were after.

Roy Orbison came through as we widened the nets and we saw the possibility that more money could be made available for the right music fit.

What's your background and how did you get involved with music licensing and composition?

Having worked for a spell on the agency side at McCann Erikson London after university I moved to the camera side as an assistant and loader on TV commercials in the UK working for all the big production houses from RSA and Weilands to Godman and Rose Hackney.

I dabbled in art direction, even falling into a job art directing a Guiness spot for Tony Kaye! But music was always my love and ambition and ran alongside the TV and film throughout.

Directors and producer friends would always want my opinion or would get me to source music for their campaigns. I continued to DJ and have a radio show and due to lifting one too many dolly’s I moved away from shooting on film locations and TV and went full time into the music industry and music PR.

Partnering a company with two others we became one of the UK’s biggest and best specialist music PR companies. After five years I moved away to set up on my own business with Trailer Media to continue with the PR but also run a music and consultancy arm alongside it. At the time everyone was keen to get access to quality ‘pre release’ music.

In the days when there was still money to be made in music we set out early to build a business where agencies or clients could affordably use the right music for the right spot, and that it wasn’t worth having a fifty year old man in SOHO replicate a song or sound when you could easily licence the real deal for the same price.

Early spots for the likes of Sony Walkman and Audi and indeed a composition for The Glue Society, Sydney, and its successful campaign for Virgin Mobile and ‘5 Cent’ helped us keep the faith that this was a part of the market that we could use our specialist skills and at the time look to expand it as the core part of our business.

The PR company still operates out of London feeding us lots of new music and campaigning projects for the likes of Fatboy Slim through to Fat Freddys Drop.

What's the future of the music licensing for TV?

Today advertising agencies and production companies are in a strong position as the music industry struggles to make money as it’s main commodity has become effectively free!

There is little money in manufacturing, festivals are oversubscribed, and recording studios empty, as more ‘one man band’ independent labels, as well as the majors labels chase the one remaining revenue stream that still pays well.

Owning music and aquiring music catalogue is what today’s music industry is all about. To collect revenue from performance is an important income stream for any artist or label.

It means music consultants and supervisors like Trailer Media have a wealth of choice and, thanks to our reputation in the industry and contact base, can often source music that producers a few years ago would have deemed unaffordable.

On the flip side we have seen the budgets fall as TV producers struggle to get a decent budget for their TVC’s when the spread of media has to include the likes of digital, social media as well as just radio.

But to have usage across such varied platforms also means your music will probably be working a lot harder for you than it would have done a few years ago.

Ten TVC spots a day compared to a website that might be getting tens of thousands of unique users ever day has to be a bigger and better reach.

Music consultants who are fiercely independent and peddle no wares of their own have their value not in luxury studios or expensive postcodes but in their contact base and ability to provide affordable music to a territory with creative that is arguably some of the best in the world.

Credits:

Artist: Roy Orbison Title: "Losing You" c/o Native Tongue Music Publishing, Melbourne, Australia.

Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Sydney.

Directed by Sean Kruck, production company @radical.media Sydney.