THE MODERN FILM COMPOSER: “The Wild West Of Broadcast Media”

NBC… Who’s NBC? Well NBC, currently NBC Universal has been a giant in media in some form for as long as there’s been broadcast media. It is amazing to me how short of a period it has taken to come from black and white tube T.V.’s to fully digital flat screens that hang on your wall. Along with all that technology has come massive changes in how the media gets to your screen.

We as the general public don’t think much about how things started. We just have strong memories of classic shows that shaped our childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, from the “A Team”, to “Friends”, to “Seinfield”, to “The Biggest Loser”. There is a dichotomy in film and T.V. that is created by the fact that the delivery system for media is driven by business, otherwise known as money, but the content is driven by art. All of the elements that create the media we all love are based in design, performance, creation, and emotion. The problem is that art is expensive, well only if it isn’t successful. So something quite profound is happening in the entertainment industry with the invention of iTunes and Hulu. The system that has worked since the 1930’s, isn’t working.

Only recently did I learn that shows were created by advertisers, not the network. “Guiding Light” was the longest running soap opera that only recently, after 70 years was taken off of the air. Originally this was created by soap manufacturers to catch the attention of housewives listening to the radio, integrating their product into quick intermissions between all the riveting drama. Obviously, other advertisers wanted in on the action, which the broadcasters took full advantage of. This process has flipped a bit. By having a successful show that draws millions of focused viewers, you now have a format for advertising dollars. CHA CHING! Superbowl 2009 cost $3 million dollars for 30 seconds. It just took 30 seconds to write that and I didn’t get a dime. That’s just for the air time, forget about the cost of the content.

So why in the world would GE try to dump NBC? Well this is just a lowly ol’ struggling film composers take, but… PEOPLE DON’T WATCH COMMERCIALS. First it was Tivo, now known mostly as a DVR. Guess what, not only can you watch what you want when you want, you don’t have to watch all those ads!! This revolutionary device was introduced in 1999. That was the start of commercial free T.V. Actually, they are produced, paid for, slotted and shown, it’s just that we don’t watch them. Deciding what and when you want to watch also means deciding what you don’t want to watch. So now the content really has to grab your attention, and for some that hasn’t been happening.

Along with all of that, for the last two decades networks have been able to coast on the momentum of the previous 50 years, but then came the speed, access, and drive space fed by the Internet. More and more people are now watching T.V. online. New DVD players and T.V.’s connect directly to the world wide web, providing access to endless media content without the networks.

So what does this mean for me, and anyone else interested in tapping in to the world of television? To be honest I’m not sure, but what I do know is that technology is changing the way that T.V. works and how we get paid. Because reality T.V. is so much less expensive it has grown to become a behemoth along with it’s general structure has changed how we write music. At least it is getting broadcast and is still traceable.

So here’s the issue. Like any system that has been in place, working seemingly fine untouched for decades, the infrastructure is there to track literally every second of airtime an artist gets. Thankfully there are organizations in place to help with all these tedious details daunting to any artists mind. But how do we track all this business on the web? How do the content providers get back to forcing the viewers to watching the ads… the money? Hulu is in control of what is shown during an episode, not the viewer, so maybe they have that covered. We watch the commercials during the super bowl because it’s an American event. The advertisers put so much into their content it’s like getting ready for a hundred 30 second blockbusters. We WANT to watch them. Maybe that IS worth $3 million bucks?

What is the point to all this information and jib jab? Just like the record companies who have lost millions of dollars on the fat they once earned with CD sales, “forcing” them to crack down on 12 year old girls and their purple lap tops, music in video content is becoming more valuable. Why should some guy who cut together a video of him shooting a potato gun off the back of his dirt bike on You Tube be able to use Thomas Newman’s hard work to broadcast all over the world? How do you track it? Truth is, until now private video production was so personally delivered, who cares… right? I mean, what’s Thomas Newman going to charge for four minutes of crummy footage. The problem is that Billy Bob is now getting exposure, viewer hits, links to his potato gun web site and profiting from Thomas Newman’s hard work. Well, you get the idea.

So, am I the guy that needs to get paid for every little thing I do? Not even a little bit, but I would like to be in control of what I give out for free. More than that, I would like people to realize that the reason creators get paid so well in the entertainment business is because there is a value to the art. The finale of “Family Ties” where everyone cry’s drawing millions of viewers was made by the artists and sold lots of ad space which perpetuates the business, which perpetuates the art. I applaud change, ease, instant access, and all that stuff, but I hope the substance doesn’t get too watered down along the way.

What we do as artists is meant to move people. Move them to cry, laugh, contemplate, forget, change, love, and in order to strive for that depth we need to feel valued.