Vocal theme songs are back in vogue-mostly in comedies. They are about 10 seconds long with almost no melody and crop up within a show as incidental cues. To set up a vibe, short “groove” themes are also widely used, as in the themes for The Mentalist and Modern Family. In the latter, the theme is a reprise of the original brass melody played with guitars. The reverbed sound of the gavel is a signature for the show Law and Order, but it’s not part of the musical theme.Īpproaches to instrumental TV themes include traditional melodic motives such as that for Monday Night Football and Hawaii Five-0. Another theme is the sonic image: an instantly identifiable sound or groove. News themes always revolve around a strong musical logo. Many themes evolve from logos the musical equivalent of the Nike “swoosh” or the Coca-Cola red script logo. Shows that have such themes include The X-Files, The Simpsons, The Twilight Zone, and Mission Impossible. Strong instrumental themes are like beacons, or a searchlight for viewers to follow. “Music on TV” briefly describes the types of music TV productions call for (see page 24). The use of music influences its style, instrumentation, and effect. A show’s producer licenses tracks by indie artists and bands nonexclusively and for use as a background feature. TV shows now license songs with increasing frequency. A sync/master license from the publisher or music library can be written to give end users nonexclusive rights to match music to picture for a program, promo, or other network uses. Production music (also called library or stock music) now makes up roughly 65 percent of the music on TV. Custom music is composed for a particular show or channel. Today’s music on TV comes from three major sources: custom music written by a chosen composer, production or library music, and music licensed from indie or major-label artists. For composers, producers, and music publishers, this means more opportunities for work and for music placement. There are more places for music to appear, more specific audience demographics that offer opportunities for broadcasters to use music to reach a specific audience, and a wider variety of programming to support it all. Today, hundreds of broadcast channels, satellite, and cable providers have emerged.Īs the TV industry has expanded, the applications of music on TV have grown exponentially. Back then there were the big three broadcast networks-CBS, NBC, and ABC-plus a few local channels that viewers could pick up with rabbit ears. Mitch Coodley has composed extensively for TV and founded the music library Metro Music.TV has changed a lot since the days of Leave It to Beaver and I Love Lucy.
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