Taking a New World View to Creating Music

Amber Music's Michelle Curran.

Since I began Amber Music nearly 18 years ago, the world - and the world of advertising - has gone through many changes. What was below the line is now cool, and new media; what was thought to be a great idea is now deemed old fashioned and outmoded.
 
Jennie Wadhams, my partner at Amber, believes that the contribution music plays in the success of an ad is undisputed, and there's data to prove it.  Recall for music is often much higher than the visual content of a spot, and the most famous 'jingles,' tracks and mnemonics often become embedded in a brand's identity.
 
Why, then, as an industry, does it often feel as though we've chosen to undervalue this contribution? Technology has made access to music easy and cheap, and this 'value proposition' has pervaded our professional approach to music as well.  I'm not speaking about creative trends here - advertising should always be not only on top of but ahead of what people are listening to - but the craft of scoring music to picture, or licensing a well known track, is a far more thoughtful process, and far more specialized, than we give credit for.
 
The technology we have at our disposal today is great, but along with it comes tremendous pressure to deliver faster and cheaper than ever, often without the benefit of adequate compensation. This makes it much harder to attract the best talent to our industry.  I'd like to see a move away from the work-for-hire trend here in the US, back to how the rest of the world compensates, and that is through licensing.

In this model, the client will 'own' the track, but assigns the collection of royalties for performance back to the music production company.  This way, they can continue to use the music as they see fit, and can work out a lower creative fee with their music production company, which is able to recoup income on the performance end by collecting royalties for the use of the music.  We've found it works extremely well for clients that want to tap into our creative capabilities but are working with mid-size to smaller budgets. 

The concept of licensing seems to have become a 'dirty word' in advertising, - perhaps because of its connotations to paying large sums to utilize pop music hits and classics - but as budgets shrink, I believe it's the only fair and equitable way for advertisers to keep their budgets low and for composers and music producers to get adequately compensated.
 
Over the years we have always tried to stay ahead of the game. Amber was one of the very first UK-based companies to spread its wings and open US offices. They were large offices, manned with loads of exciting and talented people. Money was plentiful and life, although not always easy, was definitely fun. To get work, one went around with huge bags of U-matics (3/4" videotapes). The world, although getting smaller, was still a large and relatively unknown place. To transfer work from one place to another involved tapes, couriers, converting PAL to NTSC, etc. Just thinking about it makes my head spin.

Jennifer Lopez in Macy's "Backstage" spot, scored by Amber.

Our studio has had a hand in some major award-winning campaigns over the years, ads like the Nomis "Damn Boots" spot, which won gold at Cannes, Clio and the One Show and is a great example of the contribution that original music can make to an ad's success. More recently, we provided music for the new Macy's campaign that boasts a bevy of celebs, everyone from Martha Stewart (that's her on our home page) to Diddy.
 
For most of the time that we were doing this, I was busy running from one office to the next, from one home to another, living what people thought was La Vida Loca! That was before we thought about our carbon footprints or 9/11 and the horrors of getting on a plane. To top all of that, along came another recession, the falling budgets and the overused "it's only for the internet" – time to rethink, again!
 
I am lucky enough to be asked to judge many award shows and sometimes in some very fun places too.  More and more I have been truly impressed with a variety of international work. So impressed, that I decided that I wanted some of that talent. So, armed with my new technology, I decided to stop the traveling (well, not stop, but really cut it back) and to work from one central location and find me some of that tasty creative.
 
We put out our feelers and now I have the beginnings of what I call 'The Republic of Amber.' To add to my Republic I now have  composers in not only London, New York and L.A., but also in Iceland, Argentina, Auckland and Tel Aviv. This global family of talent continues to grow. I talk to them daily; produce them from my wonderful New York office or home (depending on the time of day) and together, without harming the planet, we carry on creating and delivering the award winning, high standard of musical magic that Amber is renowned for.
 
For example, one of the citizens of the new Republic of Amber are The Sound Makers.  They're an Israeli composer duo comprised of Shiri Hadar and Ran Shem-Tov who've created music for various ad campaigns, TV Shows, websites, films and promos in both Europe and the US. Their client list includes such brands as Orange, Muller, Tuborg, Yoplait, Orangina, Mazda, Kleenex, Wilkinson, and many more.  Shiri and Ran are also members of Izabo,  an Israeli group whose music has been described as a mix of psychedelic rock, disco, punk and Arabic spices.  Their work for the Israeli AIDS Task Force campaign (check it out here) has won awards around the globe, including Cannes, One Show, Golden Drum, New York Festivals, Cresta, London International and Clio Healthcare.   A recent example of their work  is a pro bono campaign for the New York City Marathon, produced for the New York Road Runners Club, for which we created and produced an original track working.  (Check out "Day After.")
 
Another upstanding member of our new Republic is a composer team that goes by the name Liquid.  It' made up of Michael A.J. O'Neill and Peter Van Der Fluit, who hail from New Zealand. Their track record of award-winning work has given them a fluid grasp and broad experience with most musical genres, coupled with the freedom and ability to think outside the box to create some amazing avant garde work.  Their band, The Screaming Meemees, had multiple No. 1 hits back in the '80s that propelled them into other bands and a lengthy, successful music career.  Among their advertising honors are a Cannes Lion for their operatic-inspired soundtrack for Sega's animated "Offset the Evil" campaign, which ran Down Under. 
 
There are no boundaries apart from high standards. So in this ever shrinking globe, you too can travel to The Republic of Amber without even having to take your shoes off, find a passport or waste your valuable air miles! Just come and visit us on ambermusic.com. 

Published 24 November, 2010