Tuesday, July 07, 2009

'New Moon' soundtrack hopeless


PREFACE
I was thinking about the Twilight Examiner article 'New Moon' Soundtrack Hopefuls. It's not the first time that I was mentioned in connection with that term. So - just because I wrote a twi-spired song - am I a 'New Moon' soundtrack hopeful? Straight answer: No. I'm not. I can't be - for several reasons. I'll give you three. But before I do so... 
•••
JUST FOR THE RECORD 
Getting "One Wolf" on the soundtrack was neither my intention nor my motivation for writing and recording it. It was a thought I admittedly had allowed myself to think some time later though, in pleasant moments of daydreaming ;-)
"But you've uploaded it and promoted it on the internet", you might say. Yes, I did. Sure! I'm an artist/performer, and like any other of that species, I long to be heard. With artists, this is very common (you can google it... LOL). So I made my work public. But unlike certain other well known young singer/songwriter ladies, I didn't campaign.
I don't want to dish these surely talented fellow artists, but lately... 
•••
SOME REALLY OVEREGGED THE PUDDING 
During the last couple of days alone, there've been daily mailings from one of these 'New Moon' soundtrack hopefuls on myspace and elsewhere, asking its multiple recipients to write to certain media and persons in charge and say: "Hey, I just found this artist and her song must be on the soundtrack!" There are petitions and circular letters they demand to be signed. 
Besides the fact, that such behaviour has to be treated simply as spam (which maddens me), it's also quite ridiculous. What do they think? Like this is the way to gain a director's or music supervisor's artistic respect? It's like these crazy fangirls throwing themselves on Robert Pattinson, as if that would be the way to make him fall in love with them... a wee bit embarrassing, huh? Even worse, some of their songs are really good - but this begging kinda depreciates them. Just my two cents though. But ok -  these girls are young. And here we are:
•••

THE FIRST REASON
I'm NOT young. Which plainly is one of the main causes why I'm not a 'New Moon' soundtrack hopeful. Just in case you haven't noticed yet: I'm even too old to play Bella's mom in the movie, ok? And even if I had recorded the musical masterpiece of the century, there'd be no way it would be considered for a movie with a target audience like 'New Moon'. Briefly: If you can't put me on MTV, you can't put me on the soundtrackIn case you're a Twilight Mom, about to shout "Objection!" right now - face it: in financial terms you are merely part of a minority, providing a welcome extra income to those whose job it is to bloody sell as much cd copies as possible.
(Just to save what is possible of my self esteem, I'd like to point out that at least I still look younger than Madonna - before breakfast, that is. Ok? Good.)
•••

THE SECOND REASON
I'm German. And I'm in Germany. Big obstacle! 
It is almost impossible to bring yourself to the attention of the people in charge over such a distance. Even if I lived next door, I'd still have to hang on the phone and keep on knocking all the right doors literally day and night. (Did you know that this was exactly what Paramore, respectively their management did to get the deal? Or were you deluded into the romantic idea that they were accidently brought to light by some talent scout? That's not the way such things happen.
So, with no badass agent spending his nights sleeping on the music supervisor's threshold, your demo cd is most likely to rot in some abandoned paperbox, among thousands of others, unnoticed.
Actually, I do have an agency agreement with a Hollywood-based film music library where my music (including "One Wolf") can be cleared and licensed. But that doesn't help to prevent my songs from the rotting process mentioned above. And last but not least:
•••

THE THIRD REASON
I'm indie. No fame here, at least no international fame. And with respect to the success of the first movie, they'd rather go big time now. Even if this might be a misjudgement on my behalf and Alexandra Patsavas will be going to fight for her beloved indie musicians with claws and teeth - in what parallel universe would I be possibly one of them?
•••
RESUME
All this (plus several other points) considered, I really never was a 'New Moon' soundtrack hopeful. I just wrote that song, because I was moved and drawn into that romantic overkill by the books of Stephenie Meyer, and creating music was my way to deal with it. It still is. Creating my animated little vids is my way to deal with it. Writing this blog is my way to deal with it. And guess what? It works. I am having a lot of fun. Especially with my fellow twi-bloggers.
So f*ck the soundtrack, I'll keep going. Take or leave it. Love or hate me. I am a 'New Moon' soundtrack hopeless" and I'm having a ball!
•••
---  Drop me a line. Comments are my fuel  ---


4 comments:

TestBlogger said...

well.. you put it nicely :) and I agree with alot of what you say. but without 'campaining', I've got nothing.. this is my first recorded song (demo) and I really do think it fits in new moon. other people might not, but I think it does. I am not a known artist, I do not have management.. I have no other way of doing it. Check it out if you like. http://tinyurl.com/kj6jdk

Betti Gefecht said...

I've actually heard your song before, annemanda, and I think it's beautiful. If this should work for you, I'd be among the first to congratulate, honestly - no sarcasm. So keep going. Despite my little rant, I admit I'm pretty sure that I would have campaigned the shit out of the netfolk when I was young if there had existed such a thing like the internet.
(omigosh, there must have been some blurt-out-the-truth-tonic in my coffee today...)

Anonymous said...

I'm dying for more time to complete everything I need to complete tonight so i'm gonna keep it short and sweet.

"THE THIRD REASON
I'm indie. No fame here, at least no international fame."

Some of the VERY BEST are indie.. I couldn't tell you who's who on the top 40.. I rarely listen to the radio b/c the crap they play.. Most people (yes my stupid lil opinion) do not know what good music is.. They know what the media sells them.. propaganda.. There are alot of greats out there.. But there are even more greats who are not famous..

Betti Gefecht said...

Hellsyah! Proud to be indie... :-)