RS: So where do you find music that you use in the show?
Michael Perlmutter: Everywhere, all over the world. We send mass
eMails, we've made a lot of phone calls, we've met a lot of people
like yourself. We also just get a lot of CDs anyhow and we listen to
them, so we're not actually focused on one specific brand, so we'll go
out to all the independent labels, whether it be rock or pop or
ambience or whatever the case is, and we'll get their music because
you never know what gem we're going to find on a CD, whether it be a
known artist or not. With Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, for example,
we used a song called Shade of Blue, and it's just an album track, so
we listen to all the different songs and we find a really great song
for the scene.
RS: Let me ask you this, I think you said this last year or it
was said on the panel you were on, that music supervisors are the new
A&R.
Michael Perlmutter: Yes.
RS: Did you say that?
Michael Perlmutter: You know, somebody told me that, somebody
mentioned that to me. I don't say that as an arrogant thing at all, I
believe that we're in a position to help break new bands that either
aren't getting signed or aren't selling a lot of records, and that's
because we can pop a song on a show and if a couple of million people
are watching us and it's a hot piece in placement where you actually
hear the song and you react to it, you're going to sell… so hopefully
those fans, as I was just saying, will go out and look for the tunes,
and they will go hopefully buy it and then they'll spread the word,
and word of mouth is really important in our industry. And then maybe
yes, at some point fifty thousand records will be sold by some artist
that has been on our show or songs from the show, so in that way we
could be the new A&R. I mean, record labels aren't signing acts like
they used to and they may never again like they did fifteen to twenty
years ago. So in some way, yes, I think that music supervisors are a
new source for A&R or a new source of A&R for the fans out there, or
for the record buying public.
RS: Cool. I noticed that this new soundtrack is less dance-oriented
than past soundtracks.
Michael Perlmutter: Sure
RS: How does this reflect the show's direction or character development?
Michael Perlmutter: Well that's a pretty heavy question. That's a
good question, it's a really good question. Our audience is pretty
diverse and I know over the years the music has become a little less
dance-oriented, mainly because the stories aren't necessarily taking
place in Babylon, they're taking place outside, they're taking place
in apartments or on the streets or in homes and cafés or in other
situations, so we've had to adapt a little bit to that. So I think
that's one of the reasons why it's a little less dance-oriented. Let
me answer this in a couple of parts. The first year, at least for the
soundtrack, what we wanted to do is we wanted a really great
combination of dance and emotional-type songs that were important.
The second year we thought you know what, let's make a dance mix CD,
because a lot of the audience loves the dance music. We had a lot of
dance music that year, we thought we'd try that. The third year we
decided to have the dance music CD but also throw in some songs that
were really songs, not dance songs, but songs that were really
significant in various scenes in the year, and we think that went over
really well. And Tommy Boy did a really beautiful job at putting that
together. And in the first year we wanted to go strictly on songs that
were important in certain scenes. I think there might be a couple of
songs that weren't as significant, but we really loved a couple of the
dance tunes or a couple of tracks that we'd use or something like
that. But by and large the songs were, on the fourth soundtrack,
pretty important to all the scenes and significant in the scenes. So
I think it only reflects in the character drama, I think you're
absolutely right, I think it reflects in more of relationships amongst
the characters than just a party mode. There still is a lot of
partying that goes on and still a lot of fun that goes on, but more
and more so there are more serious issues that are happening, there
are more serious storylines that are being explored. And when that
happens you really have to get a little bit more focused on the music
and the kind of songs and the lyrical content to make sure that it
works with everything. So I think you're right, I think it has
reflected the direction and the character direction, I think you're
absolutely right.
