Films, Games, Brands. Music dominates them all.
In this blog / ramble I will talk about why good music is key to having a successful brand. In most things from films and games to car insurance!
Lets start with the obvious, film. Think of the all time top films. What do you think of? Star Wars? Jurassic Park? Indiana Jones? Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Pirates of the Caribbean? The list goes on. All have incredible, but more importantly, memorable scores. Why? Because there are themes. This makes them easily memorable and instantly associate-able with the film they represent. The audio equivalent of the film itself. Now this isn't always the case. I can't remember much music from Avatar or The Avengers which both did incredibly well. But more often than not, I'd say good music is 70% of a films success. Lesser films that are good but not as huge as other have some of the best music and can even make the film good. This can depend of the composer though and what you expect of them. For example the film RUSH, based on the F1 sport in the 70's, has an amazing score by Hans Zimmer. We expect this of him. But the film it'self is not a huge contender or big franchise. However the huge difference between a good score in an ok film and a major score birthing a franchise is theme. Take Christopher Nolan's Batman, Dark Knight trilogy. While He made Batman a huge success again, it was amplified 10 times over by Zimmer's thematic score giving that audio satisfaction to the films. While it is a simple score it is insanely powerful, recognisable and pleasing to hear. That's not to say that a good score will make a film a huge hit though. Of course the film, or any product, has to be good too. It could be said that these films, or any of the huge franchises, would be just as good and popular without these scores, but I don't think they would be anywhere near as popular without them. Star Wars without the opening music?! Jurassic Park without 'Na Naa, Na Naaa, Na Na Naaa, Na Na Na Naaaa'. No...
Once film makers and composers realised this, it spread, to what might be my favourite genre of music. Video games. Some of the best and most beloved and recognisable video games also have some of the best music compositions ever. Coincidence? No way. To list a few, Super Mario Brother, The Legend of Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy, Donkey Kong, Silent Hill and now the successful Under Tale. All have fantastic and memorable music. So much so that concerts are now held and performed by full orchestras to cater for the demand to hear these compositions, without the medium of the video game involved at all. And also a huge branch in independent composers and remixers take music that is loved from video games and adapt them, remix them, re-orchestrate them. It's a huge exciting field that leads to so many more amazing musical pieces to the point where the game is pretty much secondary.
I feel that especially with video games, music is key to success. It might be the best game you have ever played, but once you have beaten it or are done with it, you can forget it. If it's got a good memorable score though, you will remember it when ever you hear it or may even just keep playing to listen to it. And as with films, it helps build the franchise by using these loved scores in all future games. Zelda, or more specifically Koji Kondo, is fantastic for this, as well as introducing new scores each time. It really does make the difference between a good game, and a beloved franchise. This could be the reason for the success of the new Toby Fox game, Under Tale. While it is a good game with a lot of great feels, it is at the end of the day, another RPG. However by having such wonderful music attached to it, it keeps you wanting to revisit the game or listen to the music. It keeps the life span and attention span of the game so much longer. And for any future Under Tale games, we will expect and revel in the music when it appears again. It seems with video games, if you can get an amazing and memorable score, you have a damn good chance at your game being a success.
This idea doesn't just stop there though. Think of some of the most successful brands. What do they have? Jingles. Catchy jingles work in the same way. From the bloody Go Compare man, to Toys R Us. Brands do often use popular and catchy songs from mainstream music now days. And while this can work short term, I feel it's not the best for setting up a life long brand. Then again there are exceptions. Any time I hear (which is rarely) the song with 'I see you baby, shakin' that ass' I do think of Renault.. So well done Renault. There are more examples I'm sure...
So to all film makers, game developers and brand marketing directors. The message is simple. Get the music right, and you'l have something that lasts a lifetime.
Twitter - @SSComposer
