WB was pretty popular for teen shows when i was growing up, but there was a lot that the readings pointed out that I didn’t know. WB was actually a pioneer in the production of teen dramas. Contra Simon Frith points out the things that WB did with their teen dramas Dawsons Creek and Felicity and tells us how they were actually the first to incorporate musical showcases in an episode. She tells the effect that music had on the viewer and how the music was actually used to illustrate the story to some degree.
I did not know that programming had to pay if a character hummed or sung a song. This fee was called a synchronization fee and producer had to pay for them using the lyrics. I wonder though does that mean they would have to pay if someone spoke the lyrics without singing them melodiously. Producers would often negotiate Master use licenses which allowed them to use the actual recording and then also negotiate synchronization fees as well, i’m guessing to have the freedom to do as they please if necessary.
What WB did to change the landscape of teen television with music is they would give artist a 15 second promo tag at the end of an episode. This was a really smart process because they presented it to the artist as free promotion yet they cut their cost by negotiating a smaller fee for licensing and at the same time incorporated new pop culture in their programming. They targeted newer artist and independent labels and by doing this they cut a break on their cost while also giving these artist exposure they would struggle to get else wise. The reason I say they were pioneers is because while all of this is happening music networks like MTv and VH1 were playing less music videos and this caused for other networks to pick up on this model. Smart move on their part and even now you see this being used on shows that are not necessarily teen driven. The article uses the O.C as an example which I have never seen but I have seen Sons Of Anarchy which does the same thing.
Another strategy that they used that I thought was very clever was they used soundalikes and in their DVD releases to again cut cost. The industry saw a financial shift with DVD releases and had trouble with licensing, so what they did was they used tones that sounded very similar and musicians that were unknown so that they did not have to spend as much or wait for the licensing to clear. She used Freaks and Geeks as an example because it took longer to be released because of all the classic rock in each episode. Apparently this shift angered fans who followed the shows and read into the music. She said “For instance, teen girl fans of the music of Alanis Morissette or Tori Amos might combine their reading of the music, Morissette’s or Amos’ stardom, and the visual and dialogic elements of the the television narrative. Replacing Morissette or Amos with a musical unknown would significantly alter the sources of viewer pleasure and identification.”
