Imagine U2 were just starting out. Their management would be getting them gigs for sure but they would also be contacting TV networks and trying to get their music featured on top TV shows.
Back in the 70s and 80s, the background music played in TV shows was pretty awful and nondescript and usually written especially for the show. Remember Starsky and Hutch chasing criminals to a background of some fast instrumental song?
Imagine U2 were just starting out. Their management would be getting them gigs for sure but they would also be contacting TV networks and trying to get their music featured on top TV shows.
Back in the 70s and 80s, the background music played in TV shows was pretty awful and nondescript and usually written especially for the show. Remember Starsky and Hutch chasing criminals to a background of some fast instrumental song?
Nowadays the songs played in the background to romantic or dramatic scenes in such shows as Greys Anatomy, Cold Case, Ghost Whisperer, or Private Practice are usually good songs by established or up and coming acts, and are played to tie-in with the scene being played out .
For example, one of my favorite bands, Irelands The Script have been featured heavily recently in Ghost Whisperer at the beginning of the show with their UK hit The Man Who Cant Be Moved and while I wont comment on what I think of the storyline involving Jim and Melinda, the song fits and the exposure they are getting there may well help them break out in the USA.
So how do you find the titles and singers of the songs played in these shows? The fan forums are full of questions like What was the song played in last nights episode of xxx? or Who sang that song in the closing scene of xxx? Some devoted fans collect every song played in every episode of their favorite shows and there is often a heated online debate as to who the singer was on a particularly good song. Several websites have sprung up over the last few years that list the songs played and the singers and titles. Trouble is that often, when a series is shown in other countries, the songs played may be entirely different. Perhaps the legal rights to a song are not available in France, or Germany, so the song played in the American screening of a show is substituted overseas with a different one. The same goes for the DVD release of shows. For various reasons the DVD version of, say Supernatural, may feature different songs and singers than the TV version.
I sometimes find that listening out for the music played is more interesting than the shows themselves, and I take an interest in whether artists who are featured more than others get the recognition they deserve. There is no doubt that exposure on top TV shows is nowadays a major part in getting a band or singer the success they seek.
Author Resource:-
Bob Wilson writes extensively about music and TV on several websites. Check him out on and Life On Mars amongst many others.
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