CrucialCustom - Music Licensing, Advertising & Marketing Blog - Television

After almost 70 years, the music supervisors of television are finally getting the recognition they deserve from the industry’s biggest night. Especially in the past decade or two, music supervision has become an integral part of a show’s identity and vision. It has also played a vital role in the music industry itself, being one of the few remaining ways for artists to make money off of their recordings.

For this week’s blog we thought we’d take a look at an issue that’s equally important to music supervisors AND artist – copyright law. When it comes to music, how close is too close? We’re all familiar with at least a few examples of artists getting into legal trouble after recording a song that closely resembles another. Recently we’ve heard about Led Zeppelin being accused of plagiarism by the band Spirit, Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” being compared with Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” and probably the most complex instance, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” cutting it too close to Marvin Gaye’s “Gotta Give It Up.”

Black Friday is changing. This year’s Black Friday, which falls on Nov. 25th, is certainly shaping up to be a big one – but if trends continue, we may be seeing a permanent shift away from the shopping chaos of years past. The number of shoppers taking part in Black Friday seems to have peaked around 2012, and has been dropping steadily since then – in fact the actual turnout has consistently fallen below projections for several years now. There are many factors at play – from Americans’ shift away from credit debt and towards savings, to the rise of Cyber Monday, to a trend towards digital goods rather than goods sold in brick-and-mortar stores.

For our second TV music profile, we’re taking a look at showtime’s critically acclaimed dramedy Shameless. Shameless has been quietly building a dedicated following, as well as a mountain of critical acclaim, since its first season in 2011 (that is, the American version – the show is based on a British show of the same name, with similarly high marks from critics).

For this month’s blog, we thought we’d try something a little different. We’re going to take a look at music licensing in the context of a single show. What kind of music does it use? What makes its music placements successful (or not)? And how is music used to create a consistent vision for the show?