For a while, in cities around the world, silent movies created a wealth of new opportunities for local composers, arrangers and musicians to create and perform scores to accompany projected images.
When the talkies arrived so did the recorded soundtrack Some pioneering composers and musicians headed West to Hollywood to forge the film music industry as we know it.
Those who stayed home were left out and threatened. The American Federation of Musicians, on the wrong side of progress, mounted a massive marketing campaign railing, to no effect, against the scourge of “canned music”.
With WWII a number of European composers such as Rózsa and Korngold fled to Hollywood to start new lives and careers.
Initially, Hollywood composers and musicians were typically put under more traditional, annual employment contracts by the film studios.
With the decline of the old studio system in the 50’s and 60’s, composing and performing became freelance work necessitating individual hustle to get each new gig.
In the late 60’s films like THE GRADUATE and EASY RIDER brought in records and contemporary songs enlarging the field of those involved in a film’s music.
The 70’s and 80’s ushered in song-heavy hits like SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and FLASHDANCE and the era of music supervision and increased record industry involvement.
Changes in taste and technology introduced synths into film scoring displacing some traditional composers and decreasing employment of orchestral players. These changes also opened a flood gate of new opportunities to others.
With Napster and the Internet in the 2000’s there became the subsequent decline of the tradition record industry. Many songwriters and artists now turned to film as a income and career source.
Today, technological advances have allowed for a proliferation of home studios. Greater awareness and interest in film music have paved the way for more aspiring composers to enter the market.
Once the silent movies were king and then along came recorded soundtracks and there was an explosion of new opportunities for composers to prosper.
THREE QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
1. HOW DID SOME COMPOSERS SUFFER WITH THE DISRUPTION CAUSED BY RECORDED SOUNDTRACKS?
2. HOW DID OTHER COMPOSERS PROSPER VIA THIS DISRUPTION?
3. WHAT CHANGES, ADAPTATIONS, VISIONS, AND RISKS DID THOSE WHO PROSPER NEED TO MAKE?
I am so interested in your thoughts and prospectives on these three questions.