Before mainstream technology such as Spotify and Apple Music, radio stations were primary channels to discover new music and hear what songs were trending. As we have evolved into a personalized self-curated streaming landscape controlled straight from your phone, marketers in the music industry have had to reorient their awareness tactics.
It comes as no surprise that music marketers have heavily relied on social media and digital marketing to reach massive markets, most notably with TikTok’s music features. However, one of the most notable and underrated methods of music discovery can come from the joys of digital entertainment consumption, Music Synchronization.
Music synchronization, or sync, acts as a massive tool in conveying emotions, pairing already-created music with visual media such as television shows, films, commercial advertisements or video games. Sync differs from a film’s score, but can fall in line with a soundtrack. Score represents music created specifically for and accompanies a film to heighten emotions and moods for scenes and productions. In contrast, a soundtrack is a compilation of pre-existing or new songs written for a project, which may include sync or scores. A notable example can be Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, where songs written for the characters to perform consist of the soundtrack, while the score represents the piano and jazz melodies composed by Justin Hurwitz.
The process of sync, score and sountrack is usually determined between music publishers and music supervisors or film producers.
Music, much like the use of audio, dialogue, and other sound effects, is used as a tool to enhance a visual experience and is often used to support a director’s vision of evoking certain feelings or moods. From slower singer-songwriter tracks in moments of sadness or punk/rock tracks in action sequences to heighten adrenaline, the songs fit the tone of what the consumer is watching. Even lyrics in certain songs may be used for conveying a character’s inner thoughts and musical genres or instrumentation may be symbols or signifiers of different cultural contexts, time periods, or film genres to centre the viewer.
There is current debate online about the boundaries between music in media versus the musical genre. With projects like The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Warner Bros.’ Joker: Folie à Deux and Marvel’s Agatha All Along utilizing musical performance to convey emotion or to move the plot forward, the idea of music in a non-traditional musical genre has tested the boundaries of where music inclusion can lie.
Sync does not only allow for music discovery, but also creates a reverberating loop of popularity in social media, where discussions of current popular media is paired with songs that were seen in the show or film, allowing for a resurgence of older tracks or emergence of newer tracks to gain popularity across social platforms. Take 1985’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” by Kate Bush, which found a huge resurgence after being strategically placed in the latest season of Stranger Things, for example.
James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy exemplifies the use of sync to craft a compiled soundtrack, where tracks like Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky” or Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” become iconic indicators of the film’s identity, despite having a beautiful fantasy score by Tyler Bates.
Like with Gunn’s films, music references used in different television shows have allowed the reintroduction of older artists to newer generations. Television shows have utilized sync for aesthetic, brand or tone, like frequently using or referring to legendary rock artists like The Cure or Sonic Youth in early 2000s Gilmore Girls. Conversely, songs or artists have taken on emotional influence to drive a story which further creates a bond with audiences, from “Asleep” by The Smiths and “Heroes” by David Bowie in The Perks of Being A Wallflower. We see the use of fan service with Kansas’ “Carry On Wayward Son” in Supernatural or Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” in last year’s Anyone But You. Songs become influential standouts to bring sonic life to a project with the dance break in “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps in Netflix’s Wednesday, or Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” in Twilight.
The process of sync has also been very influential in getting smaller artists’ voices heard. A very notable example is Imogen Heap’s “Hide And Seek” feature in the final episode of The O.C.’s second season after being synchronized with a dramatic slow-motion shooting, further creating an association with the scene and increased interest in Heap’s music. The song was then sampled in Jason Derulo’s “Watcha Say,” which was featured in the classic Thanksgiving dinner scene in Gossip Girl’s “The Treasure of Serena Madre” (season 3, episode 11). Gossip Girl also saw the emergence of indie rock band The Pretty Reckless featuring the show’s actress Taylor Momsen. Similarly, Dean Lewis first released his debut single “Waves” in 2016 which peaked at number 12 on the Australian ARIA Charts after being featured in a number of American television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Suits, Riverdale, Valor, Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments and Magnum P.I.
Netflix’ teen series Heartstopper has been known for their carefully curated sync of rising LGBTQ+ and queer-friendly artists across their series, including Wolf Alice, mxmtoon, beabadoobee, Orla Gartland, girl in red, Maggie Rogers, Rina Sawayama, chloe moriondo, Rachel Chinouriri, Arlo Parks, MUNA, Lucy Dacus, Nell Mescal and so many more. With this show emerged two notable artists: Baby Queen and Wasia Project.
South African indie-pop singer Baby Queen had released her single “Colours of You” for the show’s promotion while also being featured numerous times across the show’s three seasons. Her friendship with the cast and her musical association with the show skyrocketed her career internationally while even being a supporting act for Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR tour in the UK and Europe and Conan Gray’s Superache tour in the United States in 2022. In addition, Will Gao who plays Tao Xu in the show developed an alt-pop duo project with his sister titled Wasia Project which gained acclaim following the show’s rise in success. Their 2022 single “ur so pretty,” which was featured in the last, emotionally climactic scene of Heartstopper’s second season, has now accumulated over 60 million streams on Spotify. The duo have since supported tours for Tom Odell in Europe and Laufey in the US in 2024.
Music synchronization has become an increasingly valuable tool for music discovery and rediscovery, creating new avenues for artists to get their voices heard and for listeners to increase their exposure to new music.
What is your favorite track you’ve heard from a TV show, movie or video game?
