Waitaminute, that sounds SOO familiar...

[wari_aktiv]

Sorry if this sounds inane, but the question has been lingering in my head for quite some time now, and maybe you guys can answer...

Is it just me, or does the music from Meralco's newest commercial (the one where it says: "city lights..." ) sound like a "re-interpretation" of the Telepopmusik song "Breathe"?

Or maybe I'm just being waaay too O.C. about the music I listen to...:blush:

On a related note, have you guys encountered any other "sound-alike" songs?

[weremermaid]

Yes, that is a Breathe ripoff. Shame on them! Alas, that's the way of the advert industry, ripping off good music.

At least the more enlightened clients and some agency folk do let Vic Icasas and our other composers make original music for ads.

[dBAGZiq]

I've also noticed that since I always listen to "Breathe" at least once a day...At first I say "that's catchy" then after some seconds, "parang alam ko to a"

[jepaz]

Yes...same here. Even the "Bilog and Mundo" Ginebra commercial is from a particular house indian music.

[wari_aktiv]

Haaay nako... Even for a "creativity-dependent" field like advertising, where originality makes all the difference, it looks like some people still don't know how to "Think Different"...

Oh well, maybe that's the way it is... *shrug*

And you'd think that a big firm like Meralco could afford to purchase some original material... :wound:

[Edited on 10-13-2004 by wari_aktiv]

[vicicasas]

Originally posted by weremermaid
At least the more enlightened clients and some agency folk do let Vic Icasas and our other composers make original music for ads.

Ha! I wish it were that easy. If the agency and the client fall in love with a particular piece of music while conceptualizing their ad, there's no escaping it once it arrives on our doorstep here at the studio.

We do try to be as original as we can when the opportunity arises, but folks, it's really not uncommon for a client to walk into my room with a CD or an MP3 and say "Ok, get as close to this as you can." What can we do? We're creatives, yes, but we're also suppliers and we have to stay in business!

Now, having said that, I have no idea who did the music for the current Meralco campaign :P

[riPPles]

Originally posted by vicicasasWe do try to be as original as we can when the opportunity arises, but folks, it's really not uncommon for a client to walk into my room with a CD or an MP3 and say "Ok, get as close to this as you can." What can we do? We're creatives, yes, but we're also suppliers and we have to stay in business!

question is: how close can you get, without sacrificing your innate creativity?


riPPles

[Edited on 10-13-2004 by riPPles]

[vicicasas]

Originally posted by riPPles

Originally posted by vicicasasWe do try to be as original as we can when the opportunity arises, but folks, it's really not uncommon for a client to walk into my room with a CD or an MP3 and say "Ok, get as close to this as you can." What can we do? We're creatives, yes, but we're also suppliers and we have to stay in business!

question is: how close can you get, without sacrificing your innate creativity?

That's really the client's call. Sometimes they just want the general mood that a piece of music contains, sometimes they will accept nothing but a dead-on ripoff. Like I said, we aren't creating music for ourselves here, we're composing music to order. That's why almost all the in-house composers at Hit have album projects, bands, and Metropop awards on the side, so they can express their creativity outside of the office. Me, I go karting or take photos hahaha!

Just so you guys know, it's really not uncommon for "temp tracks" to be used, even on Madison Ave and in Hollywood, and it's also not uncommon for clients (both here and abroad) to fall in love with the temp track and want to use it for the final. The main difference is, it's not too often that local clients will shell out the money necessary to buy the rights to the song, since these rights usually run anywhere between $5,000 to $30,000 (!) depending on the particular song. Yes, that's in dollars. But the bigger clients (multinationals and big companies like Unilever, P&G, the telecoms, for example) usually spring for it anyway because they want to get the most mileage out of their campaign!

EDIT: Since this seems to be a topic that interests a couple of you, may I take this opportunity to plug the fact that I am being asked to do a short talk about advertising music on the 20th of October at the Intercon, and my business partner and I may even whip up a piece of music on the spot using our Macs and some MIDI gear. This should be sometime before lunch, I just don't have the exact details yet. Would be great to see familiar faces in the audience!

[Edited on 10-13-2004 by vicicasas]

[wari_aktiv]

Originally posted by vicicasas
We do try to be as original as we can when the opportunity arises, but folks, it's really not uncommon for a client to walk into my room with a CD or an MP3 and say "Ok, get as close to this as you can." What can we do? We're creatives, yes, but we're also suppliers and we have to stay in business!

Good point. I have to cede to that... :blush:

And I guess I'll just be thankful that they didn't take one of my favorite Telepop songs and make it Tagalog... (...basta humingaaa...)

[riPPles]

it's always the client's call, alright. but how do you tell them that their choice is ikky without losing the business. or do you just do it - anyway, magbabayad naman?

i am bothered by this because we once had a client who asked us to design his website. while viewers found the website "classy," the client was not too pleased. sad to say, we lost him. maybe we wanted our own taste to prevail over what he thought was his "style." anyway, we learned our lesson.

please tell me if this is OT already.


riPPles

[Edited on 10-13-2004 by riPPles]