In 2006, “Treasure” by Adaz was featured as a soundtrack in a Nollywood movie called “A Million Tears”. This film was written and directed by Tchidi Chikere and features Kate Henshaw, Emeka Ike, and Patrick Doyle.
The soundtrack was so popular that it enjoyed massive airplay on radios and televisions all across Nigeria. People who had seen the movie and those who hadn’t seen the film at the time, enjoyed the music, thereby increasing the popularity of the film.
The soundtrack stood out, because of how it deftly fit the narrative of the film; a story of a bad boy falling in love with a good girl.
This is one of the benefits of a good musical score or soundtrack for a scene. It adds meaning and nuance to a scene when used artfully. The music can help to elevate the actions or emotions elicited in a scene.
Sometimes, the lyrics of a song could also provide a window to understanding the thoughts, or actions of a character.
Another reason why filmmakers must invest in quality soundtrack production is that it adds to the popularity of the film. Filmmakers in the past have used the release of a soundtrack album to whet viewers’ appetite and build anticipation for a movie.
Frequently, a movie soundtrack adds to the popularity of the film in general. This is the case for the soundtrack “Collide” featuring Tiana Major9 and EarthGang for the movie “Queen and Slim”. The movie grossed a total of $ 47 million in earning worldwide and also won the BET award for Best Film in 2020.
Some of the film’s success can be attributed to its dedicated soundtrack production, with “Collide” scoring over 43 million streams across Spotify and YouTube alone, and even earning a Grammy Awards nomination for Best R&B Song in 2021.
One last reason why filmmakers should invest in soundtrack production is that it could be an avenue to increase the gross earnings of a film project. Films can project music to a wider consumer audience that an artist may not have reached through traditional promotion outlets.
An example is “Kiss From a Rose” by Seal which was first released as a single in 1994, but gained mainstream popularity after it was featured in Batman Forever (1995), winning the Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Best Male Pop vocal performance and Record of the year.
A most recent example is Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop This Feeling” which was released as a single in May 2016, but gained wider popularity after being featured in the Music comedy film “Trolls” in 2017, selling over 3 million records in America alone.
Filmmakers can collaborate with a music supervisor to produce a dedicated soundtrack album for a film project. For context, The Black Panther soundtrack album has sold more than 1 million records in the US alone and it is certified platinum. That is extra revenue for the Black Panther franchise.
Soundtrack production is a valuable investment that filmmakers can no longer afford to overlook. Filmmakers must collaborate with music supervisors to either produce a new musical score or select fitting songs for their film project.
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