Monday, August 4, 2008

Movie Trailers Begat Chart Revival

Having your song on the radio will boost its potential. Television shows and commercials are influential, too. But what you really want is to have your song in a movie trailer. This summer, two songs have seen a sales revival due to prominent placement in popular trailers.

M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" is the number four download on iTunes - nearly a year after its release. The song is featured in the trailer for Pineapple Express and has now been declared "Song of the Summer" by MTV's Subterranean blog because "When’s the last time you heard a song make a chart comeback 8 months after it’s initially released?"

More interesting is number 91 on iTunes - "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning," a Smashing Pumpkins song that was originally included on 1997's Batman and Robin soundtrack. The Pumpkins had two songs on that soundtrack - the other was called "The End is the Beginning is the End." This obscure number is featured in the trailer for The Watchmen, and the LA Times recently saw its inclusion as a good time to catch up with Billy Corgan. You can download the MP3 and watch the trailer at Music Ramen.

Incidentally, neither song actually appears in the film.

1 comment:

Allison said...

When I first saw the trailer for this film months ago, I remember thinking what a brilliant song choice, its so identifiable, and unbelievably catchy. I'm glad to hear its put the song back on the chart.