At this point, no one doubts the importance of a good soundtrack in film or television. More in the age of TikTok where any song can go viral at any time. If we take a look at the Netflix youth series, we can certify that it is a ground conquered by the most independent music scene.
In All the times we fell in loveone of the most recent releases we find up to 19 songs from Elephant Records in its soundtrack with artists like The blue house, the good dear, juniper moon, Nosotrash oh Cooper. While Georgina Amoros there Franco Massini They live out their on-and-off romance of their characters, Irene and Julio, their songs playing in the background.
But this is not an isolated event. If we look at the music played in Elite o The mess you leave, we find the same thing. louis baldfounder and director of Elefant Records told us the keys to this collaboration and what it means for the artists who are part of this situation.
All the times we fell in love It has 19 songs from Elefant Records on its soundtrack, how did this collaboration come about?
I have known the series team for a long time and we have worked together on other previous projects, there is a lot of music in this series and part is Elefant. But there are many songs and very good ones in its first season.
Carlos Montero usually uses the label for the soundtracks of his series (Elite, The mess you leave), is it a personal taste or are there other reasons behind it?
I guess it’s always the personal taste of Carlos, Diego Betancor, Loli Iglesias and the musical supervisors of each project, they look for what best suits each scene and each production. Elefant has been around for almost 35 years and has released over 800 bands from all over the world and many people have grown up with the music from our label. Many people tell us that we have been the soundtrack of their lives, which is something very beautiful for us. Also, with EliteFor example, when the project started, I started helping them with the music.
What do these artists from a more independent scene bring to shows like these?
It’s nothing new, many years ago American series started using indie music in their soundtracks, I think indie music gives a lot more credibility to projects and of course the Music is super important in a series, a good selection of music can enhance scenes and make a series much better and more enjoyable. Independent music in general has become an important claim not only for series, but also for advertising, films, background music…
These are series, above all, youth, is it a generational scene?
These three series, yes, but we have been working with series and films of all genres around the world for years. You can listen to Elefant’s music in classic series like Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate women, Gilmore Girls, Revenge, Nurse Jackie or more recent series like The Walking Dead, Preacher, The bixesual…
It’s also something that happened in Spain, there are series like Doctor Mateo from 2009, which includes 112 Elefant songs in its 5 seasons. But also many other series like Moon, the mystery of Calendawith 14 songs, Angel or demon against 42, Covat Rice con 31, Tell me how it went, The boat, Siblings… The list is endless, so we’ve been doing series of all kinds for years. But also in movies, some important ones like The worst person in the world of Joachim Treves, some juveniles like through my window of Marcal Fores and other very very underground and recent ones that we helped with the soundtrack like my friend’s friend of Zaida Carmonawhich has 10 Elephant songs or What we know of Jordi Nunezalso with 10 of our songs.
What impact does the presence of their songs in series like these have for the artists?
Well, depending on how the show works in the world, it can be a big help for artists, it’s always a way to give exposure to their music, just like in advertising, when a campaign works and is loved and has good music, the song becomes very popular and goes viral. We’re in a time where these things are very noticeable and happening very quickly and naturally.
Do series viewers usually request information from the artists they hear on these soundtracks?
Well, there’s everything, there’s more restless people who, if they like a song, become interested in the band and try to discover more of their songs and there’s viewers, I think the vast majority, who are limited to listening to the playlists of the songs that appear on the series or the film. There’s been too much music on offer in general over the past few years and I’m used to thinking that people pull a lot from lists and let themselves be advised by what digital platforms offer them based on their tastes and what that they listen to. It’s not like 30 or 40 years ago, you bought a record or two a month and you listened to it all the time and you listened to everything and you knew it by heart. We are rather faced with a generation of singles, but with a non-negligible minority who are totally fans of certain groups and listen to everything they release.
What is the general opinion of these artists on this presence of their scene on Netflix?
Well, they’re very excited like us, if you like a show and one of your songs comes out, it’s like a total fantasy. When it’s also an important plot moment and the song is part of an important scene, that’s the rush. Netflix is a very youth-oriented platform, with which many of our artists (and ourselves) are regular consumers of Netflix content.
What differentiates a song from the independent scene from a more mainstream song on a soundtrack?
I assume originality and credibility, but that’s my personal opinion that a lot of people might not share. Anyway, there are also mainstream songs that are cool and it all depends on the scene and what the scene demands, there are times when you need a very commercial song and other times where it’s not so important that it brings something more to the scene. That’s the job of a good music supervisor.
Which artist passed on their enthusiasm for being heard in a chapter?
Well, in general, every week we close things all over the world, and all the groups are happy to participate in the series or the films, especially when it comes to independent projects and cool and quality projects .
Who do you think is your hottest Netflix artist right now?
Well, it depends on the series, but La Casa Azul, Les Primitives, La Bien Querida, Rulsh Week, Galaxy Fingers…
Have you ever been asked for original themes for a series?
Yes, within Elefant, our label, we have Elefant Music Supervision. I like music, but also cinema, that’s what I studied. Our first major project, embarking on an audiovisual production from a script, was like in 2007 with the film Me tooin which there is a lot of music by Elefant and Guille de La Casa Azul composed the incidental music and the main song for the film, a song which, by the way, won a Goya and which was a film which has started as a very independent and small project, then it had a very, very important international tour.
Then we did original music for a lot of TV series, shows like jelly jam which have been issued virtually worldwide to newer things like the case of Elitein which Paulina (her music supervisor) thought it would be cool in a special episode of Elite tribute to almodóvar make a version of I will resist of Dynamic Duo what rings at the end of Adam In the series, the protagonists watch the film in a drive-in and then unite it with a calmer version in charge of La Bien Querida due to the situation that arises between them all.
We heard these artists in the series, will we see them in them?
Some of our artists have appeared in series, Solea Morente made of Jeannette in the series night kingsand came out singing and performing Face to faceand a whole new group of Elephant, Pipiolas, they will appear in a new series singing 2 of their songs. And like that a lot more things in series, movies and advertising.