miami vice was a massive inflection. up until then tv shows had bad music in the background. crockett and tubs brought music irl to tv and vice versa. mtv-lite on network channels.
I wonder: is the Kate Bush Effect a result of middle-aged music supervisors (mostly male) choosing personal nostalgia over present-day relevance? Or are the record labels pushing old music to get the ROI on buy back catalogs from musicians/estates aging out?
This breakdown of Sony's soundtrack strategy is absolutley fascinating. The shift from commissioning original hits to mining nostalgic archives makes perfect sense when you look at streaming incentives—why invest in new music when Spotify barely compensates anyone? I remember discovering "Running Up That Hill" through Stranger Things and it felt like finding buried treasure, even tho the song was older than me lol. The whole Kate Bush Effect thing really captures how modern entertainment has become a reheating machine for cultural classics.
i got chills. they’re multiplyin’.
miami vice was a massive inflection. up until then tv shows had bad music in the background. crockett and tubs brought music irl to tv and vice versa. mtv-lite on network channels.
I wonder: is the Kate Bush Effect a result of middle-aged music supervisors (mostly male) choosing personal nostalgia over present-day relevance? Or are the record labels pushing old music to get the ROI on buy back catalogs from musicians/estates aging out?
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Glad you put this data to use. Great write up!
California Suite and The Sandpiper are my favorite movie soundtracks
This breakdown of Sony's soundtrack strategy is absolutley fascinating. The shift from commissioning original hits to mining nostalgic archives makes perfect sense when you look at streaming incentives—why invest in new music when Spotify barely compensates anyone? I remember discovering "Running Up That Hill" through Stranger Things and it felt like finding buried treasure, even tho the song was older than me lol. The whole Kate Bush Effect thing really captures how modern entertainment has become a reheating machine for cultural classics.