The Synergy of Music Bios and the Soundtrack

In recent years, the big talk about synergy between films and music has centered on soundtrack albums, which use the widespread exposure of a hit song as a promotional boost for an upcoming movie. But Rhino Films head Stephen Nemeth, one of the producers of “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” sees his film as just the first in a wave of music biography films.

“Music biographies provide the most pure form of synergy between a film and music company,” he says. “With soundtrack albums doing so well these days, music has become such a powerful source of revenue for the movie business that if you can make music an organic part of your film, you have a whole new way of selling a picture. It’s the ultimate cross-pollination.”

Founded in 1977, Rhino Records pioneered the art of putting old music in new packages, offering such compilations as “Beg Scream and Shout: The Big Old Box of Soul” and “Have a Nice Day: Super Hits of the ‘70s.” It recently formed Rhino Films as a way to adapt music-based subjects into film. The film division is still a long way from hitting pay dirt. Its first feature, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” made at Universal Pictures, was a bomb, while “Fools” has performed poorly at the box office.

But Rhino has a host of music-biography projects in development that Nemeth believes have commercial potential. The list includes films based on Otis Redding, Johnny Rotten, the Monkees, Robert Johnson and Flo Greenberg, founder of Scepter Records.

For Nemeth, a key ingredient for success is reaching two separate audiences: baby boomers who remember the original artist and today’s youth audience, who might be energized by a soundtrack filled with songs by hip-hop or modern rock artists. With that in mind, “Why Do Fools” was accompanied by two separate soundtracks: an Elektra Records “inspired by the movie” album with new songs by such current R&B; and hip-hop artists as Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Melanie B. and En Vogue, and a Rhino soundtrack with period music by Lyman and other artists.

There is no better advertising for a film than having a hit single playing on the radio for weeks before a film opens, its chorus broadcasting the film’s title over and over. But even though the movie and the “inspired by” soundtrack were both released by Time Warner companies, there was little synergy-style cooperation.

Elektra’s soundtrack included an updated version of “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” but it wasn’t released as a single; the label chose to promote three other singles instead. Warner Films operated under its own agenda as well. Worried about rival film competition, the studio moved up “Fools’ ” release date nearly two months, so that when the movie opened Aug. 28, it was in the theaters 10 days before the soundtrack album was in record stores.

“It’s difficult to accommodate a lot of different agendas,” Nemeth says. “But once movie and music companies see the value of working in tandem, they’ll do a better job of coordinating. It’s like planning a wedding--you really want everyone to get to the altar at the same time.”