Annie is featured again in Amazon's second Kindle Commercial series. Annie and Marcus' song Stole My Heart is penned under their recording duo name Little & Ashley. Check it out!

We’re pretty sure that we (meaning, really, Optic Noise) have just turned ten. Or maybe it’s nine. Evidence pointing to this vague suspicion: 1. We’ve just finished our 30th compilation; 2. It’s kind of been a really long time since we’ve been licensing music (or “pitching the tunes”, or “plugging the tracks” or whatever the kids are calling it these days) and 3. We just ate an enormous piece of cake that, aside from birthday associations, made us think that perhaps we should take a walk tomorrow at the very least.

We've also heard that there is some sort of music convention or other that is taking place in, of all locations, Austin, Texas, and so we thought we’d go. Okay, it’s been a couple of years since we’ve been, and it’s time to partake in some BBQ, grape Nehi, free beer, sun and—if we’re really, really lucky—seeing you.

In the meantime, here’s our latest round, all of which we hope you’ll love, want and need.

Check them out on our home page and enjoy.

CURTAINS FOR YOU
We do like us some Northwest. The band’s Seattle-based label Spark & Shine reports that Curtains For You are the nicest guys ever. Ever. They also have recorded a great album lush with power pop gems ala Jellyfish, soaring harmonies, thickly layered instrumentation and all. Confident, celebratory and rich in melody.

BILLY & DOLLY
Billy & Dolly’s debut lays ground for a refreshing renewal of power pop ala Big Star, Material Issue, The Posies and all others of that ilk who have gone before them. Bright and jangly, with a sweet musical straightforwardness, the San Francisco based group creates some sunny lightness.

IVES THE BAND
Big lush, and beautifully produced, Ives The Band offers a Coldplay-esque depth to its pop forthrightness, complete with grand builds and waves of melodic confidence.

MIKE SIMMONS
While Joe Purdy comparisons come to mind immediately, Simmon’s ultimately personal and intimate stylings are his alone. Simmons’ folk ballads are sweetly atmospheric and quietly up close and intensely private.

ALSO WONDERFULLY WORKABLE AND REALLY, REALLY GOOD:

Cool, soaring alt rock from Rock Paper Pistols, lovely acoustic quietude from Portland’s Downpilot, classic rock inspired Lonely H, new release from sultry Boston-based Kim Taylor, and more loveliness thrown in.

Okay then, see you in Austin.

LOTS OF THINGS IN THE WORKS for Optic Noise and we’re all, like, totally excited about it. We’ve begun a series of commissioned artwork for our CD comps, just because, and our first series for 24 and 25 features graphics by Dave Gulick of the band Derby.

We’ve lined up a host of artists, so more to come by way of eye candy.

We’ve also brought on Rob Wells, formerly of the band Eleventeen and current manager of San Francisco band Magic Bullets, to help us fill in some pitching gaps. He’s ramped up and rearing to go, and will make a suitably awesome addition to Optic Noise.

As of next year, in conjunction with The Rights Workshop here in San Francisco, we will be handling the catalogue of Carly Simon. Currently, we’re working on some updated covers of her hits, and thus will soon be able to offer both sync and master on this hit artist catalogue. More details and a more official announcement to come early next year.

And lastly, we have some truly great music coming your way. New Sex & Reverb, some great rock en Espanol, and more artists from the incredibly music-rich Portland .

We’ve put this round of comps as encoded super high quality MP3’s, making for easy database loading. So it’ll be either an enormous, wondrous success, or possibly utter disaster. We’ll see.

Earlier this month Journey's summer-time classic "Don't Stop Believin'" became the first catalog track in history to sell over 2 million digital copies.

Back in the day, as it were, Journey was among the ranks of bands known as corporate rock (aka Arena Rock), alongside the likes of Foreigner, Boston and Styx. And go figure, say what you like, but those bands were, in actuality, pretty good. What differentiates Journey from, say, Boston--who, I dare say, were perhaps better than Journey--is its luck/savvy-ness at licensing the right song in the right place, at the right time.

Surely, older (oldish?) HBO Sopranos viewers watching that final episode were reminded of youthful times in the backseat of a car and immediately rushed to the closest computer to relive the moment courtesy of iTunes. Indeed, iTunes sales apparently spiked 482% during the airdate week. But similarly, the same track made it to iTunes Top 10 Singles a couple of years earlier, coinciding with the song's use in Fox's "Family Guy" and MTV's "Laguna Beach", boasting a younger demographic.

So maybe it's the pure white sugar sweetness of the song. Perhaps its eighties production doesn't completely overwhelm it in the same way it's victimized others of its ilk. Would Supertramp's "Give A Little Bit" or Boston's "More Than A Feeling" give "Don't Stop Believin'" a run for its number one place on iTunes? It may well depend solely on a good scene in a great series.

My life. Except without the beard. Or Arcade Fire.

I haven't see a Wienerschnitzel commercial of any kind here in the non-food chain land of San Francisco, but apparently Tullycraft hadn't seen one either until its song "Sweet" appeared, rather by surprise, on--well, you guessed it--a Wienerschnitzel commercial.

It seems like it went down like this. Tullycraft gets signed to the tiny Boston based Harriet Records and the label Darla, in turn, picks up the band's old Harriet catalog after Harriet becomes defunct. Tullycraft signs an agreement with Darla directly, but doesn't read it/understand it/loses page 5, etc. Darla licenses the song for the promotion of hot dog consumption and Tullycraft only later finds out what they're pitching.

Now the drama really starts and Darla at this point gets in on the action.

And Now, How Things Like This Can Be Avoided:

1. Band should really read agreement.
2. Label should really give band a heads up on what's coming down the pike.

Otherwise, it'll only end in tears.

Speaking of which, it just makes me sad getting arbitrary html emails in my in box. I get fancy color infused ones from the majors, budding music licensing competitors and other pitching-like agencies and ultimately, I greatly suspect, they don't work, at least not for me. There's nothing like a non-personal advertisement promoting (and to who? for what purpose?) music without a hint of what it sounds like, accompanied by unbacked up claims and quotes of faint praise. But really, I love this one. It's my favorite for so many reasons.

Why Things Like This Should Be Avoided:

1. Well, first off, the album cover alone...
2. 518% percent?!
3. I love. Just love. The quote. I know what instant reaction I had.

There are quite a few perverse products in which music is used beyond the film and TV world and here's a few of my licensing use roundups:

REAL INDUSTRIAL MUSIC!

Way back in the days of yore licensing preexisting music was rare and jingle writers abounded. Radio station WFMU offers a compilation of the finest industrial ditties written for the likes of Ford, Exxon and 7-11. They all rock, although Clark Equipment's Hooray For Human Engineering is a jingle writing feat in and of itself, if only for fitting the title into a melody.

While I have a personal connection to American Standard's Rosemary Clooney-esque My Bathroom Is A Private Kind of Place, there are others to which one might find some very special meaning or other. Case in point, one wonders why the dubiously named likes of Squibb Pharmaceuticals isn't still thriving to this day with a jingle such as this. Needless to say none of these songs will probably find their way on to Gray's Anatomy, but it does lend another dimension to the meaning of "selling out".

MUSIC GAMES WITHOUT MUSIC!

Next up, a lesson in how to create a music product without licensing any music. Hasbro releases the Music Edition of a game called Catch Phrase, in which participants must name a song title in response to a clue while being distracted by a repeating piece of very painful royalty free library music.

Clues include US Dummy (American Idiot), Brought Together Again (Reunited) and other ambiguously random hints and I am immediately surprised into thinking that the game is vaguely hip. Example: 123 and... Well, Go! by Tones On Tail, of course. Oh. No, wrong. Okay, Again and Again. Duh, Over and Over from Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. Nope. One more try: Not Going and Not Dead. Screw it, how about Bauhaus's Bela Lugosi's Dead (okay, random association kicks in). I give up and go home.

KIND OF CREEPY!

There's nothing inherently wrong per se with the concept: parents and children listen to a vaguely thematic selection of music (Music Talking, and About Goals and Values: Good Music. Good Times. Good Kids.) and then "discuss". In my family, most of the discussion might center around the inanity of Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy and emphatically and consistently skip over Matthew Wilder's track Break My Stride. God forbid any child show an interest deeper than the tracks listed; Ian Dury's Reasons To Be Cheerful is safe on surface level but deeper catalog exploration would inevitably dig up his better songs like, oh, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. Good thing there's a guided discussion book or families across America would be lost.

KIND OF WRONG!

Every election year this happens. A Republican candidate inevitably chooses something they deem hip and cool and usurp it without any given thought to the human being who actually created the music or that musician's inevitable political leanings. This year, apparent Medal of Honor: European Assault fan John McCain uses Barack Obama supporter Christopher Lennertz's composed game music for a campaign ad.