Heard "Harbor" at the grocery store

[Fred]

Still haven't heard any of Vienna's music at the CVS or wherever, but I had a nice surprise last night. I turned on the TV and there was Vienna, singing Between on Deadliest Catch. (I'd seen that episode before, but I wasn't looking for it last night--took me by surprise.) What I hadn't noticed before was that they used the instrumental bridge for the end credits of the show.

[Ang Mo]

I remember the Man in Blue mentioning that Vienna's music was used in a Lifetime channel movie or television show as well. I have watched that episode of Deadliest Catch several years ago and was smiliing when I heard Vienna's music show up on that. If you shop at a retail store called Kohl's you will hear Vienna's music for sure and like I said I got a big kick out of hearing Harbor at the Grocery store.

[Fred]

I remember the Man in Blue mentioning that Vienna's music was used in a Lifetime channel movie or television show as well. I have watched that episode of Deadliest Catch several years ago and was smiliing when I heard Vienna's music show up on that. If you shop at a retail store called Kohl's you will hear Vienna's music for sure and like I said I got a big kick out of hearing Harbor at the Grocery store.

Yeah, I remember hearing that Vienna was played at Kohl's. I drop in there 2 or 3 times a year, maybe. World's best source for cheap luau shirts. I spend very little time in stores except for our local King Kullen supermarket, whose soundtrack is 60's classic rock, so my chances of hearing Vienna in a store are pretty low. But if she's played, I won't miss it; I'm the sort of person who picks music out of the background all the time--bothering movie companions with observations about the soundtrack, etc. In fact, for my ears, "background music" is an oxymoron. I've told the story several times by now that I discovered Vienna's music while researching what I thought was a Tori song I heard in Pathmark. If I'd had an iPhone with one of those whizbang apps (what's it called?) that identifies music, I'd have found out what the song was (and I never have), and never found out about Vienna. Life is full of strange happenstances.

[Ang Mo]

I discovered Vienna by accident browsing through another internet musical website. It was just a great piece of luck Not just for her singing but the whole phenomena of Vienna Teng. She reminds me of a female Tom Bombadil. The ring has no power over her.

[Fred]

The 'net has been good for Vienna. That guy who runs Radio Paradise sure loves her stuff, and she pops up on Pandora any time you set up a station based on a female singer-songwriter/folkie/pianist.

[Fred]

I still haven't heard Vienna's music in a store, but a couple of nights ago I dreamed that I did. Don't remember what song, or what store. Does that count in this thread, the one on dreams featuring Vienna (which I've never had either), both, or neither?

[Ang Mo]

I still haven't heard Vienna's music in a store, but a couple of nights ago I dreamed that I did.

I kind of was thinking in my own drinking a diet coke sort of way about how Vienna mentioned on her first Q&A on the forum she imagined herself as a secret agent. I kind of thought of that and smiled. I could not envision her personality in the Bond music but this tremendous soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith for In Like Flint at youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9FWUlLtAeQ captures the Singing Hobbit with the song Your Zowie Face Here it is presented in the instrumental form, but at the end of the movie they have the words. That is the music going through my head as I imagine her walking around the University of Michigan campus as that undercover spy, musician, and student.

Am I crazy? Most likely. The song fits though.

[argos]

Harbor was playing on the plane intercom while we waited to disembark at the end of American Airlines flight 1285 from DC to Dallas yesterday. Nobody else really seemed to be paying attention, but for me it sure made the usually frustrating process of waiting for everyone to get off the plane a whole lot more enjoyable!

[CrazyOne]

I did hear Harbor in a store a couple weeks ago. Just wanted to point out that what all these places have in common is that they typically subscribe to a service that provides the overhead music. There are a wide variety of packages this can be. Muzak is probably the best known company in that business but I think there are others as well.

So clearly someone at one or more of these outfits has decided Vienna's music fits well with certain playlists. Can't really see that as a bad thing, to expose more people to the music. Although really, in these background music settings, it's not likely too many people are going to go "Wow, what's that song?" Although perhaps the advent of smartphone apps like Shazam (identifies songs from the audio playing) makes it a little more likely than before. Since these services aren't controlled at the store level, the people working there aren't likely to know the songs if someone asks, unless they themselves have been curious and looked them up. I think the people who work in the stores tend to tune out the overhead because the music probably repeats after a few hours or so, plus being there daily and hearing the same stuff.

[Fred]

I did hear Harbor in a store a couple weeks ago. Just wanted to point out that what all these places have in common is that they typically subscribe to a service that provides the overhead music. There are a wide variety of packages this can be. Muzak is probably the best known company in that business but I think there are others as well.

So clearly someone at one or more of these outfits has decided Vienna's music fits well with certain playlists. Can't really see that as a bad thing, to expose more people to the music. Although really, in these background music settings, it's not likely too many people are going to go "Wow, what's that song?" Although perhaps the advent of smartphone apps like Shazam (identifies songs from the audio playing) makes it a little more likely than before. Since these services aren't controlled at the store level, the people working there aren't likely to know the songs if someone asks, unless they themselves have been curious and looked them up. I think the people who work in the stores tend to tune out the overhead because the music probably repeats after a few hours or so, plus being there daily and hearing the same stuff.

I'm sure that's right, in almost all locations. I remember going into a furniture store once that had this incredible singer-songwriter playlist on "muzak" (which as you say may or may not have been from Muzak), but I doubt that any of the other customers or the staff even noticed. One fairly major exception: coffeehouses such as Starbucks, where they sell some of what they play. Presumably people are paying more attention there. I heard that Josh Ritter's great album from last year was sold in Starbucks, for instance.

A story I've told (maybe too many times) before relates: I discovered Vienna's music after I heard a song I thought was by Tori Amos on "muzak" in a supermarket. Since I didn't have Shazam I tried to identify it using web tools that play similarity-designed playlists, including Pandora, where I first heard Lullabye for a Stormy Night, and later other Vienna songs. Ironically, I've never found the song I was trying to identify.

[cmooreNC]

But the revenue from "muzak" style services, for the artist, is extremely important. It can mean "making a good living" or not, that's for sure, as these are "pay to play" services. So although exposure to a listening audience is always good (whether that audience actually knows what it's hearing, or not), the revenue stream generated by this type of exposure is crucial. Just something to keep in mind....

[Fred]

But the revenue from "muzak" style services, for the artist, is extremely important. It can mean "making a good living" or not, that's for sure, as these are "pay to play" services. So although exposure to a listening audience is always good (whether that audience actually knows what it's hearing, or not), the revenue stream generated by this type of exposure is crucial. Just something to keep in mind....

Like streaming, it must be small on a per-play basis, but it could add up. I heard Dar Williams call this kind of stuff "mailbox money".

[cmooreNC]

Indeed, "mailbox money" can really add up. Mac McAnally (of Jimmy Buffet's Coral Reefer Band fame) always talks about the concept at his own shows..... how great it is to leave the house, walk down the driveway to the mailbox, and walk back to house with a check. As a writer who has written quite a few songs that others have had significant success with, this is apparently one of his primary sources of income - the monthly royalty checks. He states that it has definitely helped put his kids through college. And I'm sure that he does pretty well working with Jimmy, and producing, and being one of the most sought after session players in Nashville, too, so for him to mention his "mailbox money" the way he does, gives me the impression that it's pretty significant - at least for him.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the main benefits of these types of cash flows is the "regularity" with which the checks arrive. Even if you're not currently out on the road, or moving a new recording of your own, or working on someone else's record - the check arrives in the mailbox. Undoubtedly that's quite comforting if an artist is otherwise going through a dry spell. Regular paychecks are not all that common for most professional musicians, I imagine.

[Fred]

Indeed, "mailbox money" can really add up.

I recently saw Carrie Rodriguez singing duets with Chip Taylor. (That's how she got her start, and they've released a retrospective album on those years--it's good!) I had never heard of Chip, but it turns out he's been a songwriter much longer, and more consistently, than a performer, first in rock and then in country. (His early stuff includes "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning"--really!) I'll bet his mailbox money is his major income source.

[cmooreNC]

(His early stuff includes "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning"--really!) I'll bet his mailbox money is his major income source.

Waaaait a minute! You're telling me that those two songs were written by the same person?! ~clunk~ (sound of me hitting the floor)

Holy moly!