Is Music The Comic Book Industry's New Secret Weapon?
First of all, thanks to
Cherie Hu for this article.
Bandcamp, one of the most popular direct-to-fan platforms among independent and emerging musicians today, is usually not frequented by fictional characters. Yet, in an intriguing turn of events, one of the site’s newest members is a comic book superhero.
DC Comics superheroine Black Canary has a new EP on her own Bandcamp website, titled Kicking and Screaming. A collection of “songs for broken gods and superwomen” whose electrorock feel has been compared to Metric, the EP supplements the graphic novel of the same name, in which Black Canary sings lead vocals for her self-titled band that she also trains to become a superhero team. The songs feature the writing and performing talents of Black Canary co-author Brenden Fletcher and Montreal-based musicians Joseph Donovan (of Receivers) and Michelle Benison (of Caveboy). It is unclear whether Black Canary will go on tour in person, but the DC Comics website provides a simple warning: “Hitting a Black Canary gig is a potentially dangerous endeavour if untrained in self-defence.”
For an industry that has historically taken the film and TV worlds by storm with record-breaking box office hits and popular Netflix series, pursuing original music this deeply is an unexpected and refreshing move for comic book publishers. The partnership points to a growing trend of cross-pollination among creative industries, as companies strive to design experiences that both re-engage current customers and attract new ones. A collaboration between music and comics in particular alludes to the “necessity of brands to engage more with transmedia storytelling,” Larry Weintraub, Chief Innovation Officer of The Marketing Arm, told Forbes. “You need to build and continue a story in many ways, both on and off the page.”
Aside from improved messaging, transmedia storytelling also encourages a more strategic use of entertainment as a problem-solving tool, rather than simply as a money-making gimmick. The problems to be solved in Black Canary’s case were clear: how can you really get to know a comic-book band without hearing their music? On a more general level, amidst seemingly endless reboots and spin-offs of A-list comic characters like Spiderman and Batman, how does one bring more attention and sustainable fame to B- and C-list characters? Music can add a dimension of textural and emotional depth to characters that visuals alone could not achieve, while also bringing in unsuspecting audiences.
The Black Canary project also seems to address many problems in the music industry at large. With the economic and technological tumult of recent years, music companies are in a constant search for three things: new revenue sources, unconventional distribution channels, and fresh storytelling angles. While news such as the RIAA’s incorporation of streams into gold and platinum certifications shows that the industry is already implementing new metrics for success, the continual decline of physical sales amplifies the demand for alternative sources of more tangible, visual and visceral music consumption experiences. Hence, the music-comics partnership could be symbiotic, alleviating internal challenges while allowing both media to break new ground in their craft.
Why hasn’t music been given more of a spotlight in comics in the past? In fact, music already plays an important role in comic film franchises, with soundtracks often written by award-winning composers such as John Powell (X-Men: The Last Stand) and the late James Horner (The Amazing Spider-Man). Yet, innovation even on that spectrum seems to be declining, with the same comic-film music motifs being recycled continuously in the mainstream, amounting to little more than a “stiff collection of orchestral cues.” In an attempt to diversify both genres and audiences, Marvel has previously collaborated with Wind-Up Records, whose best-selling artists include Creed and Evanescence, on compilations of songs inspired by films like Daredevil and Elektra. The songs in these albums, however, are usually not even included in the films themselves, and therefore could feel detached from and irrelevant to the core comic book experience.
Integrating music more directly into comic book plots is an immense challenge and, ironically, works best when the storytelling in the music itself takes a backseat. Kicking and Screaming is not a substitute for reading the Black Canary comics, but rather a complementary creation that provides deeper insight into the story’s characters. In general, music works best as an auxiliary platform for expressing mood and emotion, rather than as the sole responsible storytelling agent; it supplements, rather than replaces, how a character’s reverence and fame are built over time. The way music is incorporated into video games is similar: the background music certainly enhances the gameplay, but you cannot understand the plot of a game just by listening to that music in isolation.
Another challenge in creating convincing musical content for comics is that comic fans are masters at detecting authenticity, or lack thereof. They exhibit a distinctly strong level of loyalty to their favorite characters, often viewing these characters as extensions of themselves, and are therefore quick to call out the slightest lack of ingenuity either in the content or in how this content is distributed. The introduction of music, therefore, should be done with gravitas and respect for the comics world and its history, which Kicking and Screaming pulls off quite well.
Regardless of the success of Black Canary’s musical endeavors, music will not be as important of a revenue stream to the comics world as film and TV have been, simply because historical financial figures for these sectors do not align. Consider, for instance, how Katy Perry topped Forbes’ list of highest-paid musicians in 2015 by making $135 million that year—less than one-tenth of the revenue generated by the first Avengers film, which ultimately grossed over $1.4 billion. Moreover, in releasing their own music, comic characters would be competing with an industry that is already so overcrowded with content and neck-deep in solving its own dilemmas around consumer engagement. It is difficult to get people to pay attention to you as an artist, and comic book characters would be no exception.
Nonetheless, collaborations between the music and comics industries provide both interesting content for fans and more strategic value for businesses. “There is something inherently interesting about two creative businesses, each with their own distinct way in which they go to market, collaborating on content from the ground up,” Andre Gaccetta, CEO of G7 Entertainment Marketing, tells Forbes. “Beyond the creative processes, they can also use each other’s marketing and sync arms to reach consumers in a cadence that is mutually beneficial.” Christian Henderson, Talent Buyer and Account Executive at G7, adds that using tools across all media “helps brands understand their consumers better. As entertainment marketers, we are always looking for that holistic approach, as it helps us gain insight into the broader scope of what people consume.“
It is still ambiguous whether music-comic collaborations will actually become a trend. Kanye West’s declaration that “every superhero needs his theme music” is untrue. While music’s new place in comics can take the financial models for characters like Black Canary to a whole new level, the approach will work only with the right kinds of stories—characters who lead bands, for example—and is not generalizable to everyone. As FX’s chief executive John Landgraf asserted in an interviewwith the New York Times, media innovation is all about fitting “the business model to the artist, not the artist to the business model.” It is important to cater to artists’ and characters’ unique needs, instead of going for homogenization of an industry and over-reliance on just one strategy.
Only time will tell to what extent music will be integrated into the comics world, and vice versa. Perhaps we will see more comic characters singing or playing guitar in the future, thanks to Black Canary’s step forward; perhaps more musicians of all career stages will want to partner with comic publishers to pursue more inventive content. “The interweaving of comic books into pop culture has never been seen like this before,” notes Henderson, “and none of it’s going to slow down anytime soon.”
