Words You Can Use: The BAVC BLOG

by Carol Varney, BAVC Director of Development

Today’s blog post is brought to you by the serendipity that is the airport shuttle van. It was on such a van leaving the Sundance Film Festival for the Salt Lake City airport that I, by chance, met Lyle Hysen, founder of Bank Robber Music - an indie music licensing company. Lyle was at Sundance because he was one of the music supervisors for the film Choke, which screened at Sundance and was subsequently bought by Fox Searchlight (one of those “rare” success stories from Sundance this year. Or so they say).

On a recent trip to New York, I had the opportunity to sit down with Lyle at his office on Wall Street (according to the security guard at the front desk, the piece of art on the wall in the lobby cost $3 million, and she didn’t think it was worth it) to ask him about Bank Robber Music, how it started, and his thoughts on indie music in big and small budget features, television shows, and documentaries.

Before we started talking, Lyle warned me that our conversation would be full of swear words and that the conversation might sound a little disjointed, but I thought it all turned out ok. You can decide for yourself . . .

How did you decide to start Bank Robber Music?

Lyle: I was at Matador Records for 10 years running their publishing company and doing their licensing work, and when my wife and I had our first child, Charlotte, I realized that I wanted more flexible hours and to have screaming children as assistants. So I eventually left Matador to start my own company. I consider founding the company to be a post-birth hormonal decision. My very supportive wife encouraged the idea, and now I get to work with all kinds of bands and labels that I like.

So, what exactly do you do?

Lyle: My job is to get music supervisors music that doesn’t suck. Basically, I get music from labels, and I work with the music
supervisors and editors who are hired by television shows, ad agencies, feature films, and documentaries to put songs in place.
Music supervisors get zillions of cds from everywhere, and I hope that after they work with us they will think of Bank Robber as the place that gets really good music to them.

There are about 600 music supervisors in the industry and maybe 50 of them like to use indie music. There is still an old guard way of thinking, especially at a lot of major film studios. Most music supervisors call the major labels or publishers with the popular music asking about Nielsen SoundScan numbers and crap like that because they don’t think about indie musicians. Basically it’s like a bigger version of high school with the jocks being the major labels/publisher.

(Sidenote: Lyle confesses that he was beaten up for wearing black in high school and was pleased when he found a slightly safer place in the world while in college.)

How do you find new musicians to work with?

Lyle: I am very lucky and am in a good position because Bank Robber actually has enough musicians and labels that we don’t really have to look for more. Bands and labels write to me all the time and I have to turn down good stuff. I hate turning stuff down, but I am really dedicated to the labels that have hired me.

(Bank Robber’s labels include Quannum Projects, Caldo Verde, Merge, Barsuk, Modular, Thrill Jockey and Misra - the label the puts out the records of Jenny Toomey, who is now a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, which is a BAVC funder. The world is small.)

So how does music get chosen for different projects? Do you choose it or does the music supervisor?

Lyle: There are two ways that this works. One way is that I mail out cds to the supervisors who listen to them and hopefully they pick the tracks on their own.

Then there is the pitching process, where I suggest artists or songs to the supervisors. I have supervisors who write all the time and say “I need something that sounds like last night’s dinner,” or, “I need something that sounds like a rainy Thursday afternoon.” One project I just did a pitch for is the straight-to-video film called “Bill and Ted’s Friggin’ Bad Ass Voyage.”

Do you think there is a type of band that gets picked more often than others?

Lyle: Sometimes we just sit here saying “someone has to use that song, it has to happen,” and eventually it does. But there are bands that never get placed, and I can’t always say why. The noisy record with the Scottish rogue recorded in mono might be hard placement. In the end I feel like it comes down to great things happening to good bands, but really the exact formula for getting a song placed doesn’t exist.

Do you have any advice for documentary filmmakers who are looking to license music?

Lyle: Documentarians need to know that they don’t need to have a ton of money to license music; it’s the same for all filmmakers. They just need to be open-minded and listen to all kinds of music. Filmmakers often have temp-love: they fall in love with the song they made the film to. They want The Beatles because The Beatles are the band they listened to when they made the film. I want to help everyone find music that might work as well as The Beatles, but they have to understand that not every song will be in their price range. And no, I don’t work with the Beatles.

What is the worst part about your job?

Lyle: Chasing studios or filmmakers to pay us. At the end of the day I have to do it and it sucks. In 15 years of doing this I’ve had two people not pay.

What is the best part about your job?

Lyle: Getting bands money. I’ve gotten the best phone calls, like the ones from musicians that say “We can tour Europe now!” I
personally was once in a unhappy band that had no money. I am not being Robin Hood, I am getting paid, but getting a band a good placement means I help bands do other things. Being in a band can suck, worrying about money, being broke on the road, and if I can make a guy or gal happy rocking then it’s great. I have one group that calls their house “the house that Bank Robber built”! I don’t think it is a very fancy house, but still…. The good phone call makes it all worth it.

What’s been a highlight?

Lyle: One of them is that I got Cobra Verde in an episode on The OC as a Foreigner cover band. They are old school and had just put out an album of covers. The music supervisor called to say she couldn’t find a Foreigner cover band, I said I had a crazy idea, and it totally worked. They flew them in and made them wear some ridiculous clothes and it was pretty classic. I’m still shocked that it all worked out.

So has your plan to have a more flexible schedule? when was the most ridiculous time you took a call from a supervisor?

Lyle: At the hospital waiting for the birth of kid number two (Juliet), I had 24 hours to wait, and let’s be honest, I had nothing to do! So while my wife was sleeping I got a call to place something in CSI, and I took the call! The supervisor was shocked, but hey the song was placed. I mean, really, I wasn’t doing anything….and besides, if I’m not available, the supervisors could go somewhere else and the deal is dead.

Thanks, Lyle, for taking the time to talk with me about what you do.