Taking a deeper look at “The Twilight Effect”

These days, it’s hard to refer to the Twilight series as anything less than a “cultural phenomenon.” However, even that phrase doesn’t completely convey the magnitude of these films: Each year, they are destined to shatter box office records. And, in turn, each public appearance from Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson is certain to cause a small riot.
But, additionally, in a time when most film soundtracks consist of bland cover songs or forgettable B-sides, Twilight has embraced the idea of actually capturing a moment in time—and, with the guidance of author Stephanie Meyer, as well as famed music supervisor Alex Patsavas, the powerful franchise has helped spawn three of the most successful soundtracks in recent memory.
But why exactly have the Twilight soundtracks provided such career-making experiences for both relative newcomers as well as already well-established artists? “The special thing about this whole franchise is that everyone involved is very giddy about it,” explains Livia Tortella, who is the General Manager and Executive Vice President at Atlantic Records and Patsavas’ label Chop Shop. (Atlantic and Chop Shop have released all three soundtracks.) “Everyone involved is a fan of the franchise, from the artists to the people behind the scenes to the film company. I think that’s the secret sauce.”
Having the lead single for the soundtrack can introduce your band to an entirely new demographic—and can transform independent artists into household names. The numbers don’t lie. In early 2008 Paramore were popular enough to land themselves on the cover of Alternative Press, but they certainly weren’t the arena-worthy act that they are today.
While the Twilight franchise certainly can’t take full responsibility for that, the fact that their song “Decode” was the first single from the series undoubtedly helped the band make this transition. The single eventually went platinum and was nominated for a Grammy. It also caused a spike in sales for the band’s 2007 album RIOT!. By late 2008, when the first installment of Twilight fever was at its peak, “Decode” was selling over 100,000 copies a week, while RIOT! was selling over 17,000 copies a week.
The following year, the New Moon soundtrack was released and featured a lineup that included alternative rock icons such as Thom Yorke, as well as critically acclaimed indie acts like Grizzly Bear. The first single off of New Moon was Death Cab For Cutie’s “Meet Me On The Equinox,” a seemingly unlikely choice considering that many of the band’s fans are in a slightly older demographic than the typical Twilight fan.
But, to hear Death Cab For Cutie’s manager Jordan Kurland tell it, the decision was “a no brainer.” Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Walla, as well as bassist Nick Harmer, were both fans of the novels. And Death Cab were in incredibly good company. “We knew the soundtrack was going to have a different feel. If they had come in and said, ‘we’re going to go even harder’ that wouldn’t have made sense,” Kurland says. “But we knew it would be more of an indie soundtrack.”
Kurland also notes that, aside from the time that frontman Ben Gibbard worked on the Kurt Cobain documentary About A Son, this was the first time that the band had written a song specifically for a film. “Death Cab have been doing this for 12 years, so new experiences and opportunities are hard to come by,” Kurland says with a laugh. “This definitely fell into that category.”
While it’s difficult to say exactly how Death Cab For Cutie’s experience on the Twilight soundtrack has affected their demographics at shows—the band literally haven’t played a concert since the soundtrack came out—Kurland acknowledges that the experience was definitely a positive one.
“Unquestionably, people who were not familiar with Death Cab are now familiar with them,” he admits. “Whether that converges to those people being fans, buying the next record and coming to shows remains to be seen. But certainly being associated with the Twilight saga is a much bigger stage than they’ve ever been at. This is a very successful band. But Twilight is an absolute phenomenon.”
Like Paramore, Kurland acknowledges that “more than a year-and-a-half after [the last Death Cab album] Narrow Stairs came out, there was definitely a surge around the release of Twilight in terms of sales.”

Sales for Paramore’s second album jumped nearly 20 percent after being included on the soundtrack for the first film

That said, the basic fact still remains: No matter how towering these movies get, the people involved in the Twilight saga have an ear for what will work. And that is the main reason why these soundtracks have continued to thrive.
But how exactly does that all-important lead single get selected? “As far as writing an original piece to be the first single, we approach some of the artists we think would be a good partner for the franchise,” Tortella explains. “In all three cases [the most recent lead single belonged to Muse], we approached the band and said ‘We want you to be the lead single, so get into the story and write something that mirrors the sentiment of the movie.’”
All of which leads to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which hit theaters this week and was once again music supervised by Patsavas. The soundtrack features artists like Vampire Weekend, Band Of Horses and, of course, Muse. Though that bands’ contribution, “Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever),” didn’t make a colossal impact at alternative rock radio (unlike most of the band’s singles, it hasn’t yet cracked the Top 10), the soundtrack itself has been a huge success.
Upon its release, it debuted at Number Two with 144,000 copies sold. Nearly a month later, it’s still in the Top 10. “I think it’s the best one ever,” Tortella says. “With New Moon we introduced the idea that every song is exclusive to the soundtrack—and that’s a really big part of it. Every song here has been exclusively written and prepared to be a part of this, so it’s really quite amazing. The caliber of bands, the songs… it’s the best one.”
Instead of just being included on the soundtrack for Eclipse, the indie rock band Metric also had the opportunity to score the movie’s theme alongside composer (and fellow Canadian) Howard Shore. The song, “Eclipse (All Yours),” was rolled out as the soundtrack’s second single this week.
“I’ve always really admired Howard Shore’s work and career, so getting a call from him was amazing,” Metric leader Emily Haines recounts, as if she can’t quite believe it herself. “I’ve never done anything like that before; he had written the key and most of the progression of the score and he just wanted us to write the culminating moment of the film. So we watched the film and then tried to express Bella’s point of view.”
Yet, even if Haines says she had an incredible experience working with Shore, she isn’t sure that being on the soundtrack will have the same impact for Metric as it did on some of Twilight’s previous breakout artists.“My prediction is that it won’t really [have much of an impact],” she says. “We’re on such a path and we’ve carved our own road and this is an amazing moment. But I know it’s not going to significantly alter our way forward. We’ve always had an unusual mix of people [at our shows] and I don’t think that’s going to change significantly.”
Haines will admit that, as someone who eschews pop culture, she’s only recently grasped what a huge deal it is to be part of the Twilight franchise. “It’s in the last week or so that we’ve seen people’s reactions and what I find so odd is how everyone has an opinion on Twilight,” she says. “To me it’s Romeo And Juliet with vampires and werewolves. But it seems to really hit a nerve,” she says, legitimately mulling it over.
“I don’t know… maybe it’s the cool soundtrack.”

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~Robstenfan