Sliding Into Profits
Goo Goo Dolls assume role of movie studio darling

by ERIC BOEHLERT

Meet Hollywood's favorite new rock band, the Goo Goo Dolls. Movie executives can't seem to get enough of the Buffalo, N.Y.-based pop band as they license Goo Goo Dolls' acoustic rock songs at a dizzying pace. Turn on the TV today and odds are you'll see a commercial for a new flick featuring a Goo Goo Dolls song. Already, three songs off the band's latest album, Dizzy Up the Girl, have been licensed by studios, yet only one of those songs appears on a movie soundtrack. That, of course, is "Iris," which is featured on both Dizzy and the soundtrack to City of Angels. The song was one of the biggest radio hits of 1998 and helped the soundtrack sell four million copies. Perhaps buoyed by that success, other movie producers began swooping in. Universal Pictures quickly began using the Goo Goo Dolls' "Black Balloon" to promote the studio's ill-fated Brad Pitt movie, Meet Joe Black. And now the folks at Paramount are featuring the band's latest single, "Slide," on TV spots for the upcoming Jon Stewart movie Playing by Heart. But don't go looking for "Black Balloon" or "Slide" on any soundtracks -- Meet Joe Black's soundtrack consists entirely of the instrumental score by Thomas Mann, while Playing By Heart features songs by Bonnie Raitt, Ben Lee, Gomez and Cracker. What's going on? In a recent trend among Hollywood marketers, studios no longer restrict themselves to soundtrack songs to promote their films. Instead, they simply look for the best music to sell their movie, regardless of whether it's actually affiliated with the film. "You can't always get your music from the soundtrack on the [TV] trailer," explains one major label executive. "Ultimately, it's up to the movie company [with respect to] what music tests the best with the audience they're going after. It's always kind of a head-scratcher." Recent examples of this phenomena include TV commercials for Jerry Maguire, featuring Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door"; Hope Floats, featuring Live's "Lightning Crashes"; and The Horse Whisperer, featuring the Pretenders' "I'll Stand By You." None of those songs appear in the movie or on accompanying soundtracks. For the Goo Goo Dolls, interest from Hollywood means more money in the form of licensing agreements, but not as much as you might think. Unlike most advertisers, such as sneaker companies or car makers, who purchase the rights to a song for a year, movie studios often strike deals that cover as little as one six-week period (because movies come and go so quickly), which means smaller payments to the band. Nonetheless, the non-stop exposure can't hurt.