Might soundtrack recordings to accompany our books be the next big thing?RCRD LBL and Virgin Books are going to be launching the soundtrack to Tim Molloy’s debut novel How to Break Bad News at a party tonight. The music was conceived by Eric Steuer of Meanest Man Contest and features songs by a number of bands, and you can download it from the website.*
The reasoning behing the move? Says Molloy:
Why put out a soundtrack for a book? Well, why not put out a soundtrack for a book? Movies, TV shows, and video games have them - so why should books get left out in the cold? ... People complain about the Internet pulling people away from books, and this seemed like a perfect way to pull people back. The gorgeous songs on the soundtrack add to the spirit and emotion of the book in ways I'd never imagined. Some people will discover the book through the songs, and some the songs through the book.(The trailer for the book is pretty intruiging too.)
Now if all that sounds a bit gimmicky, another author putting out an accompanying sountrack is ... Margaret Atwood!
Her dystopian novel The Year of the Flood is to be published in September and includes the text of 14 hymns, which Ms. Atwood is having a composer set to music, so that the novel will have its own CD.
All that remains to ask is ... which of your favourite books would you like to have a soundtrack for and what do you think should be on it?
(*Thanks, Grace, for sending me this link!)
