A few weeks ago, while watching an episode of NBC’s Chuck, I found myself enjoying the intentionally eccentric rendition of Toto’s 1982 hit “Africa,” played by the in-show band Jeffster. I’d never cared for the song in the past, but after the episode was over, I nonetheless ended up on YouTube listening to it a few more times. In the comments for the “Trouble in Dreams” review yesterday, I mentioned that I find it interesting when I listen to the exact same song twice, yet have two completely different experiences. In the case of Destroyer, this effect is due to the music itself; however, I think that movies and tv shows can often cause the same change in perception of music (even when the quality of the music might be questionable).

In the Sopranos series finale last year, Journey’s 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” plays over the closing scene, as Tony and his family sit to eat at a diner. According the The Guardian, sales of this song increased by 482% in the three days following the finale. Similarly, when this song played during a 2003 episode of NBC’s Scrubs, overall retail sales of Journey’s “Greatest Hits” increased 51% for the following week (per Nielson SoundScan).

Taking a quick glance at my DVDs, I thought of two other scenes in movies that, I’d imagine, have produced similar results in album/song sales: “Tiny Dancer” (Elton John) from Almost Famous (2000), and “Stuck in the Middle With You” (Stealers Wheel) from Reservoir Dogs (1992). I had never much liked “Tiny Dancer” before Almost Famous, but now I’ll listen (and usually sing along) when I hear it playing. Similarly, when I was doing some research for my Adventureland review, I read more than a few critics who said that, while they had never been fans of Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love,” they found themselves downloading the track after watching the film. This all seems to reinforce the notion that the context in which music (or more generally, art) is experienced can significantly change one’s perception of it, which I find to be very interesting.

Given the figures above, it surprises me there has not been much interaction between companies like Apple, Amazon, TiVo, Directv, etc. to get that soundtrack information to users at the source. Especially now that many television manufacturers are including web connectivity with their sets (and trying to bypass the set top box), I would think they could do well by allowing viewers to purchase music (on, say, their iTunes or Amazon accounts) directly from the television.