BusinessTN

Located in an unpretentious building on 16th Avenue South, there is little in the way of visual evidence to indicate that 615 Music (named for Nashville’s area code) is home to one of the top “production music” providers on Earth. But inside, with little fanfare, 615 Music quietly plugs along creating the background music for the films and television programs that entertain millions of consumers on a daily basis.

Whether they know it or not, most people have heard 615’s music. High profile projects have included the Disney feature film Chicken Little, as well as hit television programs Frasier, King of the Hill, Late Show with David Letterman, The Sopranos, ABC’s College Football, A&E’s Biography (for which 615 won an Emmy), PBS’s Nova and numerous other programs, including those found on Knoxville-based HGTV. (New Delhi, India, television network CNN-IBN, which launched earlier this year, also turned to 615 Music to select theme music for its programming.)

Before coming to Nashville in 1984, 615 Music founder, president and CEO (not to mention songwriter and producer) Randy Wachtler played drums with various rock bands. “I interned at record companies where TV commercials were being recorded, and I thought, ‘I can do that,’” Wachtler explains. “The first job that got us noticed was a song promoting the Los Angeles Lakers. That opened some doors for us.” Over two decades later, 615 Music has come full circle, recently expanding by opening an L.A. office to better represent new and existing Hollywood clients. Wachtler describes the new development as “a natural progression.”

Physical growth is good. But as Wachtler says about his particular line of business, “you’re only as good as your last theme.” That’s what makes one recent success so meaningful. In February, when NBC wanted new theme music for The Today Show, Wachler and co-writer Greg Barnhill delivered. The song “It’s a New Day” promotes the show’s upcoming September introduction of new co-anchor, Meredith Vieira, who follows in the footsteps of recently departed morning news icon Katie Couric.

Wachtler says he takes pride in the fact that 615 Music “played a small part in NBC surviving the challenge of Good Morning America” to reassert itself as the dominant ratings player in morning television.

Growing both in size and stature, 615 Music clearly distinguishes itself from its studio brethren on Music Row, a peer group largely dependent on hit radio singles and which is presently reeling from such industry pitfalls as online music piracy. Though in Chicken Little the sky appears to be falling, for 615 Music the sky looks more like the limit.