When music becomes part of a movie or a television program, the creator receives royalties. SOCAN makes sure that composers and musicians get paid those royalties in Canada.
Robert Kraft (not the owner of the New England Patriots!) is a very well-respected American songwriter, producer, and music executive who now works with SOCAN to make sure Canadian musicians will have a stronger on-screen presence.
We met Robert Kraft at the 2024 Leo Awards in Vancouver and had a very enlightening conversation.
HNMAG: Where are you originally from?
Robert Kraft: I grew up in Princeton, New Jersey.
HNMAG: But you went to Harvard.
Robert Kraft: Correct. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go there but when I got in, both my brothers told me “Don’t F around, you just got into Harvard.” They were right. I never thought about going to Princeton. I really was a townie. I was born there, so it didn’t feel like going away to college. Harvard was really wonderful. I was really involved in my band there. I was focused on my destination as a songwriter and hopefully a rock star.
HNMAG: How old were you when you started playing piano?
Robert Kraft: Five? I’m a terrible student. I’ve always played by ear. Even though I’ve been around incredibly sophisticated music my entire life, I’m not a great sight-reader. As a kid, I sat on a piano bench and played what I heard on the radio. Right away, it was clear to my parents that I had this ability to hear things and play them. By ten or twelve years old, I started to make up my own songs.
HNMAG: How old were you when you first joined a band?
Robert Kraft: My first band was in fifth grade. We were The Batmen. During lunch, in the auditorium, we lip-synced “I Should Have Known Better” by the Beatles. I learned early that running a band is a great business school for music. There are a lot of lessons in diplomacy, leadership, and teamwork.
HNMAG: Did you study music at Harvard?
Robert Kraft: I wanted to, but at that time the music department was all about dead white classical composers. I was more about jazz, rock, and blues. I ended up in the Visual Arts department, which was perfect.
HNMAG: After Harvard, you started a band in New York. What was that band?
Robert Kraft: I was really searching for how to get a record deal, but I had no idea how to do that. I worked at a book store, I worked in a radio station, writing ad copy. And then one day I ran into a great friend from high school who was a fantastic singer. We decided to get together to write a song or two and then we started a band. He was a legendary singer named Miles Leverett. The band started to get some momentum, and then – just as we had a little traction – Miles decided it was not for him and he quit. Another band member suggested that I should sing since I wrote the songs, and also because we were already booked for an upcoming a gig at Tramps (15th and 3rd in NYC). Amazingly, the great producer Teo Macero was there the night we played. He wrote his number on a napkin and gave it to me after our set. We made a few demos as Robert Kraft and The Ivory Coast, and the record executive Al Coury heard them. He was president of RSO Records, home of the Bee Gees. He called me and said, “Hey man, you want to make a record?” My first album on RSO, Moodswing, didn’t sell but got some nice press. I opened for the Manhattan Transfer at Radio City Music Hall, played the Newport Jazz festival, and we started to tour. I recorded my second album, but RSO suddenly went out of business, so Album #2 was never released until years later by a Japanese company.
HNMAG: How did you end up working in Film and Television?
Robert Kraft: After my second record wasn’t released, I went through six months of depression and despair, but then I was signed to RCA. On my third album, RetroActive, I recorded a song called On The West Side. Ken Ehrlich, the producer of the TV show, Fame, (and eventual producer ofthe Grammy telecasts) heard the song and asked me to fly to LA to teach the actors on the show to perform the song. After a week working on the show, he casually asked me if I could write the song for the next week’s episode. That was all I need to hear to move to Los Angeles. Shortly after arriving in LA, I was hired to write the theme song for a new show called Who’s The Boss. My wife and I moved to LA and I was now the songwriter and not the guy on stage, which I preferred. As a songwriter for movies and television, I could have the career I always wanted. I’m was doing what I love and getting paid! Being a writer and a producer was really my wheelhouse. There’s a lot of relief in being a step removed from the success or failure of the record itself.
HNMAG: How did you start producing?
Robert Kraft: I was friends with Bruce Willis in NYC, long before he was on Moonlighting. The head of Motown liked how he sang on that TV show and asked Bruce if he wanted to make a record. Bruce told them to “call his friend Robert” since he didn’t know anything about making a record. I had never produced a record, since I was always the artist, but the head of Motown calls me and said “Your friend Bruce told me to speak with you about producing his album.” We made the album, The Return of Bruno and had two Top Ten hits. That’s how I ended up as a record producer. Because we had success, I suddenly got asked to produce records and soundtracks, and write songs for Disney movies, and that led to producing The Little Mermaid. Disney asked me to work with the songwriters, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and produce all the songs. I had no idea when I was recording Under The Sea that it would become an instant classic, win an Oscar and a Grammy… The real answer for how I got into Film and TV is I just stumbled forward.
HNMAG: How did you become President of Music at Fox?
Robert Kraft: After The Little Mermaid, I produced the soundtrack for the Muppet Christmas Carol. That led to making records for Jim Henson and starting their music division. The chairman of 20th Century Fox called me out of the blue and asked to do that for Fox Studios. I became the President of Music for the studio. Suddenly I was working with the greatest composers and artists in the world. I’m doing things like putting Celine Dion on the Titanic. I was just lucky to be on the boat, and I was there for almost two decades, doing the music for hundreds of films and TV shows.
HNMAG: SOCAN is a Canadian institution that handles music and residuals for Canadian artists. When did they reach out to you?
Robert Kraft: SOCAN first contacted me in 2022 to participate in a film and music week in Toronto as a guest lecturer. They asked me to do the same thing the next year in Montreal. I really loved it. The people at SOCAN were super supportive and nice. At the end of the week in Montreal, two senior executives at SOCAN wondered if I’d be interested in working with SOCAN. They thought that Canadian composers could benefit from my experience in the industry. I know the film music community really well after my time at Fox. I felt so comfortable with SOCAN, and realized this was an amazing opportunity. I accepted, and I’m now part of SOCAN’s Ambassador program.
There’s a huge opportunity in Canada with all the global productions shooting in Hollywood North. I want the music for film and television by Canadian composers and artists to be front and center. I want their work to be considered not just by Canadian filmmakers but by directors and film producers worldwide. The question is how we get more Canadian composers introduced to the filmmakers on these projects. US and international producers can see how much of an advantage there can be with working with incredibly talented Canadian composers. It’s important to understand the passion that Canadian composers have. And I believe we are at a perfect moment with so much creative momentum shifting to Canada.
Robert Kraft has an incredible journey in the music and then film and television industry. He had a few bumps and challenges on his path but beautifully fell into a wonderful career. Now he has an opportunity to support the Canadian film music industry for Canadian musicians and composers. This is definitely an exciting time and we’ll have to check-in next year to understand that progress.