In 2000, Sony launched an exhaustive search for a new president of worldwide music. "If there was a gardener out there with a Walkman, they talked to him," she jokes. "They told me I had a zero in 1 million chance." But no one else could run a soundboard and talk studio budgets at the same time. She proved herself quickly. The Charlie's Angels soundtrack -- featuring Destiny's Child's single "Independent Women Part I," which topped charts for 11 weeks -- sold 3 million copies, and the movie grossed $264 million worldwide.
As if inspired by Beyoncé's departure from Destiny's Child, Vollack has been prepping for her solo debut. Last year, she released a Pearl Jam single, a cover of the Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me," directly to iTunes for the 2007 Adam Sandler flick Reign Over Me. The song promptly hit No. 8 on the charts, with no physical-distribution costs or profit sharing with the label. That enabled her to bring in closer to 50 cents per dollar rather than about a dime. She has also stealthily retained the services of marketing consultants, expertise that she previously depended on the labels for. She identified Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist -- a music-driven film starring Michael Cera (Juno) and Kat Dennings (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) looking for their favorite band -- as the ideal film to self-release a soundtrack.
In July, Vollack began to put her plans in place for the October release. She would launch the soundtrack directly to iTunes and promote it only in film-centric ways. Any music videos would tie into the movie plot, not the artists, and marketing materials for the soundtrack would advertise the movie.
And then a funny thing happened on the way to nirvana: The record companies promised to change. Vollack found herself deluged with calls from labels, offering money, marketing, and pretty much whatever Vollack wanted to do. Atlantic Records was particularly aggressive. "We told her that we would release the soundtrack two weeks ahead of the movie, with heavy online viral marketing," says Kevin Weaver, Atlantic Records Group executive VP. "When you walk into Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or Target, you'll see the posters. And that'll help drive people into the theater."
Vollack was torn. She hedged for a while. Then she signed Atlantic Records to release the Nick & Norah soundtrack. "All the things I said about the difficulty of working with labels and our diverging interests are still accurate," she says, explaining her decision. "But Atlantic made us a really good deal, and it wouldn't have been smart for me not to consider it."
The record labels shouldn't get complacent, Vollack says, perhaps realizing that threatening revolution may be more powerful than actually doing it. "If soundtracks are going to be done with labels, there's going to have to be a different understanding of each other's needs. I don't doubt I will self-distribute a record."
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