The Imaginaries: The Only Unsigned Band on a Film Soundtrack (Episode 192)

Luck = preparation + opportunity.

The Imaginaries are the husband-and-wife duo of Maggie McClure and Shane Henry, from Norman, Oklahoma, by way of Muscle Shoals and Hollywood. Their cover of "My Eyes Adored You" landed on the official soundtrack of the Dennis Quaid film Reagan, the only unsigned band alongside Bob Dylan, Tanya Tucker, Clint Black and Gene Simmons. And they kept the master.

In Episode 192 of The Career Musician, Nomad and co-host Joel Meza sit down with them for a masterclass in music and business for independent artists: turning one small gig into years of opportunity, negotiating with confidence, booking your own tour, and building income that lets you stay on the artist path.

Turn one gig into three

Because Oklahoma has a strong film rebate, Reagan shot there, and Maggie knew the casting director. The Imaginaries were cast as the band for the inaugural ball scene, a day rate gig of maybe $300 or $400 each. Most musicians would have taken the check and gone home.

Three days before the shoot, they learned the song would be Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You." Maggie's idea: take the musicians who would be on screen into the studio and cut their own version, in the same key, arrangement and tempo as the original. Nobody asked them to. It cost them about $2,500. On set, Maggie played it for the director. They filmed to the original that day. But she knew licensing the label's master later would cost a lot more.

They also brought period-correct gear to the set, a vintage amp and a red Wurlitzer, without asking to be paid for it. They overdelivered.

"I love sharing this stuff with people, because you just have to take one opportunity and turn it into three."

Maggie McClure, 20:39

Negotiate like you mean it

About four years later, a month before release, the film came back wanting their recording. Maggie asked what the publishing side was getting, and suggested the master side should get the same. The first offer came back far lower. She didn't take it, but she didn't want to lose the opportunity either.

So she did something most musicians are afraid to do. She picked up the phone and called the film's attorney instead of trading emails. She had looked him up first and found mutual friends. Once he understood the full story, he took it back to the team, and the offer more than doubled. Just as important, she retained master ownership because they had paid for it themselves. She says theirs is the only song on the soundtrack where the artist owns the master.

"It can be really scary to pick up and call somebody like that, but you just get on that human level connection."

Maggie McClure, 24:22

Nomad calls it upper echelon Biz. They released the track the day the movie came out, and they have seen Shazam searches spike from theaters abroad, which leads people to the rest of their music. That is Savvy from the ETHOS code.

Lead with "how can I help?"

It wasn't a one-off. Cast as an actor in a commercial, Maggie noticed the team hadn't picked a song or a voiceover. She had the perfect song and a home studio. She got paid as an actor and voiceover artist and licensed her song.

Her mindset: when people are stressed and scrambling, ask how you can help, and offer something that takes the stress off. Nomad flips it around: you are auditioning them for how they can hire you more. Everything you do is an audition.

Book the tour yourself

Local gigs don't pay? Maggie's answer: find the opportunities. Look up where your music fits, call and email venues, show up and ask for the talent buyer, and have your package together. She still hands out CDs to people who seem serious, because it shows you took the time.

For their latest tour, agents booked three or four shows. Maggie booked about 30. One great show at a performing arts center in a small Oklahoma town, with a built-in listening audience, fair pay, a hotel and strong merch sales, led them to a whole world of performing arts center showcases. Their European agent found them because of a track with Joe Bonamassa, a friend Shane met while opening for B.B. King as a young artist.

Subsidize your talent

When they first moved to LA in 2011, Shane supported them with a remote day job researching mineral rights for an oil company. When they moved back to Oklahoma, he got into real estate with Maggie's dad as a mentor, bought two run-down duplexes for $25,000, renovated them, and tried Airbnb. The first month, he says, earned about three times what a long-term rental would have. He has since grown it to nine properties.

"Just because you're doing something else doesn't mean it's taking away from your talent and your passion. What you're doing is you're allowing yourself to stay on that path you want to stay on."

Shane Henry, 53:39

Maggie is also a music supervisor with a sync licensing company, and Shane co-founded a guitar pedal company. Every side hustle, she says, ends up helping the band. Nomad and Joel tie it to Maslow's hierarchy of needs: take care of the basics, and you are free to create. That is The Biz pillar: diversify or die.

The band, the marriage and the long game

The band itself was a lucky break they were ready for. Both were solo artists who backed each other up. In 2018, after being forced out of a rental overnight, a friend let them stay at his studio house and connected them with a series recording bands around one mic at legendary studios. The last open slot was at Muscle Shoals. They said yes, and The Imaginaries were born. They keep going back, recording live as a full band at places like FAME.

Their closing advice: never give up, choose faith over fear, don't compare your path to anyone else's, and know that nobody will care about your career more than you. You are only on stage for an hour a day. What you do with the other 23 is the career. That is work begets work.

The takeaway

Overdeliver, ask to be paid fairly, pick up the phone, own your masters, book yourself, and build income that protects your art. If you want a plan to put this into action, grab the free plan of attack (POA) worksheet and the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

Watch on YouTube or find every episode on the TCM Podcast page.