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Music can be fun in movies, without a doubt. From the beginning of the movie industry music has always been a part of filmmaking and it's easy to think this is how it should be. Even though nearly everyone does, using techniques originated in a time when they could not play back dialogue in sync with the movie might not be the best idea. Even though music pervades nearly every movie these days doesn't mean it belongs in your film.

Expensive, Hassle

If you are writing and performing the music, it will be cheap but time-consuming. Even if you have a friend do the song for free, it will still not be a simple process. Volunteers flake and the quality may not be what you'd like. If it's not an original song you may need to pay for a license. If you want to use an existing recording you will have to get the rights. Not only will this cost money, it will take time away from the filmmaking while you hunt down rights holders, retain lawyers, and generally waste time trying to force this music into your movie.

Script Calls For Music

Music can also get a production in trouble when the script it's based on needs a certain song, and only that song, to make sense of the story. You can't make a script that is backed by a soundtrack of Beatles songs because you won't get the permission or the money to pay for the rights. Often movies that require music of any kind are probably not as compelling in the story department and are trying to make up for it with diversionary tactics. I would have walked out on Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny if there was no music in the boring driving scenes.

Relying On Score For Emotion

Just the idea of adding music to a movie can make you lazy in other parts. If you know you can add a weepy score to a poorly written scene you may not make the effort to make it work on the page from the get go. Instead of re-shooting a sub-standard scene, you may just opt to add an exciting score to pull the audience through. When you have easy solutions to problems, you will more often than not use them. Judge a story by what's on the page and not how it would come across if accompanied by an orchestra.

Score To Be Movie-Like

Some movies are well-written and directed and don't need another element added. Many directors will automatically add a musical score to their movie just because that's what all movies do. A beautiful piece of drama could be ruined by your addition of superfluous music. Don't think you have to do what other movies do to be a movie. These "rules" all come from a time far in the past with different technology and a different culture. Orchestral music was classy and movies used to be low class. So they added classical-sounding music and suddenly movies were middle class. This isn't a reason to have a score in your movie when it's not needed.

Music is a compelling but not mandatory requirement for films. In many ways putting too much music into a film can make it a music video, rather than a movie. Use what others do that works for your film rather than blindly doing what every other movie maker does.