The competition among Sting, Randy Newman, Paul McCartney and Enya in this year's best movie song category highlights the parallel careers some celebrity musicians are developing in film music. (The other nominee is songwriter Diane Warren, whose song "There You'll Be" from "Pearl Harbor" was performed by country singer Faith Hill.)

"In your wildest dreams you could say, 'Well, one day I'll get nominated for a Grammy.' But an Oscar seems like kind of a long shot," said Sting, nominated for the song "Until" from the romantic comedy, "Kate & Leopold."

Sting has collected some of his soundtrack songs on a compilation album, "Sting at the Movies," and was nominated for his first Oscar last year for "My Funny Friend and Me" from the Disney cartoon "The Emperor's New Groove."

In the notoriously fickle music industry, experts say performing on a soundtrack can give veteran stars unique opportunities to showcase their music to a new audience. The exposure is magnified even more by a coveted Oscar nomination.

"There's a lot of pressure on the radio market to find a hot new thing and all these nominees are veterans; they're yesterday's hot things," said Tom O'Neil, author of the book "Movie Awards" and proprietor of the award Web site Goldderby.com said. "This is a very shrewd way to find an alternative medium."

Oscar wins by Phil Collins and Elton John for songs they performed in the Disney cartoons "Tarzan" (1999) and "The Lion King" (1994), respectively, gave a shot of energy to their lagging musical careers. And Randy Newman, who had hit singles in the 1970s and '80s with "Short People" and "I Love L.A.," is now better known for his movie music than solo recordings.

All three of Newman's Grammys are for film music, and this year he's in the Oscar category for best song with "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc." His score for the animated feature has another nomination.

Newman's never received an Oscar, however, and unless he gets one this year he'll set a new Oscar record - for the most losses.

If Newman loses in both categories, he'll be 0-for-16. The record is 15 losses, held by the late art director Roland Anderson ("Breakfast at Tiffany's") and the late composer Alex North ("Cleopatra," "Spartacus"). In 1986, North received an honorary Oscar, but he never won a competitive award.

In the early years of the Oscars, show tunes traditionally dominated the best-song category. Eventually, many of the awards went to tunes in animated movies or pop songs that seemed to have little connection to their films, like Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" from 1985's "White Nights."

But Oscar wins by Bruce Springsteen for the title song to 1993's "Philadelphia" and Bob Dylan for "Things Have Changed" from 1999's "Wonder Boys" came after those performers worked closely with directors to devise songs that mirrored details of the movies.

Some songwriters savor the challenge of writing music as a companion for a specific story.

"With an album, it's sort of a blank canvas, you can write anything you imagine," said Enya, nominated for "May It Be" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." "But on a film, you have to be influenced by what you're seeing on the screen. It's just something I've always enjoyed."

The Irish singer flew to New Zealand to see parts of the unfinished film for inspiration. She and her co-writers, Nicky and Roma Ryan, found they could work the epic journey of the sword-and-sorcery tale into an ethereal melody with lyrics written in the film's fictional "Quenya" dialect of the Elves.

"I didn't have that much trouble because my first language is Gaelic and they both come from very old Celtic languages," Enya joked.

She has also written songs that appeared in "Sweet November" (2001), "Far and Away" (1992) and "Toys" (1992).

"Vanilla Sky" director Cameron Crowe screened part of an early print of the film for McCartney because he hoped the former Beatle would allow him to use a song from his new album "Driving Rain."

Four days later, McCartney recorded a new acoustic guitar folk song - titled "Vanilla Sky" - that alludes to Cruise's petulant playboy character and the comeuppance he receives.

McCartney told the filmmaker: "Get to know me ... because if you ask me for something, I might just come through for you."

"He knew just how to shroud the story in a metaphor," Crowe said. "A lot of times a pop or rock star won't know how blatant they should be. It might be a song you really love, but it won't work if it just repeats the story of the movie."

After commissioning the Smithereens to write a theme for his 1989 romance "Say Anything," Crowe said he had to reject their song, "A Girl Like You," because the lyrics outlined the plot too closely.

McCartney has a previous Oscar nomination for the title track to the 1973 James Bond thriller "Live and Let Die."

Although many of Sting's songs have appeared on movie soundtracks, most of them weren't written with a movie in mind. But now the 50-year-old musician said he gets a special thrill creating something inspired by a film.

In the case of "Kate & Leopold," he said he was struggling in a post-Sept. 11 depression when he screened the time-travel love story about a 19th century nobleman (Hugh Jackman) who falls in love with a 21st century New Yorker (Meg Ryan).

The musician, who lost a friend in the World Trade Center attacks, said writing a guitar waltz for the movie helped pull him out of a "numbness" he might otherwise have wallowed in.

"It was a delightful, fragrant breath of romance," Sting said. "It was exactly the kind of antidote I needed."

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