This Fortnight in Music Supervision and Sync (23/02/18)

Film and TV

The 5 Best Music Moments From Black Panther (Billboard)
The film’s predominantly black cast, impeccable visuals, and the story was reason enough to excite fans. But to top it off, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler enlisted Kendrick Lamar and TDE’s Anthony Tiffith to curate the soundtrack, Black Panther: The Album, which features a colorful sonic palette that consists of afrobeats, hip-hop, soul and other sounds.

How Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson Helped Change the Genre Cinema Soundscape (Variety)
Through his work with director Denis Villeneuve, composer Jóhann Jóhannsson invited audiences to think, instead of telling them how to feel.

Everything Sucks Music Supervisor Talks Building Ultimate ’90s Mixtape With Oasis, Spacehog, Tori Amos & Killer Indie Tracks (Billboard)
Imagine someone asking you to make a playlist — sorry, mixtape — of your favorite songs from the ’90s. Now picture getting paid real money to find the best in pop, rock and indie songs from the era that formed your musical identity. That’s the challenge Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan put before music supervisor Tiffany Anders.

Fifty Shades Music Supervisor Dana Sano on ‘Eventizing’ the Films’ Sexy Soundtracks (Billboard)
For the past four years, the Fifty Shades of Grey film franchise has made Valentine’s Day a bit kinkier and brought eroticism into the mainstream, with some high-profile musicians helping to set the mood.

The Cinematic Orchestra Rules Top TV Songs Chart for January 2018 (Billboard)
British electronic jazz group The Cinematic Orchestra rules THR’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind and Shazam, for January, as “To Build A Home” hits No. 1 on the tally for the second time. The song leads the chart thanks to its appearance in NBC’s This Us Us.

Newer Trends in Trailer Music: Altered Covers, Micro-Teasers, Hand Clapping & More (Synchblog)
Last year Trailaurality, a research group dedicated to the study of music in film trailers, took us through some of the key trends to watch out for in trailer music. In this follow up post, they look at the new techniques and musical styles being employed by those in the business.

Hear How Mozart in the Jungle Became a New-Music Showcase (New York Times)
At a moment when living composers — especially women — struggle to get their works performed, few would have predicted that a half-hour TV show would emerge as a key showcase for their work. But Mozart in the Jungle, the daffy Amazon comedy whose fourth season began streaming on Friday, has become an unlikely destination to hear new music.

A Wrinkle in Time soundtrack taps Sade, Sia, Game of Thrones composer (EW)
A movie starring Oprah deserves a score of equal stature, and Disney has delivered with a unique soundtrack set for its upcoming release A Wrinkle in Time. Due out March 9, the soundtrack will feature a score by Game of Thrones and Westworld composer Ramin Djawadi, as well as six original songs from quite the varied line-up of artists. 

The 25 Songs Of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3, Rigorously And Definitively Ranked (NPR)
Another season of the darkly brilliant series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has come to an end, and now, as has happened twice before, it falls to me the doughty task of sorting its original songs — 25 of them, this year — into a clear-eyed, dispassionate, purely objective, precision-engineered ranking that gleams with the cold light of surgical steel.

COVERStories Ep. 1 – Dondrea Erauw and Star-Crossed Lovers in Sync (Synchblog)
Welcome to COVERStories. A new Synchblog series created by the team at Coversion to look at the creative use of cover songs in film/tv/trailers/games/and ad placements. First up – music supervisor Dondrea Eraw chats placing a cover song in a TV show love scene.

Why Laura Branigan’s ‘Gloria’ Is the Perfect Song for an On-Screen Crime Scheme (Variety)
Both I Tonya and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story use the Laura Branigan hit as a plot device.

In Record-Tying Week, Soundtracks Are Three of Top Five on Billboard 200 Albums Chart (Billboard)
For only the 10th time since 1963, and just the second time in the last 10 years, a record-tying three soundtracks rank among the top five on the Billboard 200 albums chart. On the list dated Feb. 24, Black Panther: The Album debuts at No. 1, former chart-topper The Greatest Showman holds at No. 3 and the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack bows at No. 5.

Katie Herzig on New Single ‘Weight Lifting,’ Working With Ingrid Michaelson & Status of Female Producers: Exclusive (Billboard)
Katie Herzig’s name might not sound familiar, but chances are her music rings a bell. Earlier this year, Herzig received an Emmy nomination for her song “Morse Code,” written for Netflix’s The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show, and Grey’s Anatomy has licensed more than 10 of her songs.

Edgar Wright Made A Playlist Of His Favorite Musical Moments In Film (UPROXX)
Spotify has handed him the keys to create his ultimate playlist based on his favorite moments of music in film. There are bangers to behold.

The Music From Atlanta Season Two Is Already a Must-Listen (Esquire)
Atlanta doesn’t have a theme song. Instead it has something much better: a musical identity. The soundtrack is in many ways a character of its own, one that’s navigating the underground hip-hop scene as much as its characters Donald Glover’s Earn and Brian Tyree Henry’s Paper Boi are.

The Lion King: Live-Action Remake Will Only Use Four Songs from the Original’s Soundtrack (Collider)
According to The Sun, theater legend Tim Rice, who working on the soundtrack for the animated original, has revealed that only four of the songs from the original soundtrack will be included in the “live-action” version of the film.

90s Bangers Set the Scene on Derry Girls (Tunefind)
Every once in a while here at Tunefind we get a big spike of activity around a brand new show with a killer soundtrack. Recently it was Channel 4’s smash hit, Derry Girls, that popped onto that list.

2018 Daytime Emmys: Society of Composers and Lyricists showcases composers including Grammy winner Lisa Loeb (Gold Derby)
The Society of Composers and Lyricists hosted a panel discussion at LA’s Landmark Regent Theater on Feb. 6 to showcase Daytime Emmy Awards hopefuls who write music for children’s animated programs.

How Creedence Clearwater Revival Became the Soundtrack to Every Vietnam Movie (Pitchfork)
John Fogerty claims he wrote “Fortunate Son” in just 20 minutes. But the music he made with Creedence Clearwater Revival has soundtracked visions of the Vietnam War in pop culture for what feels like an eternity.

Top TV Song Last Two Weeks: More Human Than Human by Sune Wagner (Tunefind)
Featured in the new Neflix series, Altered Carbon, Sune Rose Wagner’s cover of White Zombie’s “More Human Than Human” took the top spot on our weekly TV music chart last week and is still holding strong for a second week.

Lady Bird, Dave Matthews Band and the films that give corny songs new life (Guardian)
Greta Gerwig’s penchant for 90s soft rock got Guardian writers thinking about other cheesy numbers revived in cinema, from “Sweet Caroline” to “Rhythm of the Night”.

Musician Jon Brion Doesn’t Want to Sound Familiar (Vanity Fair)
The acclaimed film composer and producer on how he scored Lady Bird and his reverence for music that matters.

Flying Lotus Provides Music for New Movie Perfect (Pitchfork)
Flying Lotus has provided the music for Perfect, a new sci-fi thriller directed by Eddie Alcazar and presented by Steven Soderbergh. 

BAFTA 2018 Winners (The UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors)
With the BAFTAs now over for another year, we would like to take a moment to recognise the incredibly talented composers and music supervisors who were responsible for crafting the soundtracks for a variety of exceptional films from the past year.

Will Alexandre Desplat Take Home Another Oscar? A History of Score Wins (Variety)
Will French composer Alexandre Desplat win best original score award for The Shape of Water, as most Oscar prognosticators are currently predicting? Competing with Desplat is Jonny Greenwood’s score for Phantom Thread, Carter Burwell’s for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Hans Zimmer’s for Dunkirk, and veteran John Williams for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Top 10 This Is Us Music Moments (Pop Culture)
This Is Us is a top-tier show on multiple fronts, with its music being not being an exception. Throughout its first and second seasons, the show has woven original score and licensed songs in moving and interesting ways.

Gaming

Composer Sarah Schachner on bringing Ancient Egypt to life in her Assassin’s Creed Origins soundtrack (Music Radar)
Released in 2017, Assassin’s Creed Origins was warmly received by critics and players alike, with its soundtrack being singled out for particular praise. This was the work of musician and composer Sarah Schachner, who also performed much of the score herself.

Is the relationship between Games and Music all played out? (The Boar)
On the surface, the relationship between video games and music seems to be a straightforward one. One of the integral features that makes a well-written, mechanically strong video game into a masterpiece is music. On the flip side, video games benefit the music industry in many ways too. If these links are so prominent and so beneficial for both sides, why has the music industry made it frustratingly difficult for these links to be maintained, cultivated further and celebrated?

Is Video Game Music An Art — And A Business — In Its Own Right? (Forbes)
Musicians have been drawing inspiration from video games for decades—whether as a simple hobby, as a multimedia creative tool or as an adjacent revenue stream to traditional record sales. But to what extent can musicians today build an entire career off of writing music for games alone?

Kid Koala releasing soundtrack for breakdance video game (Brooklyn Vegan)
Thee great hip hop producer and turntablist Kid Koala, who was in Deltron 3030, contributed to the first Gorillaz album, has led a lengthy solo career, and lots more, now has yet another project in the works. He teamed with animator JonJon for the breakdance battle video game Floor Kids for Nintendo’s Switch.

How I made Into the Breach’s soundtrack (PC Gamer)
FTL’s composer Ben Prunty explains how he took a different approach for the music of Into the Breach.

Rocket League Soundtrack Will Get An Update With The Help of Monstercat (EDM Sauce)
After accumulating millions of streams on streaming platforms, gaming and music has shifted the markets for the music industry. To expand on this shift, Monstercat has a signed a multi-EP record deal with the video game developer Psyonix.

Lena Raine’s Music Ascends A Mountain In Celeste (wshu)
Although it seems like a simple platform game at first, Celeste actually is a brutally difficult journey of self-discovery for Madeline, the main character, as she bravely faces challenges climbing the namesake mountain. Composer Lena Raine had her own set of difficult challenges writing a soundtrack for a game that turned out to be quite different than she expected.

Video Game Composers: The Art of Music in Virtual Reality (GDC 2018) (Gamasutra)
Video game composer Winifred Phillips explores some theoretical ideas from experts in the field of VR, and includes some of her own musings about creative directions artists might pursue with VR music composition.

Advertising

Songs for Screens: Harry Styles, the Killers, Bruno Mars Lead Early Olympics Brand Synchs (Variety)
Adam Rippon isn’t the Olympics’ only breakout. Between the songs used for the figure skating competition and the anthemic commercials, music may be the biggest star of NBC’s coverage.

UK Top Shazamed Ads: February 13 | February 20 (The Drum)
The Drum’s Shazam chart is based on the number of times each ad has been Shazamed over the past week using the music identification app. Here are the charts from the last couple of weeks.

The most Shazamed ads of the week (US): Feb 04 – Feb 11 | Feb 12 – Feb 19 (Clio)
Every week, Clios.com, in partnership with Shazam, rounds up the most Shazamed ads of the previous week. These are the top spots from February 4th to February 19th.

Supervisor Spotlight: Ruth Simmons (The UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors)
Music supervisors are an elusive breed. They’re some of the busiest people in the business so the chance to get to know them rarely presents itself. Well, that’s what we at the Guild are trying to change. Every now and then we sit down with one of our supervisor members and find out a bit more about them, their role and how they work. This time it was the turn of advertising music supervisor Ruth Simmons.

Sync Story: Inside River Island/Endor’s new collaboration (Music Week)
For Labels Are For Clothes, River Island’s striking campaign for spring/summer 2018, only one song would do: Endor’s Fever (feat. Feral Is Kinky). The London-based producer and DJ released the track and its accompanying remix EP in August 2016, and it’s infused with summer heat.

Sync Story: Inside Ford/Jake Houlsby’s new collaboration (Music Week)
Sometimes, a good sync can kickstart an artist’s career, and Ford’s hook up with Jake Houlsby looks likely to be a case in point. Now well on its way to four million Spotify plays, the Newcastle singer/songwriter’s track Howl has undeniably benefited from Ford’s endorsement.

Business

Paul Friedman to Head Music Affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment (Billboard)
Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced Paul Friedman as the new executive vp of music business affairs and administration, filling the role left open by Shelly Bunge’s departure from the company. 

How Indie Bands Are Taking Over Your Screens (Forbes)
Danny Ross chats to Jess Caragliano, co founder and CEO of Terrorbird Media, about finding landing life-changing opportunities for her bands on How To Get Away With Murder, Big Little Lies or on Nike Ads — all while imbuing a D.I.Y. aesthetic of authenticity.

Trailer Park’s VP of Music Bobby Gumm on the Craft and Business of Trailer Music (Synchblog)
Fresh from his double win at the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards, we chat trailer music trends, recent projects and more with Bobby Gumm, Vice President of Music at Trailer Park.

With Black Panther: The Album At Number One In The US, Are We Witnessing a Soundtrack Renaissance? (MIDiA)
With the film sitting atop the box US office, Black Panther: The Album, executively produced by Kendrick Lamar, has managed a rare franchise feat by debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, with 154,000 in combined streaming and physical sales. This is no lone achievement for soundtracks; Suicide Squad and Hamilton’s official soundtracks both sold well throughout 2016. Yet, as the streaming transition begins to take a further hold on the charts, soundtracks are likely to become a far more frequent fixture among the year’s highest selling albums.

‘Sync is definitely selling tickets’: Various Artists Management CEO on Barns Courtney’s success (Music Week)
Various Artists Management CEO David Bianchi has told Music Week that he believes there is no “traditional” way to break an artist in 2018. Bianchi is interviewed alongside management client and 2017 Music Week Sync Awards Sync Artist Of The Year Barns Courtney. With contributions from Gerard Philips, general manager of Songs Publishing, who publish Courtney, the pair discuss the singer’s sync success.

Karen Elliott Named VP Music Production At Warner Bros Pictures (Deadline)
Industry vet Karen Elliott has been named Vice President of Music Production at Warner Bros Pictures. Based in London, Elliott will report to Paul Broucek, President of Music for Warner Bros Pictures, who is based in Burbank. Among her responsibilities will be to build the music division’s profile in the UK.

How Artists Get Paid When Olympians Ice Skate to Their Music (Complex)
A number of artists have had their music broadcast to millions through figure skating. This is the first time Olympic skaters have been permitted to perform to music that has lyrics, a rule change implemented to attract younger viewers. It’s nice exposure, for sure, but these artists also get a small financial kickback.

Advice

9 TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR MUSIC INTO TV AND FILM (M Magazine)
We were on the ground at PRS for Music’s recent How To Place Your Music in TV and Film event, which took place at the iconic Band on the Wall in Manchester, to gain some precious insight. Check out what we learned from the panel of experts including Sentric Music’s Patrick Cloherty, Rachel Wood from Woodwork Music, freelance music supervisor and lecturer Danny Champion and PRS for Music’s Dave Newton…

How to Make a Music Supervisor Happy: Choose Your Words Wisely (Soundfly)
Welcome back to our second edition our How to Make a Music Supervisor Happy series, by Berlin-based music licensing firm, Tracks & Fields. Sync licensing and music placement are quickly becoming some of the most lucrative ways for independent artists to grow and share their music with the world. But it’s a competitive field. So we’ve invited Tracks & Fields to share their hard-earned expertise on a regular basis to help you get your work to the top of the pile faster.

Events