If you’ve been reading our blog recently, you’ll have seen that last month we sat down with a few music supervisors to dive into a really important topic, How to Keep Your Music Supervisor Happy. Hearing their point of view on the different sectors, juggling projects, and their biggest challenges gave us invaluable insight into how their world works, and how we can support their roles and work best together.
Thanks to the amount of responses we got back, today we’re back with part 2!
Let’s meet our music supervisors:
Anne Booty, Head of Film + TV at Sixty Four Music/ Freelance Music Supervisor
Mariia Marchenko, Copyright & Licensing Coordinator / Music Supervisor at Erased Tapes Music
Dave Goulding, Music Supervisor and Composer at The Music Lab
Core Role & Challenges
Diving in the deep end, when speaking to our music supervisors about their biggest challenges, it’s no surprise that budgets came up as one of the main culprits, Mariia mentions “Working on independent projects often means tight budgets, so you have to be frugal and strategic with your choices. You need to know where to go to find something affordable that still fits creatively.”
The second challenge mentioned? Right’s clearance! Anne mentions the struggle of not having clarity on who owns all the rights of a track, and rightly says “register your music, folks, you never know who might be trying to use it!” adding that “having a clear brief is obviously really helpful too.”
It seems like it’s especially frustrating when a song can tick all the boxes, but it’s just that small clearance holding the sync back, Mariia expresses how “sometimes just finding the right rights holders can be a challenge. When you see ‘copyright control’, you don’t always know what doors to knock on. It can turn into a rabbit hole of research. And if even 2.5% of the rights belong to someone unresponsive, that can jeopardize the whole license.”
Dave makes the great point that it’s all about “finding something that moves people while keeping the business side clean.”
When you see ‘copyright control’, you don’t always know what doors to knock on. It can turn into a rabbit hole of research. – Mariia Marchenko
Music supervisors have a unique responsibility within their job which is to make sure that the creativity stays at the forefront of the project, but balancing the expectations of the business side, as Mariia puts it “directors often have a specific vision too, so finding something that truly satisfies them (especially if they’re already emotionally attached to a track) can take time and decent diplomacy skills.”
Dave adds that as a Music supervisor, the end goal is clear “I listen. Not just to music but also to people, to stories, to sound. The job is about finding what feels true to the picture.”
Both Mariia and Anne make the point that adaptability is key, with Anne saying how “every situation is so unique and you just need to adapt to it…Sometimes things can change on a dime and that’s when you just have to roll with it and deliver!”, and Mariia adding that a big part of the job is “checking emails, chasing people, and of course, rolling with the punches.”
When speaking about what makes the job unnecessarily stressful Dave sums it up with “it gets stressful when the process becomes about panic instead of feeling, when people want a result before the emotion’s clear.” So what’s the solution there? Dave continues “what makes it easier is trust. When everyone knows we’ll find something that works, we always do. The best projects have calm energy behind them.”
“It gets stressful when the process becomes about panic instead of feeling, when people want a result before the emotion’s clear.” – Dave Goulding
Relationships and Collaboration
When we move on to what they wish their collaborators would better understand about the role, it was impressive how similar they all responded! Anne gives us an insight into the fact that what we see might just be the tip of the iceberg “There’s a lot behind clearing a track. It can be infinitely complex with a lot of negotiation that goes on behind closed doors.” Mariia emphasizes that “things take time. It’s unlikely we can get an answer the same day, or even within the week. It helps a lot when producers build in some buffer time for clearances or approvals”
Anne echoed that sentiment with an extra tip “I think getting in early is really important. Engaging a music supervisor at script stage is ideal because we can help navigate what is possible and what isn’t early doors”. The consensus feeling was that music is often left later than ideal and it should be the other way around. Dave makes it clear with “we’re not just “music finders.” We’re part of the storytelling. We listen for emotion and help shape how people will feel in the moment.
There’s a lot behind clearing a track. It can be infinitely complex with a lot of negotiation that goes on behind closed doors. – Anne Booty
Dave adds “the earlier we’re brought in, the better the result, because music shouldn’t just sit on top, it should be woven into the idea.
Shifting the focus onto musicians, labels and publishers, Mariia mentions that “Just following the brief is already a big help – both creatively and budget-wise.” and Dave backs that up with a really important point “Be intentional. Don’t send everything…A thoughtful email is better than a playlist dump. We remember the people who make our job easier.”
We remember the people who make our job easier. – Dave Goulding
Anne reinforces a simple but key point “ensuring that folk read a brief properly e.g. when we ask for something within an affordable bracket that is easy to clear please don’t send a complicated and expensive piece of music over!” and then makes a point that we love to hear “Making sure all metadata is added to tracks, that’s super important”. Another tip that Anne adds is “mention previous successes with sync, anyone you think the music is similar too is helpful also, and if you are with a label or publisher, you could mention that too. And a link to, ideally, 3-5 tracks”.
When remembering specific projects that they’ve worked on, they mentioned that they’re all very different, whether that be because of the process or the demands of the job but Mariia mentions that “the ones that stand out are those where I’m trusted creatively – when I can suggest what I think works best.” Anne adds to this by recalling her experience where “the team was great, and getting to sit in on the edit with the director, producer and editor to advise in real time on music was amazing.” Echoing this sentiment, Dave talks about how “the best experiences are when the team brings you closely into the fold and treats music with the same critical focus as the rest of the production.” which at the end of the day, highlights the importance of treating music sync as what it is, creative and collaborative!
Tech and Workflow
Dave speaks about how it used to be, highlighting how far music sync and the accessibility of music has shifted thanks to technology “I remember… when we were burning CDs of music ideas and hand delivering them to the Creative teams, so things have changed a lot.” Mariia speaks to the ease of finding more than just the right track, “Licensing platforms now make things much easier – you can instantly find up-to-date information on splits and rights holders, explore new catalogs as well as get all the needed assets and metadata in one place.” We love to hear it!
Licensing platforms now make things much easier – you can instantly find up-to-date information on splits and rights holders, explore new catalogs as well as get all the needed assets and metadata in one place. – Mariia Marchenko
Anne mentions the versatility of technology noting “We’ve worked with different systems and switch them up now and again, but I guess the biggest switch is to more zooms, google meets etc… the flexibility it gives me personally is obviously brilliant.”
Continuing on the pro’s of new technological advancements Mariia adds “it’s also fun to experiment with prompt-based search tools, where you can type in a contextual brief and get music suggestions based on that.”
Personal Touch and Future Outlook
On to brighter futures and positive moments of the role, Dave talks about what that perfect sync moment feels like saying “when the right song meets the right picture and it feels like it’s always belonged there. Like it was waiting for that moment to exist.”
That feeling of completion and achievement is something they all shared as the best part of the job, Anne adds, “ When something comes together! Whether that’s a project you’ve pitched on that you find out you’ve won, or hearing back from a right’s holder about a particularly tricky track has just been approved… it’s pure magic” Mariia describes happiness as “an approval email from rights holders. Every time I get one, it’s a mix of relief and excitement, like, phew, we got it!”
When something comes together!… it’s pure magic – Anne Booty
When looking towards the future, it’s important to also look back, with Anne saying it doesn’t always have to be sunshine and rainbows “I quite enjoy the occasional bump in the road. It makes you appreciate the smoother ride when you have it.”
Mariia speaks about the future with an optimistic and excited point of view “I think – and hope – that technology will make things easier and smoother. Having quicker, more reliable access to information and assets would save so much time… Once tech helps tackle some of those admin tasks, we can all finally enjoy and expand that creative part in our day-to-day – which, funnily enough, is what we all hoped this job would be about in the first place.”
In closing, Dave ended with “if we can keep music human in an increasingly artificial world, that’s the win.”
Once tech helps tackle some of those admin tasks, we can all finally enjoy and expand that creative part in our day-to-day – which, funnily enough, is what we all hoped this job would be about in the first place. – Mariia Marchenko
So what are the biggest takeaways?
1. Clear your tracks, and perfect your metadata
The biggest administrative hurdle for a supervisor is rights clearance. So make sure that you’re registering your music correctly, and including as much descriptive metadata as possible to make your music more discoverable and ready for sync.
2. Engage your Music Supervisor ASAP
Producers and directors should treat music as a critical part of pre-production, not a last-minute fix. Make sure to also build in buffer time. Clearances take time, producers should plan for licenses and approvals in order to avoid last-minute panic.
3. Be intentional and follow the brief
When submitting music, quality and relevance far outweigh quantity. Make sure to read the brief thoroughly. Don’t send expensive or complicated music if the brief asks for an affordable, easy-to-clear track. Send a link with targeted music, ideally 3-5 tracks that truly fit the request.
And lastly
4. Foster trust and collaboration
Music supervisors are storytellers, not just “music finders.” Treat them as part of the core creative team! Trust their judgment, value their creative role with the same critical focus as the rest of the production.
