Film and TV
How music built the world of Normal People (i-D)
From Imogen Heap to Frank Ocean, the songs that are laced through the years-spanning love story give it new life. Here, the people behind those musical choices explain their process.
Top TV Song Last Week: April 21st: “Emerge” by Fischerspooner | April 16th: “What a Wonderful World” by Chris Botti, feat. Mark Knopfler (Tunefind)
The last few weeks have seen tracks from Westworld and Bosch top Tunefind’s popular songs list.
How Roma Helped Music Supervisor Lynn Fainchtein Source Music for La Casa de las Flores (Billboard)
In a Q&A with Billboard, Fainchtein reflects on La Casa de las Flores‘ soundtrack and the challenges of sourcing Spanish music from the 70s.
How Ingrid Michaelson Penned a Perfect Song for Little Fires Everywhere (Variety)
Liz Tigelaar, showrunner of Little Fires Everywhere, has been a fan of Ingrid Michaelson’s for years, and even used the singer/songwriter’s “Hate You” in Hulu series’ pilot.
Showrunner-Music Supervisor Relationship Explored in Ongoing Panel Series (Variety)
The Guild of Music Supervisors is continuing its weekly panel series with a program aimed at exploring the relationship between showrunners and producers and music supervisors.
How a British Prog-Rocker Gave the Chicago Bulls Their Theme Song (MEL MAGAZINE)
Alan Parsons couldn’t care less about basketball. But his instrumental “Sirius” ended up becoming Michael Jordan’s anthem.
Every Song In Netflix’s Hollywood Is A Throwback To The Golden Age Of Movies (Refinery29)
The music of Hollywood is a throwback to the ’40s when big bands ruled and jazz was all the rage. It’s safe to say no matter the decade, “Rhapsody in Blue” always sounds good.
How the Music of The Last Dance Brought the 90s Back to Life (VICE)
VICE spoke to the ESPN doc’s music supervisor about why watching Michael Jordan dunk to Prince’s “Partyman” is so gratifying.
Mogwai Release ZeroZeroZero Soundtrack as COVID-19 Relief Benefit: Listen (Pitchfork)
Mogwai’s score for the TV series ZeroZeroZero has been released. It’s a pay-what-you-can release on Bandcamp. Half of the proceeds are going to Help Musicians and NHS charities.
Music supervisor DeVoe Yates on how music makes Dickinson ‘relatable to modern times’ (Gold Derby)
“It was about making that time relatable to modern times,” declares music supervisor DeVoe Yates about his work on the AppleTV+ gothic dramedy Dickinson, which explores the early life of famous poet Emily Dickinson.
Gaming
Why Hip-Hop and Gaming are Still Scratching the Surface (Trapital)
Travis Scott and Fortnite showed what’s possible, but it’s for a defined audience. Luckily, the crossover potential for gaming and hip-hop is endless. But it needs more effort to realize the full opportunity.
Sega launches new Sega Music brand (gamesindustry.biz)
A press release shared by Famitsu announces the debut of Sega Music, which will now be the umbrella brand for all game music releases from the publisher.
So you want to be a… videogames composer: from Theme Park World to Evil Genius, James Hannigan’s career tips (music radar)
He’s a multi-award winning composer and music producer, known in part for his contributions to the Harry Potter, Dead Space, Runescape, EA Sports, Transformers, Lord of the Rings, Theme Park and Warhammer videogame series.
The Animal Crossing soundtrack is an unlikely lullaby for a nervous world (Washington Post)
Right now, millions of households and headphones around the globe are filled with the music of one of the world’s most popular and influential composers.
Advertising
Ford Motor Co. Hit With $8M Copyright Lawsuit Over Unlicensed Synchs (Billboard)
Freeplay Music says the car company used 54 of its catalog works in at least 74 different ads without authorization.
Business
UMPG launches Music Solutions, a global music service for film, TV and advertising (MBW)
“UMPG Music Solutions simplifie
CD Baby has most successful month ever for sync placements (DIY Musician)
This April has proven to be the most successful for CD Baby’s sync department and the artists whose music got licensed.
COVID-19: A Discussion with our GMS members (GMS UK & Europe)
The UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors speak to their members to get a better understanding of how the sync community is coping during this time.
The Music Industry Is About to Put Out a Lot of Very, Very Uplifting Songs (Rolling Stone)
As social distancing stretches on, songwriters, labels, and music supervisors all want one thing: Songs that are happy.
Bucks Music’s Jonathan Tester on the sync business during lockdown (Music Week)
Indie publisher Bucks Music has always been busy with TV, film and advertising placements – so what’s going on during the Covid-19 pandemic as productions shut down and commercials are put on hold?
Sarah Pickering and Chris Jones promoted to Co-Heads of sync team at Sony/ATV Music Publishing (MBW)
Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s UK division has promoted Sarah Pickering, aka Pixie, to Vice President, Creative and Chris Jones to Vice President, Licensing and named them Co-Heads of its sync team.
Songtradr Taps Paradigm Sync and Score Exec Dave Curtin for VP of U.S. Partnerships Role (Variety)
In his new role, Curtin will work across the advertising, brand, OTT, media and content communities and collaborate with composers to create original music, license music from major labels and publishers or discover emerging artists.
Kobalt promotes Chris Lakey to Senior Vice President, Creative Synch (MBW)
He also oversees the Los Angeles-based creative synchronization team in their efforts to further exploit Kobalt’s expansive catalog across all media.
Production Music Conference Set for Fall Canceled Due to Coronavirus (Variety)
The Production Music Conference set for fall has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Production Music Association announced Thursday. The association also launched the new PMA Academy, a new webinar series focusing on topics of interest to the production music community.
Coronavirus Sync Resources and Virtual Events
The MPA’s Sync Talent Competition
During these unsettling times the Music Publishers Association (MPA) is giving budding songwriters between the age of 11-18 the opportunity to receive direct feedback from a panel of their members.
GMS Weekly Online Educational Panel Series in Collaboration with Mondo
The Guild of Music Supervisors have launched a free weekly online educational series featuring top music supervisors, composers and artists. While geared for students, it is open to all. Don’t forget to catch any panels you miss on Mondo’s YouTube channel.
The Ivors Academy’s Remote Recording Directory
A free and open database to connect composers for film, TV and games with professional musicians able to record from home has been launched by The Ivors Academy.
Sync Summit’s Sync Cafe
SyncSummit is hosting a Sync Cafe Daily Chat at 1PM ET to bring everyone together during the Coronavirus crisis so we can come together, speak about music, business and life. If you want to take part, just fill out the form below for access.
The Guild of Music Supervisors Canada hosts virtual 1:1 meetings with music supervisors
The Guild of Music Supervisors Canada is offering Canadian musicians the opportunity to virtually meet with Music Supervisors across the country.
BMG Production Music’s Hidden Hit Maker’s Sample Challenge
BMGPM & TELE MUSIC are offering ten producers the chance to feature on a very special compilation album and be rewarded for their creativity. All of BMGPM’s synch income from this project will go on to support other creatives during this difficult time.
AIMP Webinar: In Association with Guild of Music Supervisors – Cover Story (May 7th)
Join us as music publishers and music supervisors discuss the art of creating and syncing covers of well known compositions. How do music publishers work with covers; what makes the covers compelling and why do music supervisors love them.
US Unions Panel Discussion and Q&A – May 20th (GMS UK & Europe)
We’re are pleased to announce we are hosting a video conference for our membership with representatives from both AFM and SAG-AFTRA.
Marché du Film Online: Spot the Composer – June 22nd – 26th
This year, join the Marché du Film Online from 22 to 26 June 2020, and join our online event Spot the Composer. Spot the Composer invites film music composers and their artistic agents to meet via one-to-one online sessions film directors and producers looking for original music for their projects.
For more events check out our comprehensive list of music industry conferences which has recently been updated to include virtual events:
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