Film and TV
Director Steve McQueen Explains Why Music is the “Heartbeat” of Small Axe (Variety)
Although each of the films serves as a standalone, the connective tissue is the Black West Indian experience and music — specifically reggae music.
How Promising Young Woman Delivers on the Promise of a Female-Forward Soundtrack (Billboard)
There is one male contributor on the just-released album, composer Anthony Willis, but his standout composition for the Christmas Day film is a chilling orchestral arrangement of Britney Spears’ “Toxic.”
David Fleming on Composing Music with Hans Zimmer for Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy (LRM Online)
Hans Zimmer took Fleming under his wing with the first project of Oceans: Our Blue Planet documentary back in 2012. Since then, the pair created wonderful scores together for numerous projects.
Chris Columbus Takes us Inside The Christmas Chronicles 2 Magical Musical Moment (Entertainment Weekly)
If you’re not feeling the spirit of Christmas, the Christmas Chronicles 2 has just the fix for you — namely, a song titled “Spirit of Christmas.”
Frank Zappa Documentary Soundtrack Gathers Career Highlights, Unreleased Tracks (Rolling Stone)
5LP/3CD edition includes highlights from Zappa’s catalog, interview clips and a dozen unreleased tracks from the composer’s vault.
Randall Poster is Responsible for Your Favorite Needle Drops (Indie Wire)
By the time “American Graffiti” arrived in 1973 with a chart-topping soundtrack that ranged from Fats Domino to The Beach Boys, it was clear that songs — and not just scores — could be woven into the auditory fabric of a film.
How The Crown Embraced ’80s Pop (The New York Times)
As the plot moves into the Margaret Thatcher years, and a younger generation of royals — including Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales — comes to the forefront of the show, the creator Peter Morgan was eager to take the soundtrack in a new direction, too: pop music from the period.
Top TV Song Last Week “Where the Shadow Ends (Acoustic)” by BANNERS (Tunefind)
Grey’s Anatomy features the most popular song for the second week in a row. This time, an acoustic version of a haunting song from BANNERS closes out an emotional and intense episode.
10 Takeaways From Variety’s Music for Screens Week 2020 (Variety)
Covering topics from talk shows to composition for 2020’s critically praised “Mank,” the professionals provided valuable insight into music’s role in the industry.
The Best Movie Soundtrack Songs of 2020 (Empire)
While 2020 may have felt a quieter year than most on the movies front, with its global pandemic and the subsequent ripple effect on the film industry, there were still plenty of outstanding musical moments across newly-released movies to make a song and dance about.
Gaming
Warner Music: “If artists want to be in the next James Bond, they should want to be in the next AAA game” (gamesindustry.biz)
From the early days of licensed music in FIFA, to the glory days of SingStar and Guitar Hero, the two industries have collaborated in numerous, hugely lucrative ways. There have been entire games built around individual artists, whether that’s Wu-Tang Clan, Iron Maiden or Take That. There’s even a series of Def Jam wrestling games.
Jack Wall has had a long and rich career in composing video game music, beginning at the start of the millennium when he came to prominence with his award-winning score for the 2001 adventure title Myst 3, as well as its 2004 sequel, Myst IV: Revelation.
Gismart’s Lana Meisak on Partnering with Labels for Mobile Gaming Promotion (Music Week)
Mobile game and app developer Gismart launched it’s Games For Artists programme in the summer to build partnerships with labels and managers. Here, Lana Meisak, VP, business development and marketing, takes us inside their plans…
Video Game Music: A Developer’s Guide to Finding the Perfect Track (Gamasutra)
There’s nothing quite like music’s power to move us, stirring something in the gut that shapes our experiences and seemingly transports us across space and time. Sometimes you know it the moment you hear it, but far more often it’s a subtle power… just one important member of an ensemble cast.
Monstercat revs up for Rocket League’s music-themed second season (Music Ally)
It’s one of the best case studies of how a label can really lean in to gaming, and that extends to its efforts to make its catalogue licensable by gamers streaming on platforms like YouTube and Twitch too.
Advertising
Josh Rabinowitz on Led Zeppelin, Beyoncé, and the Real Secret to Artist-Brand Collabs (Muse by Clio)
Josh Rabinowitz is a global thought leader in the space where music, media, brands and creative content intersect. In more than 20 years in the business, he has produced and or music supervised over 10,000 tracks for brands, cinema, recording labels and television.
Christmas ads: the musical view, part two (Shots)
As the onslaught of festive ads continues [please, give our inboxes a break!], we asked Sascha Darroch-Davies, co-founder of specialist sonic branding agency DLMDD, to give us more sideways looks at the audio choices on show.
After seeing her masters sold twice in 18 months, Taylor Swift previews re-recorded version of Love Story in Match.com ad (MBW)
Taylor Swift has previewed a re-recorded version of her song Love Story in an advert created by Ryan Reynolds’ production company Maximum Effort, for dating site Match.com.
Your Branding Strategy Needs a Good Dose of Music (Explica)
Communicating through music is an excellent creative alternative, through which all brands manage to build a great branding strategy, with which they help each other to identify with the consumer and thus achieve a greater commercial bet with the consumer.
Songwriter donates music which featured on US TV show Grey’s Anatomy to Leeds charity’s Christmas video (Yorkshire Evening Post)
A moving Christmas video which aims to encourage people to donate to Leeds’ Children’s Heart Surgery Fund has been given a star-studded musical boost this year thanks to the generosity of a British recording artist whose work has featured on numerous US TV shows.
Business
The State of Music Synchronization with Synchtank Founder Joel T. Jordan, Part 2 (Beats & Bytes)
In the second part of our conversation with Synchtank Founder Joel T. Jordan, the music licensing entrepreneur talks data efficiency and artistic integrity.
Randall Poster’s Music Supervision Firm “Search Party” Acquired by Premier (Billboard)
Under the terms of the acquisition, Poster and the rest of the Search Party team will join Premier, with Poster serving as creative director. The merger will broaden Premier’s talent base in the worlds of advertising, film and TV while increasing its original music production…
Universal Music Group Launches Production Outfit “Mercury Studios” (Realscreen)
Led by accomplished media executive Alice Webb (pictured), Mercury Studios will serve as an audio-visual content house focused on developing, producing and investing in innovative, music-based storytelling.
CISAC and music publishers team up to standardise and harmonise cue sheets (CISAC)
A project to harmonise music cue sheets, an initiative that will bring significant benefits to everyone involved in music productions for audiovisual works, has now been completed.
Jobs
Music Supervisor / Business Development Manager – No Sheet Music / AKA Music (London)
No Sheet Music and AKA Music are seeking a highly motivated, focused and ambitious Music Supervisor / Business Development Manager.
Check out more available positions here or get in touch to post a 100% free job listing.
Events
The Art of Video Game Music (December 10th, 4:30pm GMT )
The video game industry is the most lucrative sector in the entertainment industry. According to the latest figures, the video game business is now larger than both the movie and music industries combined.
AIM Sync 2021 (February 11th, 2021)
AIM Sync 2021 features prominent international music supervisors in film, gaming, TV, advertising, brands, and more. Head here to unlock a 50% discount to the conference using the promo code ‘SYNCHTANKACCESS’, which also allows attendees to submit tracks to the listening sessions and register for both Sync Awards.
Don’t forget to check out recordings of panels presented by the Guild of Music Supervisors and the Production Music Association on their YouTube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/c/GuildOfMusicSupervisors
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrp0NdmJeZi5N0nmvgCpZZA
For more global events check out our comprehensive list of music industry conferences.
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