This Fortnight in Music Supervision and Sync (13/07/18)

Film and TV

The Sharp Objects Soundtrack Is Even Better Than Big Little Lies‘ (Refinery 29)
Just like Jean-Marc Vallee’s previous buzzy female-centric show, Big Little Lies, our latest must-see show creates an entirely unique and atmospheric vibe using a perfectly curated soundtrack. BLL’s vibe was crisp, cool California breeze; Sharp Objects is hot, heavy Southern heat. 

Only 6% Of Your Favourite Shows Use Music Composed By Women (Refinery 29)
Women composers simply aren’t getting the same opportunities, even though they have the same training, the same capacity to create, and the same passion for writing music.

2018 Emmy Nominees for Outstanding Music Supervision (Tunefind)
Nominations for the 70th Emmy Awards were announced today, including the nominees for Outstanding Music Supervision. Check out the nominees and their work below, including links to view the music from the nominated episodes and series.

Film & TV Composer Profile: Christophe Beck (Goldo Sync Report)
Prolific Emmy winning, Grammy nominated composer explains the use of unusual meters in his grandiose musical treatment for Ant-Man and the Wasp, the rewards and challenges of sustaining a love affair with modular synthesizers, and what he believes are the three constants within his extensive, colorful body of work.

Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Mandy Soundtrack, His Final Work, to Be Released (Pitchfork)
Before his death in February, Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson scored the forthcoming horror film Mandy, directed by Panos Cosmatos and starring Nicholas Cage. Now, Lakeshore and Invada have announced that they’ll release the soundtrack on September 14. Listen to “Children of the New Dawn” from the posthumous album below.

The Lumineers Release Scotland, Iconic Reign Theme Song (Tunefind)
Reign fans rejoice! As of today, you can finally get your hands on the iconic theme song from the series. The Lumineers have released ‘Scotland’ today on C-Sides, a collection of three songs being made available on the major streaming/download sites for the first ever.

10 of the Best Soundtracks to Comic Book Movies (LA Weekly)
Superhero films have pretty much taken over the movie theaters over the past couple of decades, but even before that, when the quality of the film wasn’t necessarily top-notch, the soundtracks were often awesome.

The Handmaid’s Tale Composer Adam Taylor Takes Cue From Elisabeth Moss (Variety)
Peter Rotter is at the podium on the Warner Bros. scoring stage, about to conduct music for the season finale of The Handmaid’s Tale. “You really bring the humanity to a very intense show,” he tells his 27 string players.

Ruelle’s Cinematic Sound Rules the Screen (Tunefind)
Tunefind fans know (and love) Ruelle. There’s a reason: the Nashville-based singer-songwriter’s tracks give you goosebumps. They’re full of intense urgency and ethereal mystery, something rare in pop, but perfect for dramas full of emotion and turmoil.

Critics Pick the Best TV Soundtracks of the Year (So Far) (IndieWire)
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of TV critics two questions and publishes the results on Tuesday. From GLOW and The Americans to Killing Eve and Pose, this is some of the best music on TV in 2018.

Production music report: Keeping scores fresh for hit formats (Realscreen)
Several reality series that ushered in the unscripted phenomenon are still on the air, and often, with the same composers providing the score for each new season. Here, realscreen talks to the composers behind some of reality’s longest-running series about how they keep scores fresh, and producers happy.

Greatest Showman Soundtrack: How 2018’s Biggest Album (So Far) Came to Be (Variety)
Producer Greg Wells calls the collection’s success an “enormous shock” and reveals that’s he’s working with “This is Me” singer Keala Settle on her debut album.

Film & TV Composer Profile: Nathan Barr (Goldo Sync Report)
Inventive Emmy nominated composer discusses taking an expansive orchestral approach for the gothic horror children’s film, The House with a Clock in Its Walls, how scoring Hemlock Grove inspired the creation of his lavish Bandrika Studios, and the anticipation building around the Broadway adaption of the sultry hit vampire series, True Blood.

6 Unique Vinyl Soundtracks For Crate Diggers & Collectors (Baller Status)
Whatever the reason is you dig in the crates, you should appreciate this list of vinyl. From classic TV series and movies to modern day hits with a retro twist, here’s six that may have you reaching for your wallets.

Syncing out loud: Music Week Sync Awards 2018 are go (Music Week)
It’s the biggest and best awards ceremony in the sync sector – and today Music Week can confirm that entries for the Sync Awards 2018 are now open.

Pose Captures the Glamour and Struggle of 1980s Ball Culture, With a Soundtrack to Match (Pitchfork)
There’s wit and whimsy in these danceable selections from music supervisor Amanda Krieg Thomas, who’s previously worked on The Americans and Claws. What’s more crucial, though, is the way the songs deepen the glamorous atmosphere that makes the balls in Pose so enticing to both the characters and the viewer.

How music editor Mitsuko Alexandra Yabe helped Boots Riley and Tune-Yards create the sonic world of Sorry To Bother You (FACT magazine)
Sorry To Bother You, the directorial debut from Boots Riley of the iconic rap group The Coup, is one of the most anticipated releases of the summer. FACT speaks to the team behind the sonic world of the STBY about community, inclusivity and the movie’s cultural magic.

Music Supervisors: The Sound Storytellers of Hollywood (Benzinga)
Music supervisors should receive the same level of credit and exposure as other behind-the-scenes creative players.

The Last Great Movie Credits Anthem: On 20 Years of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (The Ringer)
How Diane Warren, Steven Tyler, Francis Lawrence, and—yes—Barbra Streisand conspired to turn an Armageddon power ballad into a highlight of ’90s soundtracks

Music Supervisor Interview: Barry Cole (Goldo Sync Report)
Grammy nominated music supervision warrior and founder of Spot Music discusses how he captured the essence and energy of Chicago for The Chi, his global treasure hunt to find undiscovered Bob Marley gems for the critically acclaimed Marley documentary, and offers his take on the current relationship between art and tech.

Top TV Song Last Week (July 12): “Principles by Fabolous” & Jadakiss (Tunefind)
The season 5 premiere of Starz hit drama Power launched this song to the top of our weekly top TV music chart. Closing out the episode, the song plays while Ghost gets an ominous warning as he’s grieving his daughter.

The Music+Sound Awards Winners 2018 (Music+Sound Awards)
For a seventh year, The Music+Sound Awards have celebrated the indispensible role and outstanding contribution that music and sound play in the media, shining a light on the stand-out work from around the world, of the last 12 months.

Big Sync’s Q&A With Tom Walker: The Singer-Songwriter On The Impact Of A Sony Bravia Sync & Being The Unexpected Soundtrack To Love Island (Synchblog)
Big Sync Music chief executive and co-founder, Dominic Caisley, caught up with Tom before his headline set on the King Tut’s stage at TRNSMT Festival for a chat about it all.

The 2018 Wimbledon Championships Trailer (Native Music Supervision)
Native Music Supervision explain the process of working on the animated promo trailer for Wimbledon 2018 with McCann Craft and Smith & Foulkes.

Sync Story: Inside Jonas Blue’s Transylvania 3 placement (Music Week)
No stranger to a sunny pop tune, Jonas Blue is soundtracking the closing credits to one of the summer’s biggest films. “I See Love” features vocals from Joe Jonas, and features at the climax to Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania 3 – Summer Vacation, which hits cinemas this week.

The Americans deserves many Emmys — including, and especially, music supervision (FanSided)
Music has long, long been a celebrated part of a drama best known for being a critical darling, heralded as well for its acting, writing and direction.

Rick And Morty soundtrack set to be released (Den of Geek)
It’s going to be a whopping 26-track release featuring all the original music, licensed songs, and stupid ad-libbed nonsense (‘The Flu Hatin’ Rap’ and, duh, ‘Get Schwifty’), not to mention two original, series-inspired tracks from artists Chad VanGaalen and Clipping.

Will Black Panther be the first movie soundtrack up for Album of the Year Grammy since O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Goldderby)
No movie soundtrack has been nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys since O Brother, Where Art Thou? won in 2002. And only two other soundtracks have ever won the top prize: Saturday Night Fever (1979) and The Bodyguard (1994). But with the announcement that the top four general field categories are expanding from five nominees to eight, things might be looking up for Black Panther to end the soundtrack drought.

Soundtracking the Cultural Phenomenon of Love Island (LBB Online)
London music production company A-MNEMONIC works for all sorts of clients composing music and creating audio identities for brands and TV shows, but there is one project that has come to define them in recent years. In 2015 they composed the theme tune for a brand new dating show called Love Island. And every day they’re reminded of it.

Gaming

Sync Story: Inside Ninja Tune & Just Isn’t Music’s Codemasters collaboration for Onrush (Music Week)
Sync Story welcomes an ambitious project this week, as Ninja Tune and Just Isn’t Music collaborate with Codemasters on a 59-song soundtrack to new racing game, Onrush. Featuring artists including Young Fathers, Bicep and Cmd/Ctrl, and a mix of existing and specially commissioned tracks, the music was developed to “react” to the gameplay.

Riff and Tear: DOOM Composer Mick Gordon Reveals How He Brought Hell To Life (FANDOM)
Since getting his break as a sound designer on Destroy All Humans! 2 in 2006, Mick Gordon has worked on some of gaming’s most interesting soundtracks. He’s the man who scored the moody atmospherics of Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus; seasons one and two of Killer Instinct; and most recently the brilliant DOOM reboot.

Nintendo Discusses Releasing Its Game Soundtracks, As Well As More IP Collaborations (Gaming Bolt)
Nintendo has started to release its game OSTs of late games such as Super Mario Odyssey, Pokemon, The Legend of Zelda, and Xenoblade have seen their music released not just in Japan, but also in the west via platforms like iTunes and even Spotify. This is a new development for a company that, in spite of having some of the greatest soundtracks in gaming of all time, has so far never legally made them available to the public.

11-11: Memories Retold Gets a Video Exploring the Game’s Soundtrack (Dual Shockers)
Xbox shared a behind-the-scenes video exploring the process of composing the soundtrack for the upcoming game 11-11: Memories Retold. Filmed at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, the game’s composer Olivier Deriviere discusses the emotional impact the music will have on players and how it guides the story.

Lil Yachty, Murda Beatz and more team up for Fortnite song, video (Polygon)
Fortnite has caught the attention of rappers, but a new song and video from Murda Beatz, Lil Yachty, Ski Mask the Slump God and Yung Bans takes admiration for the game to a whole new level.

Advertising

Why Musicians Are Working With Brands to Promote Their Music to the Masses (Rolling Stone)
A Summer campaign from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles includes Alice Cooper, OneRepublic and the Brothers Osborne. It will be one of FCA’s biggest campaigns ever, as conceived by music-obsessive Olivier François, the company’s Paris-born chief marketing officer.

How Ads Get Away with *Almost* Plagiarizing Existing Music (NOISEY)
After the recent Jase Harley-Childish Gambino controversy, we asked industry experts where the line falls between imitation and inspiration.

4 Ways Music Will Drive Marketing in the Years to Come (Clio)
As the head of music for VML and a juror for the 2018 Clio Music Awards, it’s an especially meaningful time of year for me to look at some of the best uses of music across brand categories and get a firsthand look at ways in which brands are leaning into music to create innovative, unique and engaging content.

UK Top Shazamed ads: July 06: UK Top Shazamed ads: PrettyLittleThing saunters into fourth place | July 10: Apple takes the number one position with Story of an Artist (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): July 06: Daniel Johnston’s ‘Story of an Artist’ Helps Apple Top This Week’s Most Shazam’d Ads | July 13: Jeep and OneRepublic’s Latest ‘Connection’ Makes This Week’s Most Shazam’d Ads (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 July 6th to July 13th.

If a Tree Falls in a Deserted Forest, Does It Make a Sound? (LBB Online)
INFLUENCER: Brilliant visuals by themselves aren’t enough in today’s market – music can make the difference, writes soundlounge’s Ruth Simmons.

Business

Industry Innovator Spotlight: Joel T. Jordan (Goldo Sync Report)
We’re excited to announce that Synchtank founder Joel T. Jordan has been featured as Goldo Sync Report’s latest Industry Innovator. In this in-depth interview, Joel discusses how he pioneered the ultimate software platform for managing and monetizing music assets, the importance of a glowing reputation, and how Synchtank’s technology has cracked the code on generating passive income for creators.

‘It can be make or break’: Believe Sync boss Pete Beck talks sync success (Music Week)
Believe Sync boss Pete Beck has told Music Week that his growing company is striving to provide multi-layered deals for its clients, marking it out from the competition. Beck joined the distribution and services company in 2015, and has been seeking to develop Believe Sync’s approach to the sector ever since. Among its more high profile commercial syncs are placements for The Blaze and Novo Amor with Bodyform and Toyota respectively

This Sync Director is Looking Ahead: Q&A with Isabel Arissó of Concord Music Publishing (Synchblog)
In this in-depth interview, we chat to Isabel about the recently restructured Concord Music, getting familiar with new copyrights, sync strategies and trends, and adjusting to new media types and platforms.

Big Sync Licenses Music for Three Year Rexona and Now United Partnership (LBB Online)
Big Sync Music is now working with Rexona, the world’s biggest deodorant brand, to license the music throughout its new three-year partnership with Now United, the first ever global pop group who are signed to Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment.

CORD Adds Seb Whyte to Music Supervision Team (LBB Online)
At CORD Seb will be working closely with Dominic Goodman (ECD) and David Marcus (MD) to support the supervision and strategy teams and to gain a broad insight into all aspects of CORD’s offering.

LAMC: Brands, Film & TV Increasingly Looking Beyond Mainstream Latin Artists (Billboard)
During a panel discussion at the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York City, music supervisors, producers and label executives discussed the myriad ways to get alternative Latin sounds to mainstream audiences. 

Events

Key Worldwide Music Industry & Sync Events List 2018 (Updated) (Synchblog)
We might be half way through 2018 but there are still plenty of great music industry events and conferences worldwide. We’ve just updated our hugely extensive list, bookmark it now:

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