This Fortnight in Music Supervision and Sync (16/11/18)

Film and TV

Homecoming’s music supervisor on the show’s score of scores: “It was unlike anything I’ve ever done before” (The A.V. Club)
The budget, as well as figuring out who owns the rights to old movie scores, and how to pay musicians who ultimately acted as session players, working in orchestras for film scores, was extremely time-consuming.

Top 25 Music Schools for Composing for Film and TV (Hollywood Reporter)
The Hollywood Reporter polled more than 600 entertainment pros to compile the annual ranking of the world’s elite music programs, from London to Los Angeles.

Black Panther, A Star Is Born Shine at Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Variety)
Black Panther took home three prizes at the 9th Annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards, clawing past A Star is Born, with two wins. Songwriter Diane Warren was the only individual to nab multiple honors, while Germany’s Max Richter earned the best original score trophy for his contemporary take on the 16th century with Mary Queen of Scots.

How A Hit Soundtrack Is Born (Genius)
In 2018, soundtracks for The Greatest Showman, the Kendrick Lamar-curated Black Panther: The Album, and Lady Gaga-starring A Star is Born all topped the Billboard 200 for multiple weeks, marking the first year since 2009 when at least three theatrical film soundtracks reached No. 1. Each of these albums became hits based on proven formulas for creating a successful soundtrack.

Black Lips Perfect the Art Of the Sync with Too Stupid To Die Theme Song (Billboard)
The Black Lips have been one of the hardest-working indie bands in the business for the past 15 years, cranking out seven studio albums, hopping in the van for countless tours and, as it turns out, becoming a go-to favorite for music supervisors and show runners in search of that indefinable flower punk/garage rock je ne sais quoi.

Music Supervisor Tiffany Anders Picks Her 5 Favourite Cover Song Syncs (Synchblog)
Music supervisor Tiffany Anders has just launched covers focused licensing company Listen Listen Synch, along with music coordinator Taylor Rowley. In honour of the occasion we asked Tiffany to pick her own favourite cover song syncs.

Sync story: The Haunting Of Hill House/Gregory Alan Isakov (Music Week)
In what’s proving to be a very busy season for TV syncs, Netflix series The Haunting Of Hill House surely takes the crown for the most chilling show.

Music Supervisors for A Star is Born, Black Panther and Roma Discuss Challenges of Creating Their Soundtracks (Billboard)
THR’s editorial director Matthew Belloni moderated the panel at A2IM SynchUp, featuring Dave Jordan, music supervisor for Black Panther, Lynn Fainchtein, music supervisor for Roma, and Julianne Jordan and Julia Michels, music supervisors for A Star Is Born.

Film & TV Composer Spotlight: Blake Neely (Pop Disciple)
Heroic award-winning composer and founder of Cow On The Wall speaks on the timeless and tension-filled realm of Riverdale, cross-pollinating thematic material within the evolving, action packed DC Comics franchise, achieving the perfect balance of psychosis and compassion in his score for You, and the rejection letter that started it all.

Creed II Soundtrack Includes Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, Nicki Minaj, Nas, More (Rolling Stone)
Grammy-winning producer Mike Will Made-It revealed the heavy-hitting track list for the upcoming action movie, Creed II, which he executive-produced and curated. Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Pharrell Williams and Nicki Minaj are just a smattering of names on the track list that’s dominated by hip-hop artists – minus Bon Iver.

Listen to Carter Burwelll’s soundtrack for the Coen brothers’ Ballad of Buster Scruggs (EW)
From the snow-ravaged plains of Fargo to the cruel Texan wilderness of No Country for Old Men, Oscar-nominated composer Carter Burwell has provided sonic accompaniment on each of Joel and Ethan Coen’s cinematic excursions.

How Black-ish’s Prince Tribute Episode Came Together (Vulture)
Ahead of the episode’s airing, Black-ish showrunner Kenny Smith spoke to Vulture about how the milestone episode came about and what was involved in getting the rights to all those Prince songs.

Make the big, bold music of 2018 film and TV your autumn playlist (Quartzy)
No matter what kind of mood you’re in this fall, the films and TV shows of 2018 have your sonic palette covered.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – James Newton Howard’s soundtrack (Classic FM)
The second instalment in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series is released in cinemas on 16 November. Here’s everything you need to know about James Newton Howard’s epic score

The 18 Best Original Songs From Animated Movies, From ‘Accidentally in Love’ to ‘Zero’ (Billboard)
Since 2010, the Academy Award for Best Original Song has gone to a track from an animated film on three separate occasions (Toy Story 3, Frozen, Coco). While the latter two of those three are musicals, the importance of providing a strong soundtrack for animated pictures has become paramount.

Mariah Carey’s Glitter soundtrack is #1 on iTunes 17 years later thanks to #JusticeforGlitter (EW)
The collective power of Mariah Carey’s Lambily got the Glitter soundtrack to #1 on the iTunes chart, 17 years after the film debuted.

When a song and a movie become inseparable (Den of Geek)
A movie can assimilate a song quite easily, and our brains are trained to keep them married…

Top TV Song Last Week: Rescue by Lauren Daigle (Tunefind)
Emotional song by contemporary Christian songstress Lauren Daigle concludes Grey’s Anatomy episode and takes Tunefind’s top TV song last week.

Gaming

League of Legends’ virtual K-pop band is helping the game attract a whole new audience (The Verge)
This week, Riot Games tapped into three things the internet loves: K-pop bands, women kicking ass, and augmented reality. The K/DA music video for “POP/STARS” reimagines four of the murderous champions of League of Legends as internationally acclaimed artists back with their latest single. (See also: League of Legends‘ virtual girl band K/DA manages to top Billboard’s world music charts.)

Tony Hawk Ranks His Video Game Soundtracks (Noisey)
The world’s most legendary skateboarder takes a look back at his long-running video game series and plays favorites with its influential soundtracks.

VR for the Game Music Composer: Audio for VR Platforms (Gamasutra)
In this article, game composer Winifred Phillips will be focusing on resources that are specific to each of the competing platforms in VR and AR/MR.

What Fortnite and esports could mean for the music industry (Music Ally)
At Music Ally’s Sandbox Summit London conference last month, I gave a talk about games: specifically about what 2018’s gaming craze Fortnite, and the wider world of esports – competitive gaming – could mean for music marketing and the wider industry. This is an edited summary of the talk.

Swan-Diving into the Music of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey with Composers, The Flight (Push Square)
Joe Henson and Alexis Smith, known as The Flight, have lent their talents to many titles prior to this, including Horizon: Zero Dawn, Alien: Isolation, and even previous Assassin’s Creed titles. We talked about what a massive undertaking scoring Odyssey really was, as well as tidbits about the process.

The New Smash Trailer Is Better With Pop Music (Kokatu)
Over the weekend, Nintendo released a new commercial for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate without any background music. The internet proceeded to work its magic and there are now hundreds of different versions of the video floating around set to songs ranging from Prince’s 1991 to the Dragon Ball Z intro music. They all somehow work really well.

Advertising

How Elton John wrote his greatest hit – and created the perfect Christmas advert anthem (Telegraph)
The new John Lewis Christmas ad features Sir Elton John performing his ballad “Your Song”, whilst actors portray the world’s favourite short-sighted and follicly-challenged singer-songwriter across the arc of his remarkable life.

Barbour Brings The Snowman to Life for Christmas Ad (LBB Online)
For its Christmas ad this year, Barbour has retold the classic story of The Snowman, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The perennial favourite was created by author and illustrator Raymond Briggs with the well-known and well-loved score by Howard Blake, who is published by Music Sales Creative.

Soundtree Music Scores a Tale of Love and Longing for Macy’s (LBB Online)
Composer Joel Hartman’s score was brought to life with a large string section and woodwind recorded by the team at Soundtree for this touching spot for Macy’s by BBDO NY.

Business

BMG Becomes Exclusive Music Partner For TV Drama Neighbours (Billboard)
Through the new arrangement via its sister company, the series producer Fremantle Media, BMG will provide repertoire from both its publishing and recordings rosters, and from its specialist BMG Production Music library.

Songs for Screens: Synch or Sync – What’s the Correct Usage? (Variety)
It’s a debate as inconclusive as “theater” versus “theatre”: When writing about music licenses, is it “sync” or “synch”? The shorthand for synchronization has become so interchangeable in industry circles that many music-licensing professionals are at a loss for words as to why they use one over the other.

FUGA inks deal with developer Riot Games to distribute entire music catalog of League of Legends (MBW)
FUGA’s partnership with Riot Games encompasses ongoing global digital distribution, excluding China and South Korea, for the entire musical catalogue for the world’s most popular PC game, League of Legends.

Steve Stoute’s Music Startup Gets a Boost From the NBA (Rolling Stone)
The partnership between UnitedMasters and the NBA will see a select group of Stoute’s artists featured across the NBA’s digital products, which include NBA.com, the NBA app, and various league and team social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch and Snapchat.

Music Sync Success: It’s All About Relationships (Midemblog)
Music sync is now the real deal, helping many new and established artists create a bigger awareness of their music by simply being attached to a product, a TV series or a film. Most media needs music, but pricing is an enduringly controversial area. Producers, agencies, music supervisors and the sync departments of music companies discuss this and other newer challenges.

‘This is an important deal’: PRS For Music seals new BBC blanket licence agreement (Music Week)
“This is an important deal for PRS For Music and for our members,” said Andy Harrower, director of licensing, PRS For Music. “We have enjoyed a long relationship with the BBC and are pleased to have agreed terms which ensure that PRS and MCPS members continue to be fairly rewarded whenever their music is used on the BBC’s television, radio and on-demand services.”

International charts analysis: Film fever boosts soundtracks in global markets (Music Week)
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s soundtrack to their smash movie A Star Is Born continues to impress, holding at No.1 in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Slovakia.

Universal and ESL’s gaming label Enter Records snares TheFatRat as first signing (Music Week)
Enter Records was established to target the gaming community and their creatives and the German producer fits the bill having recently released a music pack for multiplayer game Dota2 music pack.

Events

Key Worldwide Music Industry & Sync Events List 2019 (Synchblog)
Our list of key music industry events in 2019 has landed! Don’t forget to bookmark this page – we’ll keep updating it as more dates get announced.

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