Film and TV
Jordan Peele’s Us Is the First Film to Take Over Spotify With a Playlist of Memorable Soundtrack Hits (Adweek)
For the first time ever, a movie has its own hub on Spotify. To drum up interest in Jordan Peele’s upcoming horror film, Us, the Oscar winner, who wrote and directed the movie, curated a playlist of notable soundtrack songs, one of which is from Us and the others from other noteworthy series and movies.
Pen15 Music Supervisor Unpacks The Show’s Y2K Soundtrack (Billboard)
Tiffany Anders breaks down key scenes featuring music from Lit, Nelly and Des’ree… and a wish list for a potential second season.
Game of Thrones Turned Its Composer Into a Rock Star (The Atlantic)
Ramin Djawadi’s score helped make the show a hit – and brought unlikely fame to the composer.
Music Supervisor Spotlight: Jen Ross (Pop Disciple)
Vivacious award-winning music supervisor and founder of Grand Plan Entertainment speaks on the dramatic storytelling and textured sonic landscape of Power, bringing together an elaborate and eclectic feast of music to support Lee Daniels’ vision for Empire, the obstacles in executing seamless on screen performances, and her impression of Josh Safran’s upcoming musical drama show, Mixtape.
Top TV Song: “Everybody Walkin’ This Land” by Paul Cauthen (Tunefind)
The Starz fantasy drama American Gods returned for a second season on March 10 and takes Top TV song last week with a soulful track by Paul Cauthen that closed out the episode.
How The Greatest Showman became the world’s favorite album of 2018 (MBW)
The soundtrack to movie phenomenon The Greatest Showman, whose brassy, colourful anthems are mostly fronted by Hugh Jackman, has officially been anointed as 2018’s largest global album.
A definitive ranking of the 23 best fake songs from movies and TV (EW)
Fake music in the universe of movies and TV shows is always a tricky proposition. The songs have to be instantly memorable and catchy — in other words, believable as hits even though we the audience haven’t heard them before.
Synchtank’s Top Music on TV playlist returns (Synchtank)
Our top music on TV playlist is back! Powered by data from Tunefind we’ll update the playlist each week with the most popular TV syncs.
The Making of Riverdale‘s “Heathers: The Musical” Episode: A Cast and Crew Roundtable (W Magazine)
Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? On Riverdale, the answer can be and is as simple as: Yes.
New Trend in Concert Halls: Original Music by Movie Composers — No Film Required (Variety)
Movie and TV composers are in greater demand than ever for, surprisingly, new music for the concert hall.
Another Record for Captain Marvel: It’s the Top-Grossing Movie Scored by a Woman (Variety)
Over a single opening weekend, composer Pinar Toprak smashed all previous box-office records for women composers in film. She scored Captain Marvel, which made $153 million domestically.
Dick Dale, godfather of surf rock who found a new audience thanks to Quentin Tarantino and Pulp Fiction – obituary (Telegraph)
Dick Dale, who has died aged 81, was the progenitor of what became known in the 1960s as “surf music”, a sub-genre of pop whose most famous exponents were the Beach Boys; he belatedly achieved wider recognition when Quentin Tarantino used his track Misirlou as the opening theme to one of the key films of the 1990s, Pulp Fiction.
The Broad City Soundtrack Is Like Partying on a Budget With Your Coolest Friend (Pitchfork)
Hearing a song on Broad City is often like this, as though you’re catching a glimpse of a killer track in the background of your cool friend’s Instagram story.
Gloria Bell‘s Soundtrack Is an Amazing Throwback to the Hits of the ’70s and ’80s (People)
When Gloria Bell director Sebastian Lelio was putting together the soundtrack for the film, which is about a lonely divorcée who finds joy on the dance floor at L.A.-area nightclubs, he says he worked extremely closely with the film’s star Julianne Moore to choose the perfect songs.
Stranger Things Season 3 trailer is here (with music by The Who & Motley Crue) (Brooklyn Vegan)
The trailer is soundtracked by Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home” and a reworked version of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” before Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s (of S U R V I V E) trademark synthwave score takes over at the end.
The Derry Girls Soundtrack Is Your Dream ’90s Playlist (Refinery 29)
If you find yourself both drawn in and disoriented by the familiarity of the show, you can blame the music playing in the background.
Ankur Tewari: I am not judgmental about music (mid-day)
Ankur Tewari, who has created the title of music supervisor in India with Gully Boy and Made in Heaven, says right now, the music scene has space for anyone and everyone.
The Umbrella Academy Soundtrack Dominates the TV Songs List (THR)
The Good Doctor, This is Us and Russian Doll each had one song from their soundtracks on the list, while all the other songs came from the hit Netflix original series.
Gaming
Beat Saber Sells More Than One Million Copies, Releases First Music Pack (Variety)
Beat Games announced the release of its first song pack Thursday. Dubbed “Monstercat Music Pack,” the paid add-on allows Beat Saber players to add ten new tracks to the game. As the name suggests, all of the tracks are from the Canadian EDM label Monstercat.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s Electric Live Music Performance Is Now on Video For Your Viewing Pleasure (Twinfinite)
Rockstar still hasn’t released the official soundtrack collection for Red Dead Redemption 2, but in the meantime the full soundtrack performance from last month’s Red Bull event in Los Angeles has now been uploaded to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
Ex-Westwood Devs Reminisce About Making Original Command & Conquer (Variety)
At this year’s GDC, several members of Command & Conquer’s original creative team assembled to reminisce about the game’s development, its reception, and that legendary installation sequence. The panel, titled “Classic Game Postmortem: Command & Conquer,” brought together Westwood co-founder Louis Castle, composer Frank Klepacki, lead designer Erik Yeo, and technical director Steve Wetherill.
God of War Wins Six G.A.N.G. Awards, Including Audio of the Year (Variety)
Sony Santa Monica’s God of War won a total six of awards at the 17th annual Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Awards held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco Thursday night.
Kode9 To Remix Video Game Music (Quietus)
Kode9 has remixed four pieces of Japanese video game music for a new release on Hyperdub. Above, you can hear one of the remixes, of ‘Bad Data’ by Koichi Ishibashi (which featured in the game Dezaemon).
Advertising
Songs for Screens: Shaed Is the Latest Act to Get Rocket Fuel From an Apple Ad (Variety)
Nearly 16 years after the first iPod silhouette commercials became instant music-marketing vehicles for bands big, small and critically beloved, the so-called “Apple effect” continues to show little signs of fatigue.
Music Supervisor Spotlight: Toby Slade-Baker (GMS UK & Europe)
This month we feature an exclusive interview with Toby Slade-Baker, founder and director of Thirty Two Music, who shares insights into his career to date and what inspired him to pursue a career in supervision.
F1’s New 3-Second Sonic Branding Is Actually a Chemical Brothers Song Sped to 15,000 BPM (Adweek)
There aren’t many artists who could handle the task of effectively capturing the speed and exhilaration of Formula 1 racing within one song. Then again, there aren’t many who could boast the same 30-year legacy of experimentation as electronic duo The Chemical Brothers.
Music Week Sync Story: Blackie/Ford Focus (Music Week)
Congratulations to Synchtank client Bucks Music who’s artist Blakie is featured in Music Week’s latest Sync Story!
Spotify’s #LoveAds Campaign Invites Marketers To Share Music From Ads (a.list)
Spotify is highlighting the emotional power of music in advertising through a campaign called #loveAds. Following a positive reception in Europe, Spotify has expanded #loveAds to the US—inviting brand marketers to share music they fell in love with after hearing it on a commercial.
Business
Peloton Is Being Sued by Music Publishers for $150 Million (Rolling Stone)
The 10 independent publishers involved in the suit say the company has knowingly violated copyright on thousands of songs since it launched at-home streaming features on its exercise equipment in 2014 by failing to obtain the requisite sync license.
Songtradr completes $12m Series B funding round (MBW)
Santa Monica-based music licensing platform Songtradr has completed a Series B funding round of $12 million. This latest funding round brings Songtradr’s total funding to date to $21.5m.
Musicians Union Begins Negotiations With Studios Over Streaming Residuals (Variety)
Contract negotiations are underway in Los Angeles between the American Federation of Musicians and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with musicians calling on the Hollywood studios to begin paying residuals for content created for streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Former Spirit Music Group principals launch MOJO Music & Media, acquire Nashville-Based HoriPro Entertainment Group (Music Week)
“We aim to build a modern-day Brill Building, not only pitching songs and syncs like our lives depended on it but bringing our writers’ songs and stories to life across traditional and new media”, says Mojo Music founder and CEO Mark Fried.
Tips and Tricks
Sync Negotiations: How Much Should You Ask for Your Music? (Synchblog)
Attorney Steven Masur runs through the practical considerations to keep in mind when determining how much to charge for a sync license.
How Do I Get My Music Licensed? (Music Consultant)
Although it can be difficult, music licensing can provide a solid source of income. So, what exactly is music licensing, and how can artists license their music and earn income from it?
7 tips for anyone who’s making soundtracks for TV, video and film (Music Radar)
Fancy getting involved in soundtrack composition and production? Here are some pointers to start you off…
Events
FEMALE COMPOSERS IN FILM – BALANCING THE SCALE – March 27th (Los Angeles)
Join music supervisor and moderator Tracy McKnight for a panel discussion celebrating the amazing work of female composers scoring film, and a conversation about the state of the field.
Applications to the 15th Sync Licensing Mission to Los Angeles is now open (BPI)
Music companies and individuals looking to participate in the 15th LA Sync Licensing Mission hosted jointly by the BPI, the Music Publishers Association (MPA) and Department for International Trade (DIT) have until 23rd April to submit their applications.
Jobs
Check out the latest positions on the Synchblog jobs board
Looking for a new position in the music industry? Check out our jobs board for the latest postings. Want to add a job listing for free? Email us at jobsboard@synchtank.com.
Subscribe
Want to stay up to date with the latest news in sync licensing, music supervision, and the monetisation of music copyrights? Subscribe to the Synchtank Weekly newsletter, out every Tuesday!
