Film and TV
Guild of Music Supervisors Awards Unveils Nominees (Exclusive) (Variety)
The Guild of Music Supervisors on Thursday unveiled the list of nominees for its eighth annual awards. The awards will recognize outstanding music supervisors in 17 categories representing film, television, trailers, TV promos, advertising and video games.
The Greatest Showman Songwriter Benj Pasek on Landing A No. 1 Album and Co-Writing Golden Globe Winner ‘This Is Me’ (Billboard)
By their own admission, it’s been a crazy several months for La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who captured the best original song Golden Globe Sunday night for “This Is Me,” from The Greatest Showman.
Pop tunes are welcome in the movies, directors say, as long as it’s in service of the plot (LA Times)
If you want to know what tunes will be on the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie, you don’t have to wait until post-production — just visit director James Gunn during filming. For him, the music in his movies is so “baked in” he’s playing it on set during shooting.
Here’s How The Score Of Apocalypse Now Originally Sounded (NPR)
David Shire was hired to compose the soundtrack for Apocalypse Now but had a falling out with the film’s director Francis Ford Coppola. Now, Shire’s original electronic, all-synthesizer score is being released for the first time.
Oscar Song Contenders Take on a More Socially-Conscious Point of View (Billboard)
As the Jan. 12 deadline for Oscar nominations voting approaches, expect songs from socially conscious-oriented films and entries from past winners to dominate the best original song category.
7 things we learned about The Last Jedi’s sound design (Nerdist)
Nerdist sits down with co-sound supervisors Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce to discuss what went into making the sound effect soundtrack for The Last Jedi and learned about sounds from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a race car, and more.
SuperMusicVision’s Music Supervisors pick their favourite tracks of 2017 (SMV)
There is a lot of great music SMV listens to each year that doesn’t always find a home in their projects. Here they share some of their favourite tracks from 2017 with their friends and colleagues.
33 Bloody Brilliant Songs From The End of the F***ing World (Pop Sugar)
Like the cast, script, and look of The End of the F***ing World, the show’s soundtrack is bloody amazing. Not only is the show self-aware enough to acknowledge its American influences, but the soundtrack even features songs from British artists whose sounds have roots in American blues, soul, and rock music.
From Church Altar to Broad City: How Michael Feldman Schooled Matt FX (Observer)
As the music supervisor for television shows on MTV, Hulu, and Comedy Central, Matt FX took underground dance music mainstream, shaping today’s culture—success he owes to his father’s lessons in classical composition.
The 2017 Trailaurality Awards (Trailaurality)
Trailaurality look back on a year full of trailers from thrilling to sombre and everywhere in between, and tip the proverbial hat towards a variety of trailer soundtracks that they thought stood out among the rest in particular ways.
Top TV Song Last Week: Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) by Irma Thomas (tunefind)
Netflix seems to be dominating our viewing right now, and season 4 of Black Mirror gives us Tunefind’s top TV song last week. The track is used several times throughout Black Mirror’s S4E3: Crocodile to help characters remember an accident that took place.
How Barry Cole captured the sound of a city on Showtime’s The Chi (LA Times)
When music supervisor Barry Cole signed on for Lena Waithe’s show The Chi, about the intersecting lives of black Chicagoans on the city’s South Side, he had two distinct jobs.
Sync Story: Inside Logic/Rag’N’Bone Man’s Bright placement (Music Week)
Broken People, the lead track on the OST to new Netflix film Bright, brings together two musicians who go into 2018 with all guns blazing. With his hit 1-800-273-8255 (463,733 sales, OCC) up for two Grammys this month, Maryland rapper Logic unites with Rag’N’Bone Man, who’s passed 1 million sales for debut album Human.
How Sufjan Stevens’ Music Became a ‘Sort of Narrator’ for Call Me by Your Name (Billboard)
“His voice is so angelic,” Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino says of singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, whose music acts as a “sort of narrator” to the romantic coming-of-age drama.
Kendrick Lamar Will Produce and Curate Marvel’s Black Panther Soundtrack (Collider)
Seven-time Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar will team with Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith to produce and curate Black Panther: The Album.
The Shape Of Water Composer Alexandre Desplat On The Sounds Of Love & Water (Deadline)
To understand Guillermo del Toro’s core drive and thematic interest when it came to The Shape of Water, look no further than the film’s title. “[Water] takes the shape of everything. It goes through the air, it’s invisible, it’s transparent, but it still has a lot of power,” Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat explains of the film’s central idea.
Wonder Woman, Twin Peaks, Baby Driver Pick Up CAS Sound Mixing Nominations (Variety)
The Cinema Audio Society has announced nominees for excellence in sound mixing for 2017. In the live action feature film category, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water kept a perfect streak alive with its 10th guild or industry group citation. The film was joined by Baby Driver, Dunkirk, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Wonder Woman.
Han Solo Movie: John Williams Will Do the Music, But There’s a Catch (Inverse)
Diehard Star Wars fans can hum “Yoda’s Theme,” or “Princess Leia’s Theme,” or even, Anakin and Padme’s love the, “Across the Stars,” but what does Han Solo’s theme music sound like? This May, John Williams will answer that question as he creates new themes for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
How Composer Daniel Pemberton Brought Class To All The Money In The World (Deadline)
In the case of All the Money in the World, composer Daniel Pemberton remained the rock that director Ridley Scott relied upon as he embarked on a last minute reshoot weeks before the pic’s holiday release.
Ben Frost composed the score to creepy new Netflix series Dark (Brooklyn Vegan)
The score is by Australian-born, Iceland-based electronic composer Ben Frost whose intense, at times unsettling, style really compliments the series’ atmosphere, and the Sinfonietta Cracovia string quartet really bring it to life.
Gaming
Witcher 3 Composers Discuss The Game’s Inspirational Music & its “Beautiful Ugliness” (comicbook)
The GDC YouTube channel has released a new video where both Marcin Przybylowicz and Mikolai Stroinski talk about the inspiration behind the stunning musical stylings behind the legendary Geralt of Rivia, including the “beautiful ugliness” and what inspired the sound selection.
10 Years Ago: Rock Band Changes the Music Video Game Industry (Classic Rock)
By 2007, Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise was a known quantity and a wild success in the video game industry. But with Rock Band, which arrived that December, MTV Games changed the game.
Video Game Music Conference takes Ann Arbor (The Michigan Daily)
The conference will feature discussions on the different aspects of video game music, such as composition and music theory, and seeks to bring together scholars who specialize in these topics.
What goes into creating a memorable soundtrack? (PCGamer)
Whether you’re switching radio stations in GTA or trekking across epic mountains in The Elder Scrolls as a choir serenades you, music and games often go hand in hand. A soundtrack can make or break a game’s success, even more so when it’s emotionally and narratively driven.
5 Games With The Best Music In 2017 (Gaming Bolt)
Gaming Bolt run through their favourite video game soundtracks of 2017, and give their Best Music of the Year award to the game that stood tall against its competitors.
Bleeding Cool Game Awards 2017: Best Video Game Soundtrack (Bleeding Cool)
For Bleeding Cool’s Best Video Game Soundtrack award, their esteemed judges were tasked with ranking the top soundtracks designed for a video game in the entirety of 2017.
Advertising
Super Bowl Scramble: Music Publishers and Advertisers Race to the Finish Line (Billboard)
While the film and music worlds hunker down for awards season, there is another battleground getting underway involving ad agencies, their brand-clients, music publishers and supervisors as the countdown to NBC’s broadcast of the 52nd Super Bowl on Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis rapidly approaches.
How Portugal. The Man and Imagine Dragons Crossed Over In 2017 (Billboard)
The charts may have belonged to hip-hop in 2017, but the ad world still flocked to rock to score its commercials. Many of this year’s top-performing tracks on Billboard & Clio Music’s Top Commercials Chart came from rock/alternative artists, including Imagine Dragons and Portugal. The Man, whose latest singles all cracked the top 5 on the Hot 100 after scoring major synchs from big brands like Jeep, Microsoft and Vitaminwater.
How Hit Songs in Commercials Might Be Making You Shop More (Billboard)
According to a study, popular syncs are proven to boost consumer engagement — but experts say how these songs are used is just as important.
What Does Sofi Tukker Have That Apple Wants? (Vulture)
On September 12, Tucker Halpern was watching Apple’s keynote product release event when he heard a song that he recognized: his own. “Best Friend,” a song he produced with Sophie Hawley-Weld, one of his actual best friends and his musical partner in the dance-pop duo Sofi Tukker, soundtracked the unveiling of the iPhone X (price tag: $1,000). It was their second spot for the company, following a 2015 Apple Watch ad.
The Story Behind Karen O and Kenzo’s New Collaboration (Vogue)
When Kenzo’s co-creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon started thinking about out-of-the-box ways to bring their Spring 2018 campaign to life, it’s no surprise that they turned to Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman and longtime friend Karen O for a soundtrack.
UK Top Shazamed Ads: January 9th (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 week.
The most Shazamed ads of the week (US): December 25 – December 31 (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 December 25th to December 31st.
ODESZA’s “Corners Of The Earth” featured in promo for the Winter Olympics (EDM sauce)
After dropping 3 albums in their musical careers, ODESZA has reached a new milestone with the sync licensing deal made with the NBC Olympics.
Sam Smith’s ‘Palace’ Hits No. 1 on Top TV Commercials Chart for December (Billboard)
Sam Smith’s “Palace” rises 4-1 on Billboard & Clio’s Top TV Commercials chart, powered by Shazam, for December, thanks to the song’s appearance in Apple iPhone X’s “Sway” commercial.
Business and Legal
Universal Music Publishing Group Names Marni Condro SVP of Film & Television (Billboard)
In her new role, Condro will oversee placements of the company’s music catalog in film, trailers, television, TV marketing campaigns, sports and video games. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., Condro reports to Evan Lamberg, president of UMPG, North America.
Downtown hires Warner Music exec Tristan Wilson as Head of Sync in the UK (MBW)
Wilson joins from Warner Music UK where he spent nearly four years as Senior Creative Manager, leading various sync campaigns with artists including Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Royal Blood, and Ed Sheeran.
Sync Licensing in 2017: A Look at the Trends and Figures (Synchblog)
The business of sync licensing remains a key revenue stream for music rights holders. But what did this year hold for the sync sector? We take a look through some of the figures and trends in 2017.
Life at Kobalt: Talking with Jeannette Perez about the Lookup Factor (Kobalt)
A chat with Jeannette Perez, President, Global Synch and Brand Partnerships at Kobalt, about the importance of synch, and how Kobalt’s synch team is able to give visual media “the lookup factor.”
Music+Sound Awards Entry Details 2018 (Music+Sound Awards)
Anyone who has worked, in any capacity, on a film, TV or advertising project, broadcast or released between April 1st 2017 and March 31st 2018, anywhere in the world, that they feel has been notably enhanced by the music or sound, is invited to submit their work.
The 10 Most Popular Synchblog Articles of 2017 (Synchblog)
As 2018 kicks off, we count down our 10 most popular blog posts of the last year, from trends in trailer music to interviews with music supervisors and other sync professionals.
Events
Lunch & Learn 04: Get in the Scene! Spotlight on Sync & Licensing (Toronto, January 17th)
Working smart in today’s music industry means exploring new revenue streams beyond the standard of album sales, gigs, and merch. If done right, sync and licensing can be an effective source of additional income, and we’re here to help! Join us on January 17th as our group of industry pros uncover the key to successfully placing music in film, television, and ads.
When Sound Meets Image (London, January 22nd)
This free event will feature a stellar collection of experts from the world of music, cinema, advertising and science, in an exploration of the importance of music’s relationship with image. Focusing on sync and commissioned music, a variety of scenarios will be investigated from cinema and television through to advertising and interactive games.
Introduction to Music Supervision Masterclass (London, January 30th)
This masterclass, held by The UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors, will provide an insight into the world of supervision and the work of a music supervisor (spoiler alert, there’s a lot more to it than choosing music!).
Key Worldwide Music Industry & Sync Events List 2018 (Synchblog)
Looking for more events? We’ve updated our popular worldwide list to include 2018 dates. Don’t miss out on music industry events in your area – bookmark it now!
Subscribe
Don’t forget to subscribe to our Synchtank Weekly newsletter to receive all of our blog posts via email, plus key industry news, and details of our podcast episodes and free webinars.
