We run through the latest and greatest in sync licensing and music supervision over the past fortnight, including the latest industry news, advice, and deals.
Film and TV:
Leonard Cohen was the natural born king of movie soundtracks (Variety)
Variety looks at the films that made indelible use of Cohen’s music, from Natural Born Killersand McCabe & Mrs. Miller to Shrek. See also – How Leonard Cohen’s music turned McCabe & Mrs. Miller into a masterpiece.
Music supervisor Brienne Rose on how to choose the perfect music for TV (Broadly)
Broadly chats to Brienne Rose, one of the hottest up-and-coming music supervisors in Hollywood today, and founder of Synchtank client Noise/Racket. In this Q&A she discusses the value of music in film and television, what bands excite her most right now, and how it feels to score an iconic TV moment.
How this singer got a magic nod from JK Rowling (BBC News)
Unsigned singer-songwriter Emmi has been hand-picked to sing the only song in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. She was chosen by director David Yates to sing lyrics written by JK Rowling – and recorded the track in her childhood bedroom.
Inside the Edge of Seventeen soundtrack: 5 key tracks (Entertainment Weekly)
The Edge of Seventeen, a coming-of-age comedy starring Hailee Stenfield, is getting plenty of comparisons to the John Hughes catalog, but its mostly modern soundtrack helps set it apart from those ’80s classics: Santigold’s rollicking “Who I Thought You Were” opens the movie, and a pivotal party scene is filled with tracks by festival favorites like Two Door Cinema Club and Anderson .Paak.
Listen to “City of Stars” from the La La Land Soundtrack (Variety)
Lionsgate and Interscope Records have announced that the original motion picture soundtrack for Damien Chazelle’s big Oscar-contending musical La La Land will drop on Dec. 9, the same day the film opens in limited release. Those who pre-order the soundtrack will receive an instant download of “City of Stars,” sung by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the film.
Justin Timberlake & Alexandre Desplat among winners at Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Deadline)
Some big names were in the winner’s circle for the seventh annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards. Among the composers taking home the hardware were Oscar winners Alexandre Desplat and Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross along with Justin Timberlake, John Debney and Nicholas Britell.
The Walking Dead season 7 episode 3: “Easy Street” writer delighted his song’s being used for torture (The Independent)
Having seen episode three of The Walking Dead season 7, you’ll no doubt be humming a certain song used by the Saviours as a torture tactic to prevent Daryl from sleeping. The Independent tracks down the song’s (“Easy Street” – The Collapsable Hearts Club) writer Jim Bianco to find out how it came to be featured in the AMC series.
Composer roundtable: 6 contenders on film music’s lack of women, working all-nighters and how they’d score the election (THR)
Lesley Barber (Manchester by the Sea), Nicholas Britell (Moonlight), John Debney (The Jungle Book), Hauschka (Lion), Justin Jurwitz (La La Land) and Hans Zimmer (Hidden Figures) sit down for a discussion about their work process, the music that inspires them, and why they never see their families (even working out of studios in their own homes!).
Moana has some of Disney’s best music ever (New York Post)
Disney’s latest crowd-pleaser of a musical is scored by the ever-more-versatile Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of “Hamilton”. Miranda brings his literary rhymes and hip-hop flair to a collaboration with Samoan singer Opetaia Tavita Foa’i, who with his band Te Vaka provides choral island music.
Crew Q&A: Music supervisors Robert Lowry and Joe Rudge (BBC America)
A conversation with Robert Lowry and Joe Rudge, music supervisors on BBC America’s new show Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, a serialized comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric “holistic” detective Dirk Gently (Samuel Barnett) and his reluctant assistant Todd (Elijah Wood).
The Space Jam Soundtrack Is Still the Michael Jordan of ’90s Movie Soundtracks (GQ)
It’s been 20 years to the day since the insta-cult-classic arrived in theaters, but its real legacy came in compact-disc form. Biz Markie and the Spin Doctors covering “That’s The Way (I Like It)?” Seal crooning all over “Fly Like An Eagle?” And of course, a little song called “I Believe I Can Fly”.
Hans Zimmer launches online course in film scoring for $90 (Variety)
Hans Zimmer, one of the most prolific film composers of all time, will lead an internet course in writing music for the movies through startup MasterClass. The full class, slated to include more than 30 exclusive video lessons, will be available in January 2017.
Stardust memories: Revisiting the sound and vision of Nicolas Roeg, David Bowie, and The Man Who Fell to Earth (Flood Magazine)
On its fortieth anniversary, the sci-fi classic is getting a 4K re-release. Here, the earthlings involved – including cinematographer Tony Richmond and Bowie’s co-star Candy Clark – talk about the moment the star became a man.
Gaming:
How Abbey Road got game: the invasion of the video-game soundtrack (Guardian)
From Tomb Raider to The Sims, games are taking over the studio made famous by the Beatles. The Guardian sees a 120-strong orchestra and choir tap into its fabled atmosphere to record Final Fantasy XV.
Composer Jesse Harlin on giving video games life through music (Flickering Myth)
Jesse Harlin has worked on highly acclaimed titles such as Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Mafia III. In this interview Jesse talks about his experiences starting out and his perspective working on these titles fans have grown to love, especially for the music.
Advertising:
Abi Leland on finding the perfect track for ‘Buster the Boxer’ (Synchblog)
As this year’s much-awaited John Lewis Christmas advert ‘Buster the Boxer’ hits our screens, we chat to music supervisor Abi Leland about finding the right track for the campaign. .
The Most Shazamed Ads of the Week: Oct. 31 – Nov. 7 | Nov. 8 – Nov. 14 (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 the last two weeks.
Sound marketing: Disney’s latest trailers capitalize on nostalgic music themes (Forbes)
Jordan Passman takes a look at Disney’s latest film trailers for Beauty and The Beast, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Jungle Book, and how they use iconic movie themes to evoke nostalgic emotions that make us excited to re-enter their magical and wondrous worlds.
Business:
Lakeshore Records, Cutting Edge Group make music deal (Variety)
Cutting Edge Group and Lakeshore Entertainment have closed terms on a strategic music venture in which Cutting Edge will administer and monetize Lakeshore’s music library of over 50 titles. Lakeshore has produced movies for the past two decades, including Million Dollar Baby, The Age of Adaline, American Pastoral and The Boy.
Cutting Edge cuts co-ownership deal with Electric Ent. for music library (Deadline)
Cutting Edge Group sees more good news as it acquires a significant stake in Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment’s music library. With the co-ownership agreement, comes a strategic alliance between Cutting Edge and Electric who will work together to monetize the library of music around the world. That includes over 130 hours of television programming and includes the scores from the hit television shows Leverage and The Librarians.
Tips and Tricks:
From Pitch to Placement: The Essentials of Sync Licensing (Synchblog)
Check out this recording and slides from our recent Essentials of Sync Licensing Webinar in association with Women in Music. We run through the best practices for preparing your catalogue for licensing, tips for pitching successfully, building relationships with music supervisors, and much more.
Music game plan: Tactics for the video game composer (part four) (Gamasutra)
Games music composer Winifred Phillips has produced four videos to introduce aspiring video game composers to some of the most popular tactics and procedures commonly used by game audio experts in the structuring of musical interactivity for games. In the fourth and final installment, Phillips takes a look at a much more ambitious execution of vertical layering.
You can’t teach passion: Career tips for women in sync (Synchblog)
In this post, shesaid.so‘s Harriet Moss runs through some key advice from top female music supervisors and sync professionals at the London Sync Sessions 2016.
