The Music Supervisor – The Intro

I’m set to start blogging about my role as a music supervisor.  I plan to write about many topics from music clearance, music rights, music budgets, synch and master-use license fees, license agreements, music cue sheets, composers, selecting music, bands & songwriters and so much more interesting things as they relate to my job.  All of these topics have an impact on both the filmmaker and music maker.

To get started, I’ll tell a little bit about how I got involved in the field of music supervision?  The music part started in 1974 when I was only 11 years old and purchased my first guitar for $10.  I had an interest in music many years before this, but this was my first step towards my journey into the music industry.

Fast-forward to 1988 and several guitars later, I’m standing in from of my Ensoniq EPS keyboard, an effects process and a Tascam 4 track recorder.  I was a full-fledged songwriter and became a full ASCAP writer member in 1990.

Fast-forward a little more to 1993 and I’m in Nashville sitting at my desk at Mercury Records.  Learning the ropes from within a major record label was invaluable and I use a lot of it today.  After my stay at Mercury, I found myself working at Acuff-Rose Publishing.  This is where my music publishing knowledge started.  What I learned at Acuff-Rose was instrumental in the launch of our music publishing companies.

Again, fast-forward to 2001 and I met my wife, Jamie, an aspiring screenwriter.  Our marriage not only brought us together but also brought our music and film interests together.  In 2004 we formed Spin Cycle Films and shot Jamie’s first short film, “The Spin Cycle.”  When it came time to secure the music rights to “It Must Be Love” by Don Williams, I put my music supervisor hat on for the first time.  I found my calling.

Now 16 films later, I find myself where I want to be in the film industry.  Still connected to the music industry, I’m inundated with music from songwriters and artists.  I’ve got the best of both worlds.

I am very serious, upfront and to the point when it comes to music clearance.  I’m a strong believer in “if you can hear it, clear it.”  That means if there’s music in your film, you must clear the rights from the rights holders.  No ifs, ands or buts about it!  I really hate to hear a filmmaker try to tell me (or someone else) that it’s not necessary to clear the rights if it’s just a small project.  For the most part, the rights holder may agree, but you won’t know until you ask for their permission.  Just don’t assume!  I have many stories were the filmmaker chose to ignore the rights holders desires not to have their song in a film and used the song anyway.