Hi Natasha! Tell us about your job: what is it, and what does the day-to-day entail?
A music supervisor is responsible for licensing music for the soundtrack of a visual production, whether that’s TV, film (which can scripted or unscripted), ads or games, or live events where music is required such as stage plays and musicals. They can be responsible for licensing source music, library tracks or overseeing the creative and budget for a composers’ score or pre-recorded music. Usually, they get on board during the script stage and start mapping out the music cues involved and the fees those songs require.
Productions rely on a music supervisor’s knowledge of all aspects of musical artists, genres and instruments to bring their vision to life on screen. It’s our role to suggest and ‘moodboard’ music ideas with showrunners, producers, writers and directors, as well as support and develop their existing artistic goals for the soundtrack. The role is varied and always involves some aspect of detective work along the way. For example, we’re often doing a deep dive into the historical records of a song’s ownership or trying to find a current contact for a rights holder who passed away decades prior.
Whilst music supervision is a hugely creative and exciting role, I do see it as something that is — at any given time — 50% creative, and 50% admin. As well as managing the main music budget, there is a very large amount of paperwork involved. Being confident with music licensing involves having an awareness of fees, copyright, share splits across a particular song, music unions etc. As well as the production they’re working on, a music supervisor’s most regular communication will be with rights holders — the record labels and music publishers who are the gatekeepers of licensing music. Having a wide network of contacts in these areas across the globe is key in order to tap into various music required on a production.
I also have experience with on-camera music supervision, which involves putting together real musicians or singers to be featured in-vision, or organising music lessons for any acting cast performing music. This role is responsible for fixing musicians, prepping the music or any pre-recorded music, organising props and sheet music for use on shoot day, as well as looking after the budget for costing musicians under music union guidelines. Then it’s time to liaise with the sound department to check they have what they need for shoot day such as the music files, click tracks, in-ear pieces etc and finally attending the set to ensure everything runs smoothly.
How did you get into this line of work?
I guess you could say I had a career pivot getting into music supervision. Prior to being a music supervisor, I was running a PR and social media management company representing talents such as Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa and Petite Meller. As well as music, I always had a love of cinema and filmed visuals, so I knew this was an area I eventually wanted to explore for myself.
I first got to grips with music licensing by attending an introductory publishing course through the MPA (Music Publishers Association). This gave me a good foundational knowledge of sync licensing in relation to a filmed production. As well as learning what music supervisors have worked on which productions, I really got a feel for the kinds of films and TV shows I love and who those productions were hiring. I connected with a few established music supervisors who were open to sharing more about how they got into that world. I spent lots of time becoming immersed in everything I could relating to music supervision and sync- via podcasts, conferences and seminars.
I always knew the exact moment I wanted to work as a music supervisor, but without experience, I couldn’t expect to walk easily into my first gig so I decided to offer my early services pro bono. I put myself on the forum Shooting People, which is a space for people working on all kinds of filmed content to meet and collaborate. I connected with many filmmakers with development projects and offered to help them with their music licensing for free. I ended up collaborating with a talented filmmaker based in London on a small budget film which eventually went on a festival run. After this, I was introduced to an established music supervisor, who was looking for a music Co-ordinator at the time. I began joining her on shows such as Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Shondaland/ Netflix) and The Crown (Netflix).
What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into your type of job? I guess you could say I had a career pivot getting into music supervision. Prior to being a music supervisor, I was running a PR and social media management company representing talents such as Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa and Petite Meller. As well as music, I always had a love of cinema and filmed visuals, so I knew this was an area I eventually wanted to explore for myself.
I first got to grips with music licensing by attending an introductory publishing course through the MPA (Music Publishers Association). This gave me a good foundational knowledge of sync licensing in relation to a filmed production. As well as learning what music supervisors have worked on which productions, I really got a feel for the kinds of films and TV shows I love and who those productions were hiring. I connected with a few established music supervisors who were open to sharing more about how they got into that world. I spent lots of time becoming immersed in everything I could relating to music supervision and sync- via podcasts, conferences and seminars.
Learn more about Natasha at natasha-barlow.com
