Music Supervisors Are Essential to Syching Music to Visual Media, and Demand is Rising Behind every piece of music we see on-screen is a music supervisor who worked to make it happen.
By
Michael Blanding
December 11, 2024
Illustration by Eric Palma
Josh Sutherland BM '19 was up against the clock. A music supervisor for the NFL, he was working to clear a package of songs that would accompany players as they walked out for the draft. The one he really wanted to license was a new song, TEKA -a catchy electronic track with a driving beat by DJ Snake and Peso Pluma.
Josh Sutherland BM '19
Image by Jeff Lewis
The only problem was that the track was so new that not all of the rights for it were settled. So many artists have friends, producers, and managers that are involved in the writing process, Sutherland says-in this case, 11 writers and seven publishers just for this one song. With the draft days away, Sutherland set to work, negotiating separately with each rightsholder. One owned just 0.5% of the song. In the end, he was able to clear the song in the nick of time.
It wasn't the first time Sutherland had to play detective and diplomat in the name of getting the rights to a track. More often than not, you find out people own a certain percentage of a song, and you have to do the digging, stalking them to get them to respond, says Sutherland, who helped oversee music for Max's Euphoria and Rap Sh!t. And they may want a little more money, so you've got to put your budgeting and negotiating skills to use.
Invisible but Essential Sinking into the couch and flicking on the latest movie or show on Netflix or Amazon Prime, we may take for granted the soundtracks that lilt or pump behind the action on-screen, but every bit of music that appears on our screens is there because of a music supervisor, who both consults with the director or showrunner to choose songs and then performs the painstaking behind-the-scenes work to clear the rights to use them.
A music supervisor is a bridge between the creative and administrative, says Christopher Wares, assistant chair of Berklee's Music Business/Management Department. They have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of music and genres, as well as a deep understanding of who controls the publishing rights.
Abbey Hendrix BM '13
Image by Bianca Poletti
Also known as sync, music supervision includes overseeing the synchronization between music and some form of visual media. With the increasing number of shows on streaming channels such as Apple TV+, Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock, music supervisors have become highly sought-after, and the field is increasingly attractive to those who love both music and visual media. As music proliferates into more and more forms of media, the field has expanded into advertising, sports, video games, social media, virtual-reality experiences, and even exercise equipment. If you are on a bike watching a class and music is playing in the background, a music supervisor was involved in making that happen, Wares says.
While a director sometimes has a clear view of the music they want, and only needs the supervisor to clear the rights, for others a supervisor is a true collaborator in coming up with the musical signature of the project, says Thomas Golubic, a veteran who has worked on shows including Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Walking Dead.
Professor LaMarcus Miller
Image by David Christopher Lee
We are brought in by the network to essentially build out the soundscape for a TV show or film, says Professor LaMarcus Miller, who worked as a music supervisor for The Wonder Years and RapCaviar Presents, and recently for a documentary on Jim Henson and the Muppets. He also served as head of operations for the Guild of Music Supervisors in 2023.
For Six Feet Under, Golubic made playlists for each of the characters to help him get inside their heads. The process really helps you think deeply about a character-what is it that really moves them, he says. Sometimes the task of a music supervisor can get quite complicated, as with a recent episode of the show Poker Face, a crime procedural with a case-of-the-week structure. Showrunner Rian Johnson created a plot involving a band with a hit song ripped off from the theme of the '80s sitcom Benson. We had to figure out how to clear the existing copyright, and then hire a band to write a new song similar to it, but also viable as a hit, says Golubic, who has come to Berklee several times to present to students.
Assistant Chair Christopher Wares
Image by Kelly Davidson
Copyright comprises two separate parts: the publishing rights to the composition and the performance rights to the recording. While sometimes a supervisor can go to a label for one-stop rights, more often they need to play sleuth, first scouring databases such as ASCAP or BMI and then branching out to internet searches and phone calls to track down owners. I've made some insane Sherlock Holmes moves-for example, calling someone's second cousin's church-because I'm looking to clear an arrangement, says Sami Posner '13, a freelance music supervisor with Blue Lily Music.
After tracking down rightsholders, music supervisors then need to negotiate rates, which can vary wildly depending on how long the song will be used and in what context, as well as where the broadcast will air. Sometimes, Miller says, music supervisors need to square a creator's lofty ideas with the reality of how much the desired music actually costs. A lesser-known artist used in the background might cost $5,000 all-in. But a recognizable artist can cost between $40,000 and $60,000, while a major-label artist such as Michael Jackson, The Beatles, or Beyonc can easily run six figures.
Sami Posner '13
Image by Josh Solomon
Ma
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Music Supervisors Are Essential to Syching Music to Visual Media, and Demand is Rising Behind every piece of music we see on-screen is a music supervisor who worked to make it happen.
