
Back to All News
Increasing Inclusion and Diversity in Music and Sound
Netflix Music Teams
Social Impact
12 May 2021
GlobalUnited States
Participating Netflix music executives, top row from left, Jackie Shuman, Charlene Huang, Steven Gizicki, Gabrielle Mandel, bottom row from left, Vince Villanueva, Bridget Ward, Margaret Yen and Lisa Azille.
At Netflix, representation on screen is just as important off-screen. And that goes for sounds as well as images. Whether it's selecting an up-and-coming composer for their first feature film credit, like Tamar-Kali's powerful original score for Mudbound, or working with music supervisor Morgan Rhodes to create a soundtrack featuring exclusively Black female artists for Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, new voices in music and sound can open our ears to different worlds and perspectives.
That's why we're committed to finding new musicians, composers and other emerging artists in these fields. And we want to do more to expand the ways we discover new talent.
In recent years, our music teams have organized several outreach and networking events to help empower underrepresented and emerging talent in the music industry. And when these in-person events were halted in March 2020 due to Covid, we didn't want to press pause.
So we moved to a series of online networking events - including large Q&A sessions for groups focused on diversity and inclusion in the music industry, and small virtual meetings to connect underrepresented composers and music supervisors directly with directors and producers.
For the former, we hosted virtual Q&As with non-profits such as She Is the Music and shesaid.so, which support women and gender minorities in music; Pride in Music, which champions members of the LGBTQ+ community; and Sphinx Organization, which addresses the underrepresentation of people of color in classical music.
"The team gave invaluable feedback during the session that covered a wide range of topics while giving our artists a direct platform to submit their work and ask questions that would ultimately help propel each of their respective careers, said Andre Dowell, Chief of Artist Engagement of Sphinx Organization (pictured here).
These quarterly Q&As, organized by Jackie Shuman and Bridget Ward from our Marketing Music and Music Creative Production teams, respectively, allowed members of these organizations to submit questions directly to a panel of Netflix music executives in such areas as marketing, clearance, and creative from departments including films, series, animation, and kids & family.
After each group Q&A, participants were invited to submit music to Netflix for future consideration and feedback. These songs are also added to an internal Netflix database which our music teams use for licensing and custom music opportunities.
Our smaller meetups, titled Music Virtual Connections, were organized by Gabrielle Mandel and Lisa Azille from our Music Creative Production team under ION, our inclusion, outreach and networking group at Netflix. We held 33 online meetings with participants including composers Sherri Chung (Riverdale), Amritha Vaz (Home), Toby Chu (Bao), and Academy Award winners Jon Batiste (Soul) and Michael Abels (Get Out), music supervisors Yvette Metoyer (Halt and Catch Fire) and Aaron Byrd (When They See Us), directors Jason Hehir (The Last Dance), Jorge Gutierrez (Maya & The Three) and Alex Stapleton (Pride), and producers Jinko Gotoh (Klaus) and Julia Pistor (The Magician's Elephant).
So far, we've had more than 400 participants across these events - and there are more ahead. They've already spawned some exciting opportunities. Several artists from our event with shesaid.so and She Is the Music were subsequently hired to create imaginative covers of an iconic song for the marketing campaign of an upcoming Netflix drama series. And we're excited that other composers and music supervisors we've met are now in consideration for upcoming Netflix projects. We're off to a good start, and we're excited to continue bringing new voices and sounds into the storytelling experience.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...