Music Commissioners
Posted: 05.05.09
Whether creating music for television, film or advertising, composers have long relied on commissioners to make a living. Fiona Sturges uncovers the secrets of a successful working partnership.
The relationship between composer and commissioner is a complex one. When all goes smoothly, it can be a hugely rewarding partnership, a bountiful marriage of creative visions. But it can also be filled with pitfalls. Miscommunication, missed deadlines, financial disputes and artistic differences are just some of the problems that can befall both sides.
Being a good composer doesn’t necessarily make you a successful one.
Being a good composer doesn’t necessarily make you a successful one so it pays to understand the challenges faced by those who commission music. First and foremost, the composer should understand how the process works.
For David Bass, music manager at Stream\ and commissioner of bespoke music for advertising, television, radio and digital platforms, it begins with a brief presented by the client. Within each industry, different figures are involved in deciding what music is required. In film and television, the director or producer will often have the final word; in advertising, Bass’s points of contact are the producer and the creative team who came up with the concept. Once he has a clear idea of what is needed, he will then contact the composers.
“It’s our job to create options for the client, so we might ask several composers to submit demos based on the brief,” he explains. “We have a pool of people who are flexible, people that we know well. At this point a fee is generally agreed, and then the composer gets to work.”
Formal working contracts are rare/unheard of between composers and commissioners so the success of their relationship hinges largely on trust.
Formal working contracts are rare/unheard of between composers and commissioners so the success of their relationship hinges largely on trust. From the commissioner’s point of view, this means trusting the composer to come up with the goods with the least amount of fuss, and by the agreed deadline.
Bass remarks that the industry has become more competitive with increasing numbers of clients now wanting bespoke music. “It’s partly to do with the current trend for home-made sounding music but it’s also because budgets are coming down and advertisers and film-makers can no longer afford to license well-known tracks. This is good news for composers but it means that there’s often a turnaround of just a few weeks, as no one thinks about music until the last minute. So composers need to be able to work fast. They should also know how to interpret a brief, and be diverse in what they can do.”
Ben Walter and Martin Hasselbring are the brains behind Jimmy Turner, an integrated music consultancy working in advertising, film, television and digital distribution. In the past the company has provided music supervision and rights clearance on the BBC series Coast, Derren Brown’s Tricks of the Mind and advertising campaigns for Guinness, Sprite and Volkswagen.
Among their current projects is the feature film The Highgate Vampire, directed by Asa Bailey, and for which Walter and Hasselbring have been charged with the task of creating a soundtrack. As well as licensing music by established pop artists, they will be drawing on their trusted pool of composers to contribute new sounds.
“The director comes from a music video background so when he shoots it’s with a soundtrack in mind,” says Walter. “We talk to composers, tell them about the feel of a particular scene and see if they can come up with something that fits. We guide the composers as much as possible but ultimately it’s in the director or producer’s hands.”
After sourcing the right composers for the job, Walters and Hasselbring’s primary task is to maintain the lines of communication between composer and director. “It can be a balancing act,” Hasselbring says. “We’re trying to bridge the gap between what the director wants and what the composer can do. In this business there are many people who want to share their opinions on what kind of music they want, even though they might not be clear in their own minds. Often you are working with clients who aren’t musically minded, and things can get lost in translation. One producer on another project came back to us recently asking for “more whooshing noises”. It’s not an easy task conveying that back to the composer.”
clients often want to earth but don’t necessarily want to pay for it.
While Jimmy Turner maintains strong ties with clients in the film, TV and advertising industries, Hasselbring says that one of the company’s main concerns is protecting the interests of composers. “It’s more than just a cold business relationship to us,” he says. “We know the composers well. We go out and have drinks with them, and we are able to speak honestly. There are so many artists getting hammered in deals with labels and publishers. Our clients often want to earth but don’t necessarily want to pay for it. We look to cut great deals for the artists and in doing so we have created strong bonds and loyalties.”
So where does this leave the composer trying to get their foot in the door? For those looking to forge new working relationships, getting a commissioner’s attention might seem an impossible task.
Sarah Liversedge, managing director of BDI Music, the award-winning independent music publishing company, receives around 100 DVDs and show reels every week from composers hoping to be added to the roster.
“I have assistants who listen to them, but I like to listen to everything as well. Years of experience means that I know within a few seconds whether it’s something we could potentially work with. What I look out for is originality. There are so few composers who create their own sound, a sound that you can identify as being theirs.”
Liversedge adds that creating exceptional music isn’t the only talent required to win the attention of industry professionals. “It can often be about the composer’s approach - how their CV is presented, and how they’ve nurtured their own career. In career terms it pays to be proactive and do some networking. A lot of composers hate doing that, which is why they sign to agents and music publishers, but I think that being able to promote yourself is important.”
For Mick Cs&aaute;ky, the writer, producer, director and head of the independent production company Antelope, simplicity and originality are key requirements when it comes to new music. “It has to be a simplified sound that reinforces a particular mood. When I listen to new music I’m trying to place it amid a scene. If the composer has done work with film-makers before and he or she can provide a clip, all the better.”
Music accounts for 50% per cent of the experience of watching a film.
In his 27-year career Cásky has commissioned myriad scores for television programmes that have included Geiko Girl, part of BBC2’s Under The Sun series, and Shirin Ebadi – Divided By The Prize, a profile of the Iranian Nobel Prize-winner, for BBC4. He believes that music accounts for “50 per cent of the experience of watching a film on television or in the cinema. While I don’t want it to dominate the image, it has a huge role in highlighting the mood and the narrative.”
While commissioners, whether producers, directors or music consultants, have different working methods, all agree on the traits that contribute to a healthy working relationship. “Good communication,” Csaky says, “along with reliability”. His advice to new composers trying to get noticed? “Have a thick skin!”
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