In this podcast, we speak to Mathew Knowles, CEO of Music World Entertainment (Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé).
In part one of our two-part discussion, Mathew discusses with us how Hurricane Harvey affected Houston and all of Texas, what people can do to help, and provides details on the “Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Relief” Telethon taking place Tonight at 8PM to help victims of both Harvey and Irma.
Organizations providing hurricane relief:
Beyoncé’s BeyGood Foundation: This is Beyonce’s foundation for relief efforts and other good works: https://www.beyonce.com/beygood/
St. John’s and the Bread Of Life Church: This is the Knowles Family’s local church in Houston – they are assisting people with food, shelter and emotional/spiritual support. http://www.breadoflifeinc.org/
Texas Southern University: This is the university where Mathew is a professor – the students really need help getting books, instruments, supplies and basic assistance. http://www.tsu.edu/about/administration/university-advancement/communications/emergency/harvey-relief-assistance.php
American Red Cross: Usually the first group people think of when giving after a disaster. It says it is providing shelters for those displaced by Harvey, and it has thousands of volunteers on the ground in the state. You can give here. (3/4 stars from Charity Navigator.)
(A series of reports by ProPublica have raised questions as to how Red Cross uses its donations for emergency relief. You can find some of those stories here.)
All Hands: This nonprofit recommended to Vox by disasterologist Samantha Montano has staff on the ground in Texas, and is in contact with emergency management officials about assisting in the response and recovery. You can give here. (4/4 stars from Charity Navigator.)
Global Giving: A charity crowdfunding site that is attempting to raise $2 million to be used exclusively for local relief and recovery efforts. You can give here. (4/4 stars from Charity Navigator.)
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Sep 12, 2017
9 min
We had the chance to have a chat with the guys from the Epic Music LA team about sports and music – they do a lot of work in the field, and one of the management team, Jerry Davis, their Chief Strategy Officer has spent decades in the game combining Music and Sport – one of the most dynamic tie-ups in the music business at the intersection of brands, fans and music.
Epic specializes in fresh, trending music for Film, TV, Radio, Interactive Media, Ads, Games, Jingles, or whatever your project needs. Do you have a need for customization? We have the in-house talent to uniquely produce exactly what you want to complete your project designs. Gifted composers and producers join EPIC not only to create and distribute relevant, hard-hitting tracks for our clients, but to be part of our company’s efforts to support change though philanthropic missions. EPIC proudly partners with a variety of hand-picked charities that help the lives of those less fortunate. We are grateful to be part of a family that loves giving back.
Jerry Davis, Chief Strategy Officer, Epic Music LA
Jun 9, 2017
30 min
While composer, arranger, multi instrumentalist, and producer Jose Conde has gained accolades for his Brooklyn based Cuban band Ola Fresca, he is also a powerful and versatile multi genre music creator and sonic artist. From the Cuban traditions of son, cha cha, and rumba to Nigerian Afro beat, Brazilian samba, Hatian compas, Peruvian Joropo, and New Orleans funk to custom synthesis, home made beats, loops, beat boxing, and vocalization, Conde is a musical chameleon with a broad spectrum of colors at his disposal. His fearlessly eclectic 5 previous albums are a clue to the vastness of his skill and his deep musical sensibility master craftsmanship of songs and sounds.
His recent synch and licensing hits include – FOX TV, Showtime, Universal Music, Putumayo, World Circuit shows like Californication, Burn Notice, Rosewood, 3 feature films, PBS. I also have composed for a film including chamber music.
Here’s some examples of his music
Dubstep Dub (New Mix) https://app.box.com/s/kjyqqr7hp42ruavuqo3nuci7wgxqt6i5
Ay Que Rico https://app.box.com/shared/zohc60l11s
Matapalo https://app.box.com/shared/xgsk8jerbm
Woman https://app.box.com/s/2uu1o4nz6sbq88exkjg8yj8e529qzsh4
Jun 9, 2017
22 min
Meet Wes Mason.
This 18-year-old internationally acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter bridges generational and genre gaps with his unique brand of heartfelt pop songwriting.
He blends beauty and simplicity to create timeless music and lyrics that will inspire listeners for years to come.
Wes’ journey has not been an overnight success. He has been creating music since the age of 5, and has been pursuing it ever since. Wes’ musicianship and baritone vocal are now ready to push the boundaries of familiar pop music with a deeper tone, and and deeper lyrical content.
Recently, he won the “Best Young Songwriter” award at the 2016 Toronto Independent Music Awards, as well as placing finalist and semi-finalist in several international songwriting competitions. CBC Searchlight Competition 2016 selected him as one of the “Top 20 artists under 20”, praising his unique vocal tones.
Wes is on his way up.
He is currently working with producer Ben Pelchat of Kensington Sound in Toronto to complete his first full-length album, due to be released internationally this fall.
Hear the forest for the trees – and keep an ear out for Wes Mason
Follow Wes here:
Twitter: @WesMasonMusic
Music Sample:
Worth It
by Wes Mason | Worth It
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http://syncsummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Wes-Mason-Worth-It-Single-mastered.mp3
Apr 4, 2017
21 min
This is a must-listen, wide-ranging conversation with top music and entertainment lawyer and sync rights expert Sindee Levin. Her company, Sindee Levin Music works to bring music to TV, Film, advertising and interactive projects. In this episode we discuss best practices in terms of rights clearance, deal points and how working with people who understand rights can make the difference between success and failure in sync.
Sindee Levin Bio:
Sindee Levin is an entertainment lawyer and music publishing administrator and the head of Sindee Levin Music with more than a quarter-century of experience with rights management in music and film, for both domestic and international markets.
Ms. Levin began at Wyman, Bautzer, Rothman, Kuchel & Sibert, a law firm that represented MGM/UA and other major studios. She developed a specialty of working with both music and film through her experience in La Bamba, Rainman, and Bright Lights, Big City. La Bamba director Taylor Hackford became a principal at New Visions Pictures, when he asked Ms.Levin to serve as Vice President of Business Affairs, where she handled agreements related to music and film rights acquisition, negotiating and drafting agreements for these rights.
After a few years at New Visions, Ms. Levin went on to establish both Sindee Levin Music and The Law Offices of Sindee Levin. Sindee Levin Music began administering the musical copyrights of independent music publishers and film and television companies. Ms. Levin’s extensive experience with uncovering hidden royalties has put Sindee Levin Music at the forefront of collecting royalties for her clients. Ms. Levin has also served as an expert witness, a consultant to numerous entertainment estates and assisted bankruptcy trustees to evaluate music catalogs. Her broad knowledge of the workings of the music publishing industry, both domestic and foreign, have helped clients both increase their cash flow and fully realize the value of their musical assets.
Mar 29, 2017
52 min
Music Supervisor SARAH WEBSTER was born in England, raised in Vancouver BC and currently resides in Los Angeles. She has worked on over sixty films and television series since 2003. Most notably Pitch Perfect 1 & 2. Each soundtrack won Top Soundtrack Award at the American Music Awards. (2013 & 2015). The Pitch Perfect 2 soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy for Top Soundtrack Album of 2015 as well as a Billboard Music Award.
Pitch Perfect 2 is the highest grossing musical comedy of all time.
It was her love of the underground dance music culture that was thriving on the West Coast in the early 1990’s that got Sarah her start in the music business. Somewhere between the Winter Music Conference and MIDEM, licensing house music for a software development company in Vancouver led to a job in business development for an independent record label group in New York City.
Sarah’s focus shifted to visual media when she was hired to oversee the film music department for Canada’s leading & largest music management & booking agency, soon after becoming VP of Music Supervision for S.L. Feldman & Associates.
During her years as an Executive, Sarah oversaw all aspects of music supervision for dozens of projects, from television documentaries to big budget feature films. All the while, acting as agent to numerous award winning score composers. She has supervised countless episodes & seasons of television series that have been broadcast in countries all over the World.
In 2009 Sarah left the corporate environment to start her own company, Saraswati Music Supervision. Her credits include Academy Award & Palme d’Or nominated projects, from film festival winners to major box office successes.
Early musical influences include her Father’s passion for pop music, her Mod older brother’s British Invasion & New Wave albums, and her Mother’s love of opera.
Annotation of podcast:
00:00:28 – It all started with The Outsiders and Stevie Wonder in Grade 8…
00:01:18 – Getting professional: from a love of house music to game music
00:02:17 – A Move to NYC in 2002 to work with Naked Music (Founded by one my favs BLUE SIX!!!, ed.)
00:02:37 – Back to Vancouver and some smart self-promotion leads to first music supervision gig and so on and so on…
00:05:14 – Getting down to the business of music supervision
00:05:51 – Going indie: Sync and… yoga
00:07:44 – Pitch Perfect: off to LA and supervising the 80+ songs for the first Pitch Perfect movie
00:09:25 – Building a music supervision business
00:10:03 – The Process of Music Supervision
00:10:48 – Managing and transitioning temp tracks with an eye to final use
00:11:58 – The art of going after licenses (i.e., everything) for a project – and making sure you have a Plan B
00:14:45 – Positioning yourself for success in pitching music
00:15:29 – Sourcing music – who I go to for and how I find music
00:18:02 – Clearance best practices
00:18:46 – Insights from projects: Pitch Perfect, Stone of Destiny
00:20:40 – The evolution of music in projects
00:22:35 – Managing all the cooks in the kitchen
00:24:43 – beyond the creative points of the job
00:26:40 – Budgets, perception and reality
00:28:10 – What licensors
Feb 15, 2017
34 min
This podcast features truly compelling conversation with the multi-platinum, Grammy award winning producer, songwriter, music executive and artist Rob Fusari.
For those of you that may know know who Rob is, and what he’s done in music… shame on you.
Not only did he discover, collaborate with and develop Lady GaGa (including co-writes on “Again Again,” Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” “Brown Eyes,” “Disco Heaven,” “Paparazzi” and “Vanity,” in his own right, he’s one of the most significant people in today’s music industry, and has composed and/or produced countless Billboard hits, including:
“No No No” – Destiny’s Child
“Bootylicious” – Destiny’s Child
“Love That Man” – Whitney Houston
“In This Skin” – Jessica Simpson
“Train on the Track” – Kelly Rowland
“Wild Wild West” – Will Smith
“Shadow” – SM Town
And many, many more.
In his discussion with Sync Exchange Podcast host Mark Frieser, Fusari discusses how he began his musical journey as an eight year-old child prodigy playing Carnegie Hall to writing some of pop’s biggest hits, developing his producer shops, his discovery of and work with Lady Gaga, his current projects (The World of Cary Nokey) and the importance of sync to an artist’s career and creative outlook.
Below are some main points of the conversation:
00:00:00 – The evolution of a child prodigy to a songwriter.
00:05:30 – Connie Francis and Rob’s first collaborator, Irwin Levine
00:08:00 – Coming into his own as a music producer.
00:10:20 – Co-writing and producing pop’s hottest acts
00:22:15 – 9/11 and a change in direction.
00:25:10 – Meeting Stephanie Germanotta
Feb 6, 2017
1 hr 23 min
This podcast features a really compelling conversation with the COO of Times Music, Mandar Thakur about the South Asian market, the Indian Music market and of course, sync’s role in the entertainment market in general.
Also, we cover a lot of ground on how music is consumed in India, the usage of mobile entertainment, Times Music’s evolution as a company, its presence in the national and international markets, and of course Bollywood and Bollywood-based music.
Mandar is one of India’s leading music executives and one of the finest minds we’ve ever met in the fields of music, marketing and technology. We hope you enjoy the podcast.
Jan 28, 2017
1 hr 3 min
In this conversation, we sit down for an in-depth interview with Jon Gosier, the Co-Founder of Audigent, a company in the measurement space that gives brands, ad agencies, entertainers (and the people that work with them) to better understand their markets, and to maximize the potential to better connect, engage and monetize relationships with audiences and fans.
Jon and host Mark Frieser discuss the value of music in business from a general standpoint, how music acts as an influencer on the decisions that fans and audiences make to engage with brands and artists, as well as how all parties involved can maximize the value of music in advertising and the value of a musician’s brand.
Jan 27, 2017
35 min
This is a wide-ranging conversation with Music Supervisor Gary Calamar, who’s also a DJ on KCRW FM, a musician and President of GO Music.
In this podcast, Gary discusses with host Mark Frieser the development of his career in the industry, the work of a music supervisor, and how he works with labels, artists and publishers to find and place excellent music to tell some of the most compelling stories in TV and Film, including in shows like “Six Feet Under,” “True Blood” and “Man In The High Castle”.
Check out the annotations below for the high points of the conversation and and relevant links.
00:01:10 – Discussing his use of Sia’s “Breathe Me” in “Six Feet Under”
00:01:51 – Gary’s beginnings as a music supervisor – starting with his love of music
00:03:12 – Gary the artist – his song “Looking For A Job”
00:04:20 – Gary’s Mimosa Music Series – http://garycalamar.com/mimosa-music-series/
00:04:32 – Iggy Pop and Gary Collaborate on “Let’s Boot And Rally” for “True Blood”
00:05:23 – How does one become a music supervisor, anyway? Here’s how Gary did.
– Working with G. Marq Roswell
> > Wild At Heart
> > Slums of Beverly Hills
> > Varsity Blues
– Partnering with Music Supervisor Thomas Golubic on “Six Feet Under”
00:08:40 – More on Gary’s Process
00:11:32 – The importance of collaboration
00:13:00 – Past and Current Projects
True Blood – working with:
> > Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams
> > Eric Burdon with Jenny Lewis
Man In The High Castle – “Sukiyaki” – used in Season 1, episode 2 starting at 33:01
To watch go to: https://www.amazon.com/Man-High-Castle-Season/dp/B00RSGIVVO
Good Girls Revolt
Mr Mercedes (in production)
00:17:00 – The Right Music for the right job
Dexter and Latin Music
00:19:34 – Wrapup – Resources to connect with Music Supervisor Projects
> > IMDB
> > The Guild Of Music Supervisors
> > SyncSummit Events
Jan 12, 2017
22 min