"Sync and Music Supervision Is A Major Part Of Artist Development"

We have been talking about Sync and Music Supervision on Loudest for a while. Abi Leland from one of UK's top companies Leland Music. She is one of the most prominent Music Supervisors spoke to Music Business Worldwide recently about the importance of sync in developing an artist. It's not a usual in India to see placements of music in visual media. How it works here usually, is a production company is hired to make a specific sound track or production for the said visual media. This is reducing the opportunities for the existing independent creations leaving them unused and further reducing the lifespan of a song. When you think about it, you still hear songs by The Beatles in movies, TV shows etc. Or M.I.A, Micheal Jackson and so many more that make your ears pop when you hear them while watching TV or movies. Remember the Marvel franchise Deadpool bringing back DMX in 2016? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONHBaC-pfsk The highly respected music supervisor, Leland got her first job in the field, aged 20, working with none other than Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish.

“When I found out there was a job as a music supervisor, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I printed out business cards with ‘music supervisor’ as my job title, went off and found as many leads as I could, went to some quite strange seminars loosely based around the subject of sound and music for visual media, and met people working in labels and film producers to ask questions and find out about it.”

While she was out networking at every opportunity, she happened to meet film composer Simon Boswell, who was working on Women Talking Dirty and recommended that she get involved. The film was produced by Rocket Pictures and released in 2001. Leland had no experience. However, what she had a passion for the job and the hunger to learn as much as she could.

I didn’t know how to do the job, but I was quite up for winging it and I’ve always been good at asking questions and learning on the go. Looking back on it now, he was really quite patient as well. I was 20 years old, it was my first job, but I’m sure that whatever knowledge I might have lacked I probably compensated in enthusiasm and dedication! It was a good experience.

That was the starting point for Abi Leland in the music supervision world. Since 2005, Leland Music the company began to work across film, advertising and TV They helped create ad campaigns and music partnerships for brands including Nike, Honda, Sony, Hovis, Lloyds TSB and Three Mobile, and supervised in feature films such as Kevin Macdonald’s Last King of Scotland and How I Live Now. Those campaigns also spawned four UK Top 10 hits, including two No.1s, and helped launch the careers of Ellie Goulding, Tom Odell, Gabrielle Aplin and Aurora with emotive cover versions of notable songs. Being placed in music helps develop an artist in many ways. One of which is understanding the industry, the masses and the opportunities available. While they adopt to the demand the masses and the industry begin to adopt to the artist. Moreover, many artists like Kasabian with the Premier League theme song, Justin Timberlake with the McDonalds theme song, Sting with the Jaguar commercial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wQbC2uBK4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IHcp8Pl_X4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3lWwBslWqg One of the best examples of placing music well in India comes from the recent success of Sacred Games with Divine's 'Kaam 25'. We hope to see many more amazing placements in the near future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28j8h0RRov4