The State of Music in Meida:
ADVERTISING AND BRANDS
Just as a TV series develops an overall tone to the music it uses, brands also need to identify their “sound”. Music supervisors at ad agencies work closely with agency producers and brand executives to hone in on the musical personality of a brand as it stretches across each of that brand’s campaigns.
Through broadcast/online ads, songs streaming on brand websites, artist endorsements and performances at brand-sponsored events, original songs, mnemonics, etc., music supervisors are charged with making appropriate and effective creative decisions that serve each individual project as well as the brand’s image at large. All the while, they must maneuver their way through the inner workings of ad agencies, working as a team with producers, creative directors, and business affairs managers as they collectively achieve their creative vision while factoring in budget, term, territory restrictions, product category exclusivity, and deadlines.
Featuring: JT Griffith (Nike), Morgan Thoryk (Media Arts Lab), Gabe McDonough (MAS), Jasmine Flott (Agoraphone), and Sara Matarazzo (Walker). Moderated by Lauren Ross (Terrorbird Media)
Gabe McDonough
(MAS)
Gabe McDonough is Executive Producer at MAS/Music and Strategy, a company that connects brands with music. Previously he had a 10-year run on the agency side, leading music departments at Leo Burnett, Media Arts Lab, and DDB Chicago. He has provided award winning music solutions for some of the world’s biggest brands (Apple, Samsung, Ford, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Allstate among many, many more) and negotiated hundreds of deals, worth many millions of dollars.
Morgan Thoryk
(Media Arts Lab)
Morgan Thoryk is a music supervisor at TBWA/media arts lab. Her previous roles include Director of Licensing at Capitol Records and Music Producer at mcgarrybowen and Comma Music & Sound Design in Chicago. As a music supervisor, she has worked on campaigns for Apple, Kraft, Disney, Bud Light, Blue Cross, Sears, Pizza Hut, and more.
Sara Matarazzo
(Walker)
Sara Matarazzo, owner of WALKER, was a prominent DJ on the international dance music scene for over a decade. Her recent feature film projects include music licensing for Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha, While We’re Young, and Mistress America, and JJ Abrams TV show Almost Human. Recent commercial campaigns include Old Spice "Mom Song" and "Dad Song”, both of which won at Cannes Lions. She produced, alongside Paul McCartney's publishing company MPL, a critically acclaimed holiday compilation called HOLIDAYS RULE, which sold at Starbucks worldwide. It featured Grammy winning artists such as Paul McCartney, The Civil Wars, and fun. Prior to creating WALKER, Sara was the managing director at Search Party Music and was a music producer at Ogilvy & Mather, New York.
JT Griffith
(Nike)
JT Griffith works in Portland, OR as Nike's internal music supervisor working globally within the company's brand connections group. Since 1993 he's experienced a variety of aspects in the music business. As a music supervisor, JT has over 12 years experience and played a creative or licensing role on 3 Grammy-nominated music projects. In Music Supervision he was part of the music team behind TV shows such as HBO's Six Feet Under, NBC's Boomtown and films including Shrek 2, Madagascar and Over the Hedge. In radio, he has hosted a weekly new music / indie rock show on Oregon NPR affiliate (KOPB / opbmusic.org) after helping produce a show on KCRW, which was nominated for the Best Radio Show in LA. He worked at Nettwerk Records & Mgmt in the Film and TV department including a wide range of placements and developing a brand marketing focus and a sports expertise. He also was involved in Nettwerk's US A&R efforts, signing and working with a wide range of bands (including the Submarines, Of Montreal, Ladytron, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Styrofoam, etc.) and initiated the first publishing joint venture with Nacional Records/Cookman Intl, which included the Pinker Tones, Nortec Collective, Aterciopelados and others. In 1996 he created one of the first music blogs called Jam Online and later co-founded the P2P music metric and marketing firm BigChampagne.
Jasmine Flott
(Agoraphone)
With a background in Advertising, Jasmine chose to take her music fandom to a professional level in 2007. She has been a Music Supervisor at Agoraphone Music Direction in Brooklyn, NY ever since. Agoraphone is a company primarily dedicated to finding work by indie/up and coming artists for commercials, television & film. As a Music Supervisor, Jasmine has worked on everything from Google to Adidas to T-Mobile to Coca-Cola to the songs in car commercials that get stuck in your head.
Lauren Ross grew up on a river in Virginia, playing woodwinds, brass, guitar, and whatever else she could get her hands on. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, she moved to the drizzly hippie/punk town of Olympia, WA. She spent several years working at Kill Rock Stars in Olympia then New York, while also managing St. Vincent and assistant-managing Laura Veirs and Thao With The Get Down Stay Down. Having started the in-house sync licensing department at KRS, she eventually migrated to Terrorbird Media, establishing their sync licensing department in 2009. She founded Terrorbird Publishing the following year, and is proud to represent many of her favorite labels and artists. She currently lives in LA, running Terrorbird's licensing and publishing departments and playing music in her garage.
