Music supervisors can make or break a music piece and have the power to shape the emotions of any and every audience. With music scores and soundtracks, they can create storms or emotions and feelings within you.
So, if you wish to become a Music supervisor and are wondering if you have the right skills and abilities to become one, you’ve come to the right place!
This post will help you with an in-depth knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of this job role. So, let’s get started!
What are the responsibilities of a music supervisor?
With so many job roles and positions available in music, it can get challenging to track who does what. Thankfully, this section will help you navigate the role of a Music supervisor better.
Building connections
Establishing and building connections is one of the essential roles of music supervisors. Connecting the vision of a director or producer to the music piece that will help contribute to depicting their idea to the audience requires incredible skills.
They have to seek, explore and suggest various styles and genres of music to the designated team. If the recommended tracks cannot meet the required needs, they need to go back and begin again.
All in all, it is a collaborative, fun, and exciting process.
Spotting
This role involves finding spots in a movie’s rough cut with the music requirement. This cut needs to build the emotional connection with the storytelling in highlight. The background music, main title, source music, or end title songs are decided based on the spotting.
This is also the step where the original film score is determined. So, the supervisor needs to closely work with the composer for this project—this collaboration results in the composition of a score or pre-existing music license.
Licensing and negotiation
Once the spotting sessions get over, the supervisor then licenses the rights to pre-existing music, selecting artists such as songwriters to write new songs or cover the older ones.
This process involves actively negotiating with the rights holders to ensure no law is broken. They also need to conclude licensing contracts with various artists for the visual media project.
Essential skills needed for this job role
Like any other job role or position, this one also requires skills that help determine your eligibility. These include:
- Get an academic degree
While it’s important to understand music emotionally, it is equally and even more critical to gain academic knowledge of the technical and business aspects. A bachelor’s degree will help you holistically understand how the industry functions.
While pursuing a course, you may study subjects like music theory, music arrangement, music composition, artist management, marketing, and distribution.
- Hone your skills
One of the most significant responsibilities of a Music supervisor is to determine if a music composition is an incredible one. You must either have a musical background or hold experience in the same field.
But in either case, developing and honing these skills further will help you stand out from the rest in the industry. You can prove your experience and worth to directors and producers with these skills.
Wrapping up
This is one of the most exciting and interesting career fields and boosts your creativity like nothing else. Choosing this role means actively choosing the responsibility to move people with what you create and evoke emotions and feelings when listening to a piece of music.
As such, it’s a gratifying career field. You will always feel proud to make a difference in the industry.
