At first glance, Ian Rogers doesn’t look like the CEO of a cutting-edge music technology company. He has long blond hair and tattoos on his fingers, is an avid skateboarder, and loves hip-hop music. Rogers happens to be one of the music industry’s brightest visionaries and one of the most passionate people I’ve spoken to regarding the future of music and marketing.

He runs the Los Angeles based company Topspin Media, a direct-to-fan marketing and retail software company founded by Peter Gotcher and Shamal Ranasinghe in 2007. Rogers joined the company in 2008, the same year Topspin was named Indie Visionary of the Year by Billboard Magazine. Prior to working at Topspin, Rogers was the GM of Yahoo Music for five years. In the 90s he managed the Beastie Boys and eventually became the President of New Media for their label, Grand Royal.

Rogers practices what he preaches: the direct-to-fan CEO is also direct-to-critics. He is not afraid to defend his company on message boards, in person, and on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogs. He recently interrupted his family vacation in Hawaii to explain the company’s decision to shut down the San Francisco office.

I caught up with Rogers to discuss the Topspin platform and its popularity with over 4,000 artists, which includes diverse acts such as Odd Future, Drive-By Truckers, Paul McCartney, Blitzen Trapper, Neon Indian, Sigur Ros, Lil’ Wayne, and Gillian Welch, to name a few.

R&G: Can you tell me a little bit about your company, Topspin?

IR: At Topspin, what we’re really trying to do is to build a tool set for marketing and retail. The notion from our perspective is that the costs of production and distribution have come down, but that marketing takes a lot of effort, to say the least. Factors such as empowered consumers with unlimited choice require heavy lifting, plus the act of just getting content to people takes managing that content and building campaigns, measuring the success of those campaigns. Sometimes you’re giving content away, sometimes you’re selling it, and sometimes you’re doing both of those things with the same content. You have tools to do these things and to run your business. What we’ve been trying to do is to build a software package that gives you an integrated platform to do all of the activities that you do with both marketing and retail. Perhaps most importantly we help you tie those two things together: the activities that you’re doing as you’re trying to build awareness and create fan connections and build trust with your fans fit together with what you’re doing when you’re vending with fans, when they’re buying something. We released a new platform in March that is a self-serve version of the platform that we’ve been building for three years and using with roughly 4,300 artists of all sizes over the previous three years. Even when we went self-serve, the majority of the artists on the platform were small artists, but we just had opened it up to where we were marketing it and saying, “Come one, come all.”

R&G: You offer three platforms: Topspin, Topspin Plus, and Topspin Enterprise. Can you discuss benefits of each platform?

IR: Our goal was to make it affordable to anybody who wanted to have it, so we have the Topspin, which is $100 a year. That’s good for any artist just starting out. The only limitation there is that it only covers up to 2000 fans. We wanted the entry point to be super simple for folks, but it’s got the complete platform including the ticketing software, through which you can book your own shows. You can check people in at the door with our iPhone application. Widgets do marketing and collect email addresses; they give media in return for an email address. It’s got an integrated store-builder; it calculates tax; it pays on a regular basis. It’s the full platform. The next level up gets you up to 20,000 email addresses, makes the offering really price-competitive with email software like MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc. There’s also, in the Topspin Plus version, a tool for doing automated pre-sales. Part of the reason for including that is a) that it’s a more advanced feature b) it’s a feature you shouldn’t use unless you’re pretty serious about what you’re doing. It’s a sharp knife; put it that way. We really wanted to make that something that’s part of the Plus offering. Then the Topspin Enterprise includes features that are really for labels or other people that are running a business based with a number of artists and they need fancy accounting.

R&G: There were some ease of use issues with the Topspin platform in the past. What efforts did you guys make to address these concerns with the new offerings?

IR: We took what I would say is a first swing at it. When you first log into the app, the first thing you’ll see is a video giving you a tour of the app. We have one of those videos in every single section so that people can get an idea of what the section is about and why you would use this section, the kinds of things you would do there, etc. We changed some of the ways the software works – buttons in different places, tabs for different things – trying to make it fit more to what your flow is. The flow, as you come into the app, is: you start with your stuff, which are your products. From there, you move on into promoting those products. Once you’ve promoted them and built up a little bit of a fan base, then you can sell. That’s its own section. Once you’ve promoted and sold, presumably you have some fans and you want to manage those fans. Once you’re selling, you need to fulfill. We’ve kind of tried to build this flow where you start by uploading some stuff and you end by shipping out and doing customer service. We’ve tried to match the software itself to the actual life cycle. There are definitely some things that we want to make easier to use.

R&G: There are several players in the Direct to Fan marketing space. Why should an artist go with Topspin over your competitors like Bandcamp or Nembit or ReverbNation?

IR: Topspin is really the only solution in that it pulls all of the marketing and retail features into one. Some of the ones you mentioned don’t even have any marketing features. They’re just sort of retailers. Some of them don’t have retail features; they’re just marketing tools. There’s no one else that pulls together the catalog management along with the bundling and the way that the bundling is done and the way that the accounting is done on the back of the bundling and the way that that is integrated with fulfillment. There is integrated fulfillment: we will ship for you, we will do customer service for you. Nobody else that you mentioned has a ticketing app, where you can check people in with an iPhone. No one else that you mentioned has a membership product where you can do fan clubs and other types of advanced membership features. Topspin is really the only solution that has all of the functionality that you would need to run a real business, but that also levels up with you. I think if you’re a small artist, spending $100 a year on your career to have a great toolset that has beautiful streaming players that lead back to your website – not to Vimeo, not to YouTube – plus the ability to do the email from media type of thing – where you can gather 1000 to 2000 email addresses and have that be connected to an email marketing tool that shows you how much revenue each one of your fans has spent. That alone is a good investment, even for an artist just starting out. But then we do level up, all the way to artists at the Paul McCartney and Linkin Park level. It’s really a tool that’s going to grow with you, the same way that a ProTools or a Logic is going to grow with you a lot more than a GarageBand is.

You can follow Ian on Twitter: @iancr
Ian also hosts the online interview series, “This Week In Music.”

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Music Supervisor Profile is a recurring feature on Rollo & Grady: we interview the top supervisors in the business to learn their secrets and get valuable advice on how to break into world of music supervision. Some of our previous interviews have been with such heavyweights as Thomas Golubic, Liza Richardson, Scott Vener, and Gary Calamar.

We recently interviewed the brilliant and insightful tastemaker Andrea von Foerster of Firestarter Music. Over the last decade, Andrea has handled music supervision responsibilities for both television and film. She was the music coordinator for hit television shows Grey’s Anatomy, The OC, Rescue Me, and Roswell. She is best known for supervising the Fox Searchlight film, 500 Days of Summer. The movie’s eclectic soundtrack included Black Lips, Doves, The Smiths, Feist, and Hall & Oates. During our conversation, she made a point to tell me that she feels blessed to have the best job in the world.

R&G: How did you get started in the music supervision business?

Andrea: Accidentally on purpose. I went to film school at USC. I was a production major and a double minor in music business and music recording. The music business program was amazing and almost everyone I went to school with in that program is still in music today. During my junior year summer at USC, I got a temp job at Disney in live action feature soundtrack and worked on Armageddon, High Fidelity, Coyote Ugly, and Simon Birch. They said, “We can hire you.” I said, “I’ve got one more year of college.” They said, “Come back when you’re done.” So I did and that was my first entertainment job. It kind of went from there.

R&G: What does your day-to-day job entail? Can you discuss both your film and television responsibilities?

Andrea: With film, there’s a lot more time. You can work on a film from six months to two years or longer. With TV, it’s usually about a two-week turn around per episode. The pitching is always fast and furious because everybody wants something yesterday. Every day I will pitch music: I research and find and pitch. You hear what they like and don’t like and you go back and start over if you need to. If you find something they like, you go and research who has the publishing, who has the master, and then you send out requests, which I do every day. It’s a lot of paperwork. Then I’ll go ahead and send confirmations out for anything that we’re definitely using for the mix. Right now I have about eight films happening and they’re all in different stages. I have the full evolution of music supervision in one day every day.

R&G: What’s the most difficult part of your job as a music supervisor?

Andrea: Funny enough, it’s not the job itself; it’s the perception of the job. Because of the internet and technology, everyone thinks that they can be a supervisor, or if they take a class at a school, they think they can be a supervisor. Obviously, if it were just picking music according to your tastes, it wouldn’t be a job. Picking music is not just about your tastes. It has to fit the people who hired you: the writers, the editors, the director, the producer, the studio, the network. You have a lot of people to please. You’re the ultimate in the co-dependent department, because you have to make everybody happy. Your projects hopefully fit within your taste levels because that’s hopefully why you’re hired – your taste and your credits. Still, everybody thinks if they can find a song on YouTube or iTunes that that’s all you do. They’re like, “Oh, I would use this song.” And I’m like, “You have to fit it within your budget. You have to know who to go to to clear it within a certain amount of time and for a certain amount of money.” That’s the real part of the job: knowing who to go to and how to get it for the money you have and in the time frame you need it. Unfortunately, everybody thinks they can be a supervisor because they have good taste. If that were the case, then everybody would be a supervisor, but really there’s a lot of politics and paperwork and psychology in the job. You’re part of a big community of people; it’s never just one person who makes a show or a film. You’re part of a family.

R&G: What’s the best way for an independent or unsigned artist to get on your radar?

Andrea: Excellent question. I go to a lot of music conferences and festivals; I was just in Montreal. Every time I get invited to an event, I go because I want to meet people who pitch music on the label side, development side, agency side, management side, the artists themselves. As much as I hate to say that I don’t have time to meet everyone in the world, face-time really is important. When I’m at one of these events, already I’m in a good mood because I’m away even though I’m still trying to get my work done, which I am. I’m seeing new music and meeting new people. I love new people. I love new music. I love new places. So I’m already in a good mood and if you meet me at an event, you’ve got me in the best possible light. This is better than listening to you for the first time on my iTunes for a couple seconds maybe in the 14th hour of my day, when I’m kind of grumpy. It’s really great when you can play a conference or a festival or something in your area that you’ve been invited to. Also, send a proper email. I read all my emails and I get back to as many people as possible as soon as possible. I can’t say that I get back to everybody because if a question isn’t really stated in the email and somebody’s just throwing something in my direction, I don’t feel the need to get back to that person. But I do listen to everything.

R&G: What’s the best way for an artist to get your attention when they are emailing you regarding placing their music in one of your projects?

Andrea: I don’t need an entire press kit. I don’t need a bunch of pictures. What if I think you look kind of silly but I love your music? I really just want to know who has the publishing, who has the master, where are you from, and are there any samples. Then of course I want the music. I don’t need to know your story. If I want to know your story, I’ll ask later once I like you. I get a thousand emails a day, if not more. In all honesty: I actually get a thousand emails a day, it’s in my email signature. It takes a lot to get my attention, to break the monotony of all the emails I get in a day. If it’s just short and concise, maybe be funny somewhere in there, that’s awesome, and I’ll remember that, but I really sort of compartmentalize where people are from, so if I have an idea of where you are from, that helps me remember you.

R&G: If you receive a 1000 emails per day, I assume you don’t like mp3 attachments clogging up your inbox. What’s the best way to submit music to you?

Andrea: Never never never never never send an mp3 to somebody’s inbox without asking them first. We all get a lot of emails and that many people sending you mp3s will just clog up your inbox. I like things that don’t expire: ftp sites, box.net, Dropbox, Yousendit if you have an account and the link won’t expire. I will actually write to people and say, “Hey, I didn’t get to it in time. Can you send it again?” I do that all the time. If it’s some sort of file that doesn’t expire or you’re not too mad at me when I reach out and say, “Hey, can you send it again,” I’m fine.

R&G: What’s your best advice for somebody who’s trying to get into the business as a music supervisor without previous experience?

Andrea: That’s the thing. You need to have some previous experience in licensing. Taste is taste and if it fits the director’s work or the producer’s work, that’s great. (In the film world it’s more the director who’s the point person and in TV it’s more the producers.) But get out there and do a film or do anything you can do to try to clear songs on someone’s project to get experience, because without any experience at all, you’re not really very useful to the supervisor, so you can’t really get a job with a supervisor. Have a music job. Pretty much everybody who’s working now worked at labels, booked bands, worked at a publishing company, whatever, so we had some sort of basis for what it was like on the other side. I think that makes you a more well rounded supervisor.

R&G: Where do you see the music supervision business going in the next five to ten years?

Andrea: I think that independent supervision will always be around as long as indie films are around, but as far as television goes, I think that most of it is going in-house with the studios and the networks. It’s a shame and I don’t really know how much in-house departments can take because that’s a lot of shows for very few people doing all of them. The music industry itself is sort of imploding, so I think it’s going to get to an absolute point where we kind of just have to explode and start over again. It’s kind of an interesting time and I don’t really know where it’s going, but I know that until music divorces me, I’m still in it.

R&G: You’re saying that it’ll go in-house for all of the networks, where they’ll do the negotiations for, say, Fox and NBC, and that they’ll have their own team that does all the work instead of the independent supervisors?

Andrea: Yeah.

R&G: That sucks.

Andrea: It does suck, and the problem is too that it’s bad for all musicians in the world and all the companies because the musicians will have fewer people to get to, and even these people will be already overworked. They can only know so many people in a certain time bracket, so they’re going to know fewer people and less music is going to be used from as wide a pool of music.

R&G: They’re not going to have time to be pitched or discover new music?

Andrea: It would be impossible.

R&G: Just handling paperwork all day, right?

Andrea: Yeah. Obviously, you’re going to have your own taste and I don’t know anyone in the business that doesn’t have great taste, but that’s not really the point. When you have to get the job done of clearing the film and making it fit with your budget and in time, and you’re working on however many shows for the network, and you’re responsible for all the administrative stuff on the other side, which the network normally does and the studio normally does, on top of what the supervisor does: that’s a lot of work. For example, you may be responsible for payment, and the supervisor isn’t responsible for payment most of the time, so there’s that much more work added to your plate. Independent supervisors have the opportunity to pull from a wider pool of music.

R&G: You’re heavily involved in the Guild of Music Supervisors. Can you tell me a little bit about the organization and what you guys are trying to accomplish?

Andrea: Yeah, I’m by no means the right person to ask about details, but it’s time. We don’t have any type of representation. We don’t have a union. We are sort of considered a fringe group of people and so we finally – it’s been years for some people – gathered together and said, “We’re looking for the same things that the other people get in the entertainment industry.” Health insurance would be great, as would a certain definition of what the job of music supervision really is. It’s not just sitting around and listening to music all day and saying, “That works.” That’s not the job. Bringing a certain amount of respect to what the job is is very important, and having a stamp of approval. Right now, health insurance is the strongest thing I think that we’re looking for.

R&G: How about 500 Days of Summer? The use of Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True” is one of the all-time best placements, in my opinion. Can you tell me a little bit about how that scene came together and how the music evolved with it?

Andrea: Yes. Scott Neustadter, who’s the writer, is a musical genius. We originally wanted Hall & Oates to be on camera, not actually singing the song but sort of in the scene or something, maybe shooting looks to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his post-coital moment. They said yes originally and then something fell apart and they said no. We said that we didn’t particularly want to keep the song if they didn’t want to be in it, because that was kind of going to be part of the fun. I’m not sure if they thought it was cheesy or what. We went on this crazy tirade of finding something else that was feel-good and ‘80s that could still work with the artist actually on camera. We went through so many people and all of them weren’t available because of touring and others wouldn’t clear because of our budgets, and all the rest of it. We really could never beat it, and we finally just realized that it would be stupid to keep trying, so we did it without Hall & Oates on camera and of course it was perfect. It was the best day of shooting on our production ever. Everyone was in a good mood. That song can start and stop anywhere and you’re just happy. The entire crew was doing the choreography on the set. It was one of those rare moments when I think everybody was just so ecstatic to be where they were. There’s also another writer on the film, Michael Weber, but Scott is the one who wrote that in. The film is sort of Scott’s story.

Related Posts:
Music Supervisor Profile :: Thomas Golubic (click here)
Music Supervisor Profile :: Gary Calamar (click here)
Music Supervisor Profile :: Scott Vener (click here)
Music Supervisor Profile :: Liza Richardson (click here)
Rollo & Grady Music Supervision (click here)

Music Supervisor Profile is a recurring feature on Rollo & Grady where we interview the top supervisors in the business to learn their secrets and get valuable advice on how to break into world of music supervision. Some of our previous interviews have been with such heavyweights as Thomas Golubic, Gary Calamar, and Scott Vener.

This month we interviewed the super talented Liza Richardson. Her resume boasts Hawaii Five-0 , Parenthood, and Friday Night Lights. Richardson selected over 600 songs in the 5-season run of Friday Night Lights. Some of the artists she included were Pearl Jam, Wilco, White Denim, Ryan Adams, TV On The Radio, Explosions In The Sky, Black Keys, and Bob Dylan. Her film work includes The Italian Job, Lords Of Dogtown, and Y Tu Mamá También, which was nominated for a Best Soundtrack Compilation Grammy.

In addition to her work in television and film, Richardson worked on an IPOD commercial. The Texas native has also DJ’d for Southern California radio station KCRW 89.9 FM since 1990 and she was tapped to be the first DJ to spin for the Academy Awards ceremony in 2007.


R&G: Tell me how you got your start in the music supervision business.

Liza: There are a lot of people along the way that I got some great breaks from that I could point out, but the person who really gave me my start was Mark Pellington. He directed Arlington Road and I Melt With You. Back in the ‘90s, he was a big video director for MTV, and I, at the time, on my KCRW radio show, focused on spoken word and poetry. I would layer the spoken word with instrumental music, so I became super obsessed with finding spoken word as well as instrumental music and music of all different styles and types. Mark was doing a documentary on poetry, and somebody from MTV said to me, “You have to meet Mark Pellington. You guys are kind of kindred spirits.” They introduced us and he asked me to be a consultant on this documentary he was working on called, The United States of Poetry. Basically, we just sat there and went through music and I planned all these cool instrumental pieces. He said, “You know, people do this professionally. You should try to get into it.” Then he hired me again on his next project. The story goes on from there, but that’s how I got my start.

R&G: What does your day-to-day job entail?

Liza: It’s different every day. I just try to pay attention to what’s going on in music, whether it’s material I get in the mail or music I find on iTunes or online or on music blogs. I listen a lot to my fellow DJs at KCRW and take suggestions from my interns and assistants. I try to pay attention to “buzz” and see what’s currently happening. That’s pretty much daily, although there are days when I’m too busy with other crap to pay attention, which is unfortunate. I think spending as much time listening to music as possible is pretty ideal for the job. You not only have to listen to the music: you have to know it; you have to learn it; you have to make notes. I make lyric notes in my song fields on all my mp3s so that they’re searchable. The more time I spend doing that the better, but I do spend a great deal of time on the phone negotiating and making deals.

R&G: What’s the process of getting the scripts and selecting music for the shows you are working on?

Liza: Usually at the beginning of a season, I am reading all the scripts. As the season goes along, I don’t find that it’s necessary to read them as much. I really really should, but if something’s going on in a script that I need to know about, the post-supervisor or the show runner is immediately calling me and going, “Okay, what should we do for this?” and then I’m up to speed. I find that a lot of the things that are scripted don’t end up in the final mix. I’d say probably 90% of songs that are scripted never see the light of day. So, I don’t put too much stock in what’s scripted, unless it’s a visual vocal of course or something they need on the set; then you have to totally deal with it. I usually wait until post-production to get most of my work done. Every production is different. On some shows, every single scene that needs music, except for score of course, they send me a Quicktime and I send them back my choices. Sometimes it doesn’t work like that: on Parenthood, we have a certain number of pieces of music in each episode that I approve of and provide to the editors. My reasons can be that I think it’s great or current or that it’s affordable or that it’s not a dangerous piece of music. On Parenthood, for example, I give them huge amounts of music periodically throughout the season and then when the editor’s working late at night and they don’t want to bother me or whatever they can cut something in. If it works, great, and if not, they move on.

R&G: On Parenthood and Friday Night Lights you’ve placed songs by Pearl Jam, Black Keys, Flaming Lips, Bob Dylan, and Run DMC. What’s your secret for placing big time bands?

Liza: With Friday Night Lights, we had an incredibly interesting set-up that I’ve never had on anything else, because we used so much music and, yeah, a lot of huge titles. First of all, the Parenthood music budget is really good. On Friday Night Lights, we did two-year terms, which is hardly anything in the world of licensing. If we had licensed songs for perpetuity, we would never have been able to afford all that music. The two-year term covers the broadcast on NBC and Direct TV and I think that’s it. All of the music gets replaced after the two-year term, so anything that lives on beyond two years – like on DVD, gets replaced.

R&G: What’s your best advice for someone trying to get into the business as a music supervisor without previous experience?

Liza: I get that question all the time and I think everybody has their own path, but I would say working for another music supervisor is the best way to get your start. If you can get a job with a music supervisor you will learn more in three months than you will in a class. Working for a music supervisor is a great way to get the lay of the land and see what it takes and see what the different aspects of the job are. You can also work for a music publisher. You can volunteer to do your buddy’s student films or your buddy’s no-budget films. Any way possible of getting involved is good. I am always passing documentaries and various projects that come my way to my assistant and to my interns for them to do. That way they are building up their resumes and learning the ins-and-outs of the business.

R&G: How do you choose your interns?

Liza: When I meet somebody, I put the word out there that I’m looking for interns. I don’t want to get bombarded, because I don’t have time to do a million meetings. From resumes and recommendations from friends, I’ll choose five people to interview. Then I’ll pick one usually based on vibe. I normally pick people to interview that have some experience, so the final choice is usually based on chemistry. It’s like how you choose a lover: you hit it off or you see eye to eye or you can trust that person. The problem is that oftentimes you like all five people. Sometimes I just close my eyes and do it [laughs].

R&G: What’s the best way for independent or unsigned artists to get on your radar?

Liza: I hate to say it, but to cold call me probably isn’t the best way because I don’t have a reference for it and I don’t have time to listen to a ton of blind emails from bands I’ve never heard of. The best way to get on my radar is to be a great band and to get somebody excited about you. I try to pay attention to what people are digging. My job as a music supervisor is to try to discover things, but it’s not just that; it’s also keeping track of what people like. There are, however, times when I come across something randomly. I don’t even know how it happened and I’m just blown away and I haven’t heard of it and I don’t know anybody who knows it. There are just so many different ways that things get into my heart. There’s no set way.

Related Posts:
Music Supervisor Profile :: Thomas Golubic (click here)
Music Supervisor Profile :: Gary Calamar (click here)
Music Supervisor Profile :: Scott Vener (click here)
Rollo & Grady Music Supervision (click here)

[By Dave Kusek]
For slightly more than $2/mo everybody will soon have access to all the music they can find, steal, share, rip, produce, morph or buy using iTunes Match. Is this amnesty for all the music pirates? I hope so.

You put on your new eyeglasses, which contain a networked audio headset, letting tiny earbuds slip into your ears. You switch on the power, and the mix that your friend made for you starts to play. Music pours into your consciousness. It becomes yours. Continue Reading

Related Posts:
Rollo & Grady Interview with Dave Kusek (click here)
Rollo & Grady Interview with Gerd Leonhard (click here)

[via- Kelly Hodgkins - Tuaw]
“Spotify expanded its online music streaming service to include MP3 downloads, iPod playlist sync and more. The music service will now let free and premium users sync their iPod classic, nano or shuffle with the service. Simply connect your iPod and Spotify will add the portable media player to your list of available devices. In a matter of minutes, all the paid MP3 files in your Spotify playlist will automatically sync to your iPod. Continue Reading

[By Antony Bruno]
Watching the race between Apple and Google to see who launches a cloud-based music service first is kind of like the children’s fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. Except they’re both Tortoises.

As for Google, the Reuters story speculates that the company keeps changing its plans and that complicates the licensing talks. Google also has completed work on its music service, as reports surfaced a few weeks ago that employees are already testing it internally and there have been leaks of the app in various outlets. So it’s fair to say both Google and Apple have completed work on their music locker services, and all that remains is the licensing element. Continue Reading…

Via — Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY
“The outlook for music retailers not named Apple has been cloudy at best. Amazon.com hopes to brighten the forecast today with the introduction of new digital services the online retail giant hopes will bolster market share it concedes is “insignificant” compared with Apple.

Songs land on Cloud Drive in one of two ways. You can arrange it so that all the music purchased through Amazon’s existing MP3 store is saved directly to the Cloud Drive. Amazon has about 15 million tracks for sale.” Continue Reading

Gary Calamar hails from the Bronx, NY, and grew up a constant presence in local record stores. When he moved to LA in the early 80s, he got himself behind the counter, managing stores and nourishing the flourishing culture of the record store. In April 2010, he released the book “Record Store Days,” inspired by both his life and tastes as a consumer and connoisseur of vinyl.

Calamar is of course much more than a consumer and author. A KCRW volunteer and DJ since the mid ‘90s, Gary hosts a Sunday night show (9p-12m) on the station that not only showcases emerging music, but looks deeply into the roots of Rock, Country, Jazz, Blues, and Soul.

In 1998, Calamar got his break into the world of music supervision, placing music with Marq Roswell for the movie, Slums of Beverly Hills and in 1999, again with Roswell, for Varsity Blues; this latter soundtrack earned him a gold record. His work with partner Thomas Golubic on Six Feet Under (HBO) became strongly influential, making a case for placing indie music in television. Gary went on to found Go Music with Alyson Vidoli. He currently places music on True Blood (HBO), House (Fox), and Dexter (Showtime), and was recently nominated for a Grammy for the True Blood II Soundtrack.

In all aspects of the music business, Gary Calamar’s focus is broad and considerate; he remains abreast of all new movements and grounded in the history that makes them compelling, meaningful, and fun.

R&G: Can you tell me how you got your start on Six Feet Under?

Gary: I had been dabbling in the music supervision world. I had done a couple of projects – Varsity Blues and Slums of Beverly Hills – with Marq Roswell. Then Thomas [Golubic] and I became friends. We met at KCRW and decided to team up on projects and become a partnership. Thomas had actually heard about this new show – Six Feet Under – through, I think, an assistant editor friend of his. We went after it. We met with them. They seemed to have met with many people, but I think they liked that we were sort of up-and-coming and they liked our KCRW connection. Thank goodness: We got the gig. We met with Alan Ball and Alan Poole and got the job.

R&G: What’s your day-to-day job entail? Can you take me through the music selection process? Use True Blood as an example.

Gary: Well, we get the scripts early on. We just started a few scripts for the new season: Season 4. True Blood is kind of unique in that each episode is named after one of the songs in the show; generally when we get a script, the writer has already titled the episode after a song that he or she wants to see in the show and that ties into the theme of the script. The song may or may not end up in the final show. Sometimes it will and sometimes we’ll find out the song just doesn’t work or for various reasons it won’t make it into the final cut. There have been times when we’ve had to change the title of the episode because of this fun little thing that we do with the titles. We read the script, take some notes, and then really get down to the nitty gritty when we see a rough cut of the show. They’ll send a rough cut to my office and I’ll look at it and again take some notes or make mental notes. Then we go in for a spotting session, where I will sit and watch the show with Alan Ball, the creator, and usually the writer of the episode, the music editor, the editor, and various producers. The composer, Nathan Barr, is there. We go through the show scene by scene and decide what we’re going to do musically: whether it’s going to be scored, which Nathan will take care of, or whether it’ll be a song, and I pick the song. What’s the vibe that Alan is looking for? I’ll weigh in and give my opinion. Everyone will throw in their two cents and then I go back to my office and start putting ideas together. I’ll creatively have an idea of what I think is hopefully going to work and I’ll sit down with the picture, showing the picture on the screen, trying different songs, and I’ll try to narrow it down to three to five songs or so, and then I’ll work with the music editor to cut them into the scenes. Then we’ll go back and show them to Alan and he’ll make the final decision.

R&G: There is a theme of violence and of course blood in several of the shows you supervise. Have you become an expert in this genre?

Gary: [Laughs] Yeah, I guess. I certainly know a lot more about it than I did. It’s not that I have a special love for blood and vampires and things like that. I kind of take whatever interesting project comes my way. I’ve definitely learned more about the music from the South and Louisiana for True Blood, and at the same time, for Dexter, I’ve learned a lot about music from Cuba. We use a lot of Cuban music in the show and Cuban-sounding music. Whatever show I’m working on definitely opens up a new door of research for me. That’s always a fun ride.

R&G: What’s your best advice for someone who’s trying to get into the business as a music supervisor without previous experience?

Gary: I would say it’s extremely competitive these days, so it’s not an easy road. I’ve found with music supervision – and pretty much with any position that is very competitive – that the best path is if you’re able to work for free as an intern, working with someone who’s experienced and spending some time with this person. I did it. When I first started, I worked with Marq Roswell, with whom, again, I ended up co-supervising a couple of projects. Music supervisors get a fair amount of glory from time to time, but we’re not overpaid certainly – especially compared to composers and most people in the business. I would say we don’t get paid enough to have a full staff or something like that. If somebody wants to get into my world – even that’s hard – get in by working for free. I have a lot of people offering. Because I work at KCRW, I’m used to having volunteers, but it’s not even easy to work for free for me. I have 2 or 3 people that help me out. They come in during the week and do filing and creative work when need be and just get a chance to learn the business. I’m sure that they will move on to bigger and better things. I would say that being in a position to work for free is a good thing and I would recommend that to anyone trying to get into the business.

R&G: What’s the best way for an independent artist to get on your radar?

Gary: That’s also very tough. Again, I don’t have a great answer for that, but just put out great music. To get onto one of my TV shows, do music that’s appropriate for one of my shows. True Blood has a certain sound to it; Dexter has a certain sound to it; Men of a Certain Age does. So it’s certainly good to do your homework to see what kind of music I use on these projects and to pitch music to me that is appropriate. For the radio show, just get out there and do great music and go on tour and get some press and try to build a buzz and a story about you and it will eventually get to me. I’d like to say that I listen to everything that comes in, but it’s just impossible for me to do that, so sometimes I’ll hear of a band three different places in one week. I start to think, “Oh, I’m starting to hear more about this band. It sounds like they’d be worth checking out.” I’ll go ahead and check it out. I get so bombarded with material that it’s impossible for me to listen to everything.

R&G: Where do you see the music supervision business going in the next five to ten years?

Gary: I think it’s going to continue to thrive. Productions, movies, video games, films, commercials are all seeing that music is a very important element to their productions, and I think they’re going to continue to need music supervisors. We actually just started a guild of music supervisors that we’re trying to unite to some degree just to have a more unified voice and to try to get health care and different benefits for the music supervisors. That’s something that’s happening right now as we speak. As I said, it’s a very competitive field; it’s kind of flooded with music supervisors and there are only so many productions to go around. I think the ones that do a good job and are successful will continue to work. I think there will be a good amount of work in the coming years. Again, if the music business goes wherever it’s going to end up, this is certainly a good area for record labels and artists to make some money, outside of touring and things like that, but obviously record sales are not moving in a good direction these days.

R&G: Having worked in both radio and television, you have a unique perspective on the industry. You’ve watched technologies such as file sharing and TiVo disrupt and change the industries. How do you think these evolutions have affected the way people consume music?

Gary: I think the business model is certainly changing; record labels have to change their philosophy a little bit, but I think there’s still a lot of great music coming out and people have a lot easier access to it. I embrace the new technology and it certainly has made my job a lot easier. I can sit at my desk and listen to music on my computer and go through iTunes and various libraries to find the music that I’m looking for. I don’t have to necessarily run out to a store to try and track things down. So I think that as far as the music and the listening experience, the industry is in a good place. Again, the business model is suffering. I’m a big record store fan and worked at a lot of record stores, so it’s sad to see many of the great record stores close up. Still, I think there remains a place for good record stores as well. Stores like Amoeba and Freakbeat in Studio City and Fingerprints in Long Beach are all doing great jobs and I think will continue to do well. You just have to rethink everything a little bit.

R&G: You wrote a book called “Record Store Days.” Can you discuss how that came about?

Gary: I grew up loving record stores and I was the kind of kid that would stop in the same record store every day if I was walking past it, just to see what was new and go through the bins and read the liner notes and see the different posters on the wall. I loved the music and the stores brought me one step closer to the artists. Eventually, I got to work in record stores and manage record stores. I managed the big Rhino record store in Westwood here in LA, I worked at a great chain called Licorice Pizza, and I worked in a small chain called Moby Disc. I just loved the experience of being in a record store and the community of it: people going through the bins, all listening to the same music. It’s a much more social way of discovering new music and buying new music. Again, as we see, times are changing and stores are closing, I thought this institution should be documented, and had this idea to do a book about record stores and kind of shopped the idea around. I hooked up with another writer, this guy Phil Gallo, who’s an experienced music journalist, which I am not. We put the book together and we’re very proud of it.

R&G: What’s your favorite sync of all time on shows you’ve worked on?

Gary: Well, I think Thomas [Golubic] mentioned this in your interview with him. Our highlight is the Sia song ["Breathe Me"] in the end of Six Feet Under in the final episode. It was such an amazing episode. It was the grand finale of this great show. Sia was virtually unknown at the time, so it was nice that we had something really fresh that people hadn’t heard yet. Now everybody knows that song. They hear it and immediately start to tear up because that scene was such an amazing scene. I would say that that is definitely the highlight, the most well received thing that I’ve been involved in.

R&G: How about for True Blood – your favorite sync so far?

Gary: The Watson Twins doing a stripped-down cover of the Cure’s song, “Just Like Heaven.” I loved it because it was an early scene with the characters Bill and Sookie. They were taking a bath together and they were getting very cozy. We played a Cure song, which to me sort of represents Goth and Goth music and vampire-type looks. I may be overthinking it, but to me, using this Southern down-home version of a Goth song matched the two characters. It worked very nicely for the scene.

R&G: What are some of your favorite bands that you’re listening to these days?

Gary with Those Darlins

Gary: I’m a big fan of the Submarines. Some of the hits from last year I like a lot: Band of Horses, Those Darlins, Black Keys, a band from New York called the Ropes, which I like a lot. We used this woman Cary Ann Hearst in the show.

R&G: “Hell’s Bells?”

Gary: Yes

R&G: I love that song.

R&G: What’s your favorite soundtrack of all time?

Gary: Not counting my True Blood Volume II, which is up for a Grammy? That’s a good question. I would say probably something like Pulp Fiction or something like that. I think Quentin Tarantino has done an amazing job of picking songs for his movies. There are so many great soundtracks, but that one pops into my mind.

To purchase a copy of “Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again” (click here).

Cary Ann Hearst – Hells Bells
The Watson Twins – Just Like Heaven (Live on MOKB radio)

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Most music supervisors pay their dues working for record labels or publishing companies, or interning for established supervisors. It also doesn’t hurt to work for KCRW. Although he did work previously as an exec at MTV in New York, Scott Vener skipped most of the conventional rungs of the ladder and landed a job without any previous experience as a supervisor on Entourage, one of coolest shows on television. Scott’s music selections play a major role in the success of the program, especially his unique skill for finding the perfect song for the end credits of each episode.

One of the most exciting things about the music that airs on Entourage is that Scott consistently breaks tracks before they’re released anywhere else. That’s included Tame Impala’s “Half Full Glass Of Wine”, Jamie T’s “Salvador”, Gnarls Barkley’s “Gone Daddy Gone” and many other mainstream songs that have gone on to become very big. An LA native, Scott Vener (aka Broke Mogul) is now the music supervisor on How to Make it in America and on Beverly Hills 90210. He’s the first to admit that he’s got a great job and a great life.

R&G: How did you get your start in the music supervision business?

Scott: I had no idea what music supervision was. My friend [Doug Ellin] who created Entourage invited me over to his house to watch the pilot before it was actually picked up by HBO. We sat on his couch and he said, “Why aren’t you laughing?” I was like, “The music’s so bad, I can’t even pay attention to the jokes.” He was like, “Well, if you can do better, do it. Just watch the show.” He gave me the show. I ripped out all the songs and I put it in iMovie and I started fucking around with music, like, “What if I put this song here and this song here?” I remember playing the Jay-Z song, “Lucifer”, for Doug, and he was like, “I love this. We have to use that.” We used it and HBO loved it.

R&G: After HBO picked up Entourage, what were your responsibilities?

Scott: The first season I started off consulting. Doug sent all the music that the current music supervisor was doing. We’d sit down and I’d say, “I like this song. I like this song. Try this song, etc.” I wasn’t getting paid or anything, but it started becoming work. I said, “If you’re not going to pay me, at least give me a credit.” I think by episode 4 I started getting a music consultant credit. When season 2 came back, we started doing it more formally, and I went to the meetings. I think it was season 4 when I said, “I just want to do this by myself. Right now I feel like I’m doing it all and other people are getting credit for it.”

R&G: Did you learn the licensing part during that time?

Scott: At that time, I had no interest in doing any other shows so I never paid attention to that part. I was like a music caddy. Basically, when they had a scene they were just asking me, “What club should we use from here?” It’s pretty insane that I got to learn on one of the coolest shows – a show that my friends actually watch. That’s the coolest part for me: my friends actually watch it every week, so when I’m making that choice musically about what to put in the show, I’m thinking about my ten close friends. Are they going to make fun of me for this song? Are they gonna call me up like, “Damn, I remember that shit!” That’s sort of what keeps it competitive in my mind. I’m not trying to impress the two million people that watch the show; I’m trying to impress my ten friends that I know are watching.

R&G: [Laughs] When you started out, you were placing a ton of great hip-hop songs on the show, which are tough to license with all of the sampling used on the tracks. Tell me a little bit about that?

Scott: You really learn why hip-hop doesn’t appear on television as much as other kinds of music. At the end of the day there ends up being too many writers on a hip-hop copyright. A lot of the good hip-hop, like the ‘90s hip-hop stuff that we all love, never cleared its samples. More samples, more writers, more problems… Personally, though, I just pick the songs that I want to be on the show; luckily on my HBO shows I don’t have to do the “paperwork”; I just pick the songs and there are other people who do the licensing. Creatively, it ends up being better for the show because I don’t have to license them myself. As a tastemaker, I pick the stuff that I want, but not the road that’s the easiest to get down; if I had to license them myself, I probably wouldn’t pick a song that’s too difficult to clear. This whole arrangement actually turned out to be great for the show because I’m picking quality over the road of least resistance.

R&G: Your clearance person must go nuts when you select hip-hop artists. There could be seriously eight publishing requests.

Scott: I remember when we did Tupac’s “All Eyez on Me”, there was somebody that Tupac gave 2% of the publishing to that was his homie. We had the whole entire song cleared except this 2%. First of all, we couldn’t find him, and we had to track him down. I actually had to call one of my friends who I know – we’ll call him a hood ambassador – to track this guy down. We finally found him. When the guy got on the phone, he was like, “I want $15,000.” We were like, “What do you mean? If you get $15,000, then your 2% would make the cost of the song around $500,000.” We had to explain to him how it worked and that he didn’t just win the lotto… Finally I had somebody talk to him so we could get him to sign off.

R&G: How many songs are you budgeted for per episode? What’s the process?

Scott: It doesn’t really work like that. It all depends how they shoot the script. On Entourage, I’m lucky I earned Doug’s trust; he lets me do my thing. Very rarely, will he [Doug Ellin] come in and say, “I hate this.” I think I picked every end credit song this year except for maybe one: Marvin Gaye’s “Piece of Clay.” That was all Doug. I remember we had a music preview and showed him some ideas and he instantly said, “I got it: Marvin.” He was right. It was actually one of my favorite uses last season. We usually look at the script then pitch ideas for the editor to set placeholders. They’ll put in temp stuff. It’s really hard when you read the script to imagine how the scene is shot. It could be a long walking scene, but it’s not really described that way, and it needs montage-y type, the-guys-are-walking music. That’s why when I do pitch I try to give three or four varied tempos, each with the vibe that would be there. The dialogue always comes first, the music second, and you just never know how it’s going to be put together or how they actually visually shot it. That’s the reason we do it that way. I would say on average I put in three or four songs for every spot. Then, once we get a first cut and I can actually see it, I start putting in or editing… Almost never do the songs that I pitch from the script end up in the episode.

R&G: Television is becoming the new radio because nobody really listens to radio. Are the labels coming to you now trying to push music for launches to help their artists? Has it changed a lot from 2004 to 2010? Talk about the relationships between the labels and the TV shows or music supervisors.

Scott: I think they all think it’s really important. I have relationships with people at the labels, but since I came from MTV, I actually knew a lot of artists. I had also done management stuff prior to doing this, and I had a lot of direct relationships with the artists themselves. When I get stuff early, a lot of times I’m getting the songs before the artist turns it into their label or publisher. We send out requests more often than not for new stuff that’s not even in the system yet. It becomes a headache for everyone to try and clear, but we all end up figuring it out. Usually supervisors get new music from the labels or publishers in a mass email that goes out to every supervisor in town at the same time. When I get that email and see a song that I like, it unfortunately gets axed off my playlist of songs I can use. I know that sounds a bit hysterical, but if the label is pushing it, it means they’re sending it to me and every other music supervisor in town, and that makes me not wanna use it. I’ll never put anything on Entourage or How to Make it in America that’s currently charting or that I know everybody else is going to be using, unless I’m promised I’ll be the first one to use it.

R&G: Give me the lockdown process.

Scott: It takes almost three months from the time I put it in the show until it airs. A lot of times, I’ll listen to an album before they [the labels] have even chosen their single. I’ll just pick what I think would be the single or the one that I like and then by the time it airs I get lucky: the song happens to be their first single and it feels like the timing is perfect. However, there are times when I get too far ahead of their marketing and it ends up not helping the artist as much as it should or could.

R&G: Do you get exclusivity?

Scott: I’ve never really had to ask. Still, if I’m going to use more of a pop mainstream artist, I say to that band or label that I want this exclusive and no one else can use it before I do. They can do whatever they want after, but if we’re going to use it, I want it to be first. I’m probably a little more precious with the end credits than with the stuff that’s transitional.

R&G: Are there artists that have turned down your license request?

Scott: They’ve only turned down one: “Lady Madonna” by the Beatles. I wanted to use that and they did not let us.

R&G: How important are music blogs to you as a supervisor as a resource?

Scott: They are extremely important. Probably my most important resource when searching for new music.

R&G: What would you say to someone who wants to get into this business?

Scott: Don’t. [Laughs]

R&G: [Laughs] Yeah? Why’s that?

Scott: Music budgets are shrinking. It’s becoming less and less important.

R&G: Are you referring to the networks, television?

Scott: Yeah, television, and they’re not able to make as much as money as they used to. When they start thinking about where they are going to crunch budgets, music is one of the first things to go. I have to say, to HBO’s credit, never ever have they given me grief over the music. They give their creative people what they want, and it’s amazing. HBO gives me the leverage to do other projects and do them right.

Back to your question about getting into the business: I don’t know. I just got really really lucky. I’m spoiled now because my first job would probably be a young person’s favorite job to have. I can’t think of any other show that anyone would want to do.

Tame Impala – Half Full Glass of Wine

Scott run’s the music blog, Broke Mogul. You can also follow Scott on Twitter @brokemougl.

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Rdio, a music subscription service for the United States and Canada, announced Thursday that it has raised a $17.5 million round of financing from new investor Mangrove Capital Partners with participation from existing investors Janus Friis (Rdio co-founder), Atomico and Skype.

Despite what the name might suggest, Rdio is not another Internet radio service like Pandora or Last.fm, where you can’t choose exactly what you want to hear. On Rdio, users pay a monthly subscription fee ($5 for basic or $10 for premium) to gain complete, on-demand access to the service’s library of 100 percent licensed music. All four major labels are on board: EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. (Continue Reading)