As the year comes to the end, we asked sixty music supervisors, music producers and music coordinators to list their favorite albums, EPs and songs of 2016. To hear tracks from their favorite albums please check out the Music Supervisors :: Best Songs of 2016 Spotify playlist (click here)

Joe Rudge is an established music supervisor based in Brooklyn, NY. An experienced licensing professional and music fanatic, he works with film, TV, commercial, and multimedia directors to enhance the moving image with sound.

Joe started as production assistant at MTV & VH1, but soon found himself music supervising for The Disney Channel. 2006 was a breakthrough year for Joe, when he music-supervised the cult hit Brick, directed by Rian Johnson, for Focus Features.

Recent music supervision highlights include Blue Valentine (directed by Derek Cianfrance), Terri (directed by Aza Jacobs), Margin Call (directed by J.C Chandor), and the Martin Scorsese documentaries Public Speaking and George Harrison: Living In The Material World.

Upcoming is the much buzzed about Sundance award winner Beasts of the Southern Wild (directed by Benh Zeitlin), released by Fox Searchlight.

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, Liza Richardson, Andrea von Foerster, Scott Vener, Michelle Kuznetsky, and Gary Calamar.

This month we interviewed Chris Mollere, one of the rising stars in the music supervision business. Mollere runs the Los Angeles based firm, Fusion Music Supervision, which fulfills musical visions for Film, Television, Documentaries, and Video Games. When sourcing music, he draws from a lifetime of influences, including childhood travel around the world and his days as an undergraduate in Austin, Texas. Honing not only is tastes but also his business acumen, Chris has served in managerial, production, and promotional capacities throughout the music industry and since he moved to Los Angeles, has combined his interests in music with a passion for film. Over the past six years Mollere has supervised many television projects including The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Greek, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Kyle XY. His films include The Box, The Haunting of Molly Hartley, and I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. Chris also put together the soundtracks for Season One of The Vampire Diaries and Season One of Pretty Little Liars.

He does an excellent job of using Twitter a tool to promote artists on the shows he is supervising. You can follow him at @cmollere.

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, Andrea Von Foerster, Liza Richardson, Scott Vener, and Gary Calamar.

We recently interviewed the extremely talented Michelle Kuznetsky. Over the past fifteen years, Michelle has handled music supervision responsibilities for both television and film. She was the supervisor for Prison Break, and is currently working on JJ Abrams’ new sci-fi thriller, Alcatraz, and co-supervises the critically acclaimed FX series Sons of Anarchy with Bob Thiele Jr. Her feature film credits include The Station Agent, Happy Gilmore, Cop Land, Clay Pigeons, Kill Bill:Vol. 1, to name a few.

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.

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.

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.

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.