PJ Bloom - Neophonic
That was the message from leading Hollywood music supervisor PJ Bloom visiting London at the end of February.
Speaking to nearly 200 delegates at a special event sponsored by the Association of Independent Music (Aim) and online music library service Synchtank, Bloom admitted that “the money is important. But having a song in a top show like Glee or Grey’s Anatomy can get you more instant exposure than a record company can ever hope to generate.”
Earlier, Bloom, whose company Neophonic works closely with the tastemaking HBO network and is currently licensing material for new series Americian Horror Story, said he’d always “prefer to license new music rather than a track from Coldplay.”
He added: “Too many label sync managers send me tracks they think I would like already when what I’d much rather hear is what really turns them on! It’s music coming from left of centre which is most likely to get me excited.”
Bloom cited the success of Fun’s debut single We Are Young, which Neophonic placed in an episode of Glee in October 2011, as a textbook study of how close co-operation between studio, record label and publisher can turn a sync into a worldwide hit – and a struggling band into global stars.
Later Bloom joined a panel of sync specialists like Mute Record’s David McGinnis, Working Title film’s Nick Angel and Sophie Urquhart from TV ad supervisor Tin Drum Music for a listening session. FML Music, Moksha Records and Distiller Records were among the 10 companies who presented 30 second clips as potential syncs.
