TuneSat LLC Secures a $6 Million Funding Round Led by General Electric Pension Trust

NYC-based TuneSat LLC, an audio fingerprinting technology company that enables music rights holders to track the usage of their music on TV and the Internet, announced today that it has raised over $6 million in a funding round led by General Electric Pension Trust, advised by GE Asset Management.

Scott Jones, Founder and CEO of ChaCha and former CEO and Chairman of Gracenote, together with several existing TuneSat investors, also participated in the round.  Jones and Carlos Monfiglio of GE Asset Management will join TuneSat’s Board of Directors.

According to TuneSat, the company will utilize the new equity capital to expand the global reach of its content monitoring services.

Founded by BMI award-winning “NFL On Fox Theme” composer and producer Scott Schreer, along with composer/producer Chris Woods, TuneSat provides rights holders with near-real time visibility into when and where their music is being performed on TV and the Internet.

The company utilizes a proprietary audio fingerprint technology and monitors hundreds of broadcasters and millions of websites across the globe.  As a result, using TuneSat data, content owners can ensure that they are properly paid for licensed music while protecting themselves against its unauthorized use.

MusicRevolution.com Marks One-Year Anniversary

Online production music marketplace MusicRevolution.com (Trumbull, CT) celebrated its one-year anniversary this week.

The company’s co-founders, Mike Bielenberg and Chris Cardell – both former executives with Jupitermedia – noted that the contributions of hundreds of artists had expanded their production music library to 12,000+ tracks and growing. The tracks are intended for the use of media producers, video producers, filmmakers and other music buyers.

To mark their first anniversary, MusicRevolution.com has created a page of royalty-free music tracks that are free to use in film, broadcast, Web, physical media, video productions or other commercial applications.

Music Seen: Music-to-Picture Hot Picks * Curious Pair by Debate Team

Artist: Debate Team

Song: Curious Pair

Why I Luv It: Remember the 1990s? I do. Vaguely.

One of the things that separates it from now musically is the deep divide between “pop” music that charts and sells and indie bands who write and produce their own music. Save for a few acts that manage to break through, such as The Strokes or Kings of Leon, most music that sells and sells well is glossy, well-produced dance pop hand-delivered to you by an adorable tween.

Gone are the halcyon days of cities that represented small pockets of rock music: Seattle, Austin, Portland, Chapel Hill, the list goes on. One of the genre victims of the death of this trend was power pop. Simple, straight-forward, catchy, pop rock which virtually dominated the 1990s in college charts AND the radio.

So that must mean that Debate Team are either creepers in their mid-40s preying upon this memory (read: Rascal Flatts) or kiddies too young to even remember its existence (read: everyone else). No, the Los Angeles five-piece fall right in between those two categories on their debut EP Debate Team Wins Again.

Sharing members with OK GO, The Hush Sound and OneRepublic, the band has power pop pulsing through its veins and clearly has the formula down for hits. Strongly recalling the underrated Fountains of Wayne or a far less ironic/irritating version of Weezer, Debate Team has revived the genre with hook-filled defibrillators.

Obvious single “Curious Pair” is an insanely catchy pop confection with witty, nursery rhyme-y lyrics that bring to mind elder Canadian poppers Sloan and could very easily be placed in spots across the board.

Scene I Can See It In: The lyrics of the song tell a story about meeting someone on the street who is so similar to you that it’s almost frightening. While at first the narrator is taken aback, it ends up being the one thing that brought these people together.

“For my entire life I thought I was the only one, I thought I was unique
But little did I know that somewhere out there in the world there was another me”

This is exactly what technology companies constantly strive for: “What does your phone/media player say about YOU??” These days with Apple’s dominance of the market, people are less concerned with what their devices say about them and just want to be part of a shared global experience.

I could see this song being used in a spot for another brand’s competing device. “Don’t be part of the herd! Think outside of the box! Be unique!” Most of the lyrics are slightly too specific, but an instrumental version with just a few choice phrases kept in could easily get this across.

“What would it take to make you see that I’m not the only me?”

The device catches on one person at a time as its owners meet other like-minded people because of the product. The shimmering introductory guitars set the stage for separated friends or loved ones, longing for one another and staying in touch only because of their devices. A lonely soul messages someone at night as someone receives it, moments later it in the morning. Both happily stay in touch with the help of this technology and as they go about their day, they encounter more and more people using the very same technology, creating a new shared experience for everyone.

As the spot continues, we get to larger and larger places with more people all of whom are using the device and noticing each other. By the final grand sweep of the song, we pull out of a huge arena during a concert where thousands of them are lit up and held in the air.

The angelic coo’s in the background help take us into outer space where millions of lights now shine all over the planet. While this moment was an impossibility in the 1990s, we can still use its musical influences to soundtrack the shared experiences of today.

Chris Tarantino is a Music Supervisor at Thwak! Music in NYC, a writer for The Village Voice & host of his own radio show on East Village Radio.

Indaba Music: Remix Tracks from Daft Punk’s TRON Soundtrack to Win iPad2, KCRW Airplay, Disney Release

NYC-based Indaba Music is giving its community the chance to remix tracks from the TRON: Legacy original motion picture soundtrack, which was composed and produced by Daft Punk.

The TRON: Legacy soundtrack was the highest charting score soundtrack in over a decade when it was released last December. On April 5, Walt Disney Records will release the remix album TRON: Legacy RECONFIGURED, which features an eclectic mix of acclaimed DJs, remixers and producers including M83, Photek, Moby, Com Truise, and others.

In the Indaba contest, the grand prize winner’s track will be considered for airplay on the well-known radio station KCRW and featured on the KCRW Music Blog, and will have the chance for their winning remix to be released by Walt Disney Records.

The winner will also receive an iPad2 and the TRON: Legacy original motion picture soundtrack deluxe vinyl box set. Ten runners-up will receive the TRON: Legacy original motion picture soundtrack deluxe vinyl box set.

Remixers can work with any of the three songs on the Indaba Music site, “The Grid,” “Derezzed” or “End of Line,” but mashups will not be accepted. There is no limit to the number of entries per person.

Submissions are due by April 27, 2011 at 5:00 PM EDT, and the online voting for 20 finalists ends May 11, 2011 at 5:00 PM EDT. Jason Bentley, the music supervisor for TRON: Legacy and also KCRW’s Music Director and “Host of Morning Becomes Eclectic”, will listen to submissions to determine the Grand Prize Winner, and will select the 10 runners-up from the 20 finalists as chosen by the Indaba community.

Licensing and the American Songbook: Sunflower Entertainment Advances the Chess Legacy

MIDTOWN, MANHATTAN: It’s not just artists that need a niche. Publishing and licensing companies have to have a strong idea of who they are, as well – a fact that NYC’s Sunflower Entertainment has a firm hold on.

Co-founded in 2002 by Jamar Chess, Juan Carlos Barguil and Marshall Chess, Sunflower’s seeds are sown in one of America’s most musically influential family trees: the legendary Chess Records which paved the way for blues, R&B, and yes – rock and roll itself. Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters are just a few of the seminal artists who were on the Chess Records label.

Sunflower’s catalog is a mix of iconic American songbook recordings and up-to-the-minute independent Latin music – imagine having recordings by Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Ike Turner, Jackie Wilson, Otis Redding, Frank Sinatra, Thelonious Monk, Marvin Gaye, Duke Ellington, and Charles Stepney under your aegis. We checked in with Jamar Chess on the rewards and challenges of representing his charges in 2011, and find out why snagging synch licenses from music supervisors today is never a cakewalk – even if you’ve got ole’ Blue Eyes on the roster.

What types of music does Sunflower Entertainment work with, and what do you do for the music you represent?
We are a global music publishing and licensing company with two distinct areas of specialty. The first is our Latin side of things: Many years ago we saw a need for a genuine music company in the independent Latin music business and saw the Latin demographic as being a major power.

Our first Latin deal was with the largest and oldest independent label in South America, Discos Fuentes, whom we still represent. We took over the administration of their publishing arm, Edimusica — 25,000 classic salsa, cumbia, vallenato and tropical titles — and master recordings as well. Within the first year we increased revenues by 300% by meticulous copyright detail, hands-on administration and aggressive exploitation in film, TV and new media areas. Now we represent quality catalogs, artists and songwriters from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico.

The other side is our classic publishing catalogs, which has about 7,500 titles — they date back to Tin Pan Alley times. We administer classic jazz works by Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Django Reinhardt and Thelenious Monk to soul and R&B from Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson and Jerry Butler and some great Christmas songs like “Do You Hear What I Hear” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. We have classics and treat them like that. That’s what we do best.

We’re an old school-style music company where the music comes first — not how many songs are in my catalog. We’re music lovers and the best music usually earns the best money. I don’t want to become a major conglomerate that looks at songs only as numbers!

An important part of Sunflower’s story stems from your very notable family history. For those who may not be familiar, please explain the Chess’ role in modern music.
My father Marshall is a living legend, although he is still Dad to me. He has had an amazing career spanning over 50 years in the business, from growing up in the family business, Chess Records, to starting Rolling Stones Records — with the tongue and lip logo — in 1970, executive producing and managing seven classic Stones’ albums (Sticky Fingers through Black and Blue) to the birth of hip hop with Sugar Hill Records and most recently running a successful publishing company.

But, I want to say it was my grandfather Leonard and great uncle Phil who are the real innovators and legends. They came from a poor Jewish village from Poland to America for a better life, and they went from first working in a scrap metal yard to owning a liquor store, then a nightclub to starting Chess Records. They discovered and produced Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf,and on and on and on. They changed what America listened to; the artists they promoted planted the seeds of rock ‘n’ roll that still influence music today. They made history, it’s an amazing story…it still amazes me all the time, I am deeply humbled.

When you started Sunflower Entertainment in 2002, along with Marshall and Juan Carlos Barguil, what was the licensing and publishing landscape like? What you’re your primary strengths in the market at that time, and what were the most effective ways to capitalize on those strengths?
We founded Sunflower out of my family’s publishing company Arc Music (the publishing arm of Chess Records, which we recently sold). First, we solely concentrated in the Latin market, signing independent artists, catalogs and producers. As we started paying royalties and providing proper administration, our reputation started to build as the place to come to if you did Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Tropical, and Reggaeton and want your songs in TV, films, compilations, digital distribution and copyright protection.

Fast forward to 2011 – what are the most notable ways that the licensing/publishing marketplace has evolved? You mentioned to me, for example, that you believe licensing has become much more competitive.
Yes, I mean, who doesn’t want to be on next week’s episode of “Gossip Girl” or “Dancing With The Stars”? So, we’re all competing for those placements much more intensely now. You can break a new artist with a fantastic synch – 10, 15 years that wasn’t happening.

We have to be on our toes with new technology and new media. Wherever music can be consumed, used or streamed we as content owners have to be there to monetize effectively. Read Wired magazine every month.

Always stay five minutes ahead! What are some notable synch licenses that Sunflower has helped line up in the last couple of years that you think were an especially good use of your songs?

There are a bunch of great uses but personally I like the end credit use on “Mad Men” last year – it was the Christmas episode, and the song was “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. We also had one of our big Dominican acts, Vakero, in an excellent foreign film, Sin Nombre. It won a couple of awards at Sundance, an amazing film, watch it on Netflix.

What have you learned about working a niche catalog like yours with music supervisors?
What I try to do is let them know that if you’re looking for great Latin, jazz from the ‘40s, or some ‘60s soul from Memphis call me, that’s all — not try to shove music down the supervisors. It’s “We’re here, what’s the scene and feel? I’ll send you a link in a few hours.” You have to be quick.

Being based out of New York is the best, but for synch it’s mostly happening in LA. I go out there a handful of times a year to keep up the relationships. It’s still about personal relationships in this business.

Pop quiz! If you could obtain the catalog of any recording artist ever for Sunflower — cost not a factor — who would it be?

Anything historic…that will always be valuable no matter what.

Last but not least: What are the trends to watch out for next?
Streaming…Streaming….Streaming….

– David Weiss

Music Seen: Music-to-Picture Hot Picks * “Into the Sun” by Lord Huron (Bad Decision) Remix

Artist: Lord Huron/Bad Decision

Song: “Into The Sun” (Bad Decision Mix) – Lord Huron (free, legal download available HERE)

Why I Luv It: Ben Schneider absorbed more than the sunlight once he touched down in Los Angeles. The Michigan transplant’s beautiful Caribbean-inflected songwriting is sunshine incarnate as Lord Huron and has produced two lovely EPs: Mighty & Into The Sun. He makes all sounds on the records by himself but tours backed by a full band.

The song “Into The Sun” has been remixed by many an up-and-coming producer, but it is Brooklyn-based Bad Decision‘s (Gavin Royce & Arvin Ajamian) version that is the most successful of the bunch. While the original is infused with a gentle swaying tropicalia, BD’s slightly danced-up re-tweak is dominated by a steel drum boogie and looped vocal phrases that swirl around you until the dark night gets bright and the sun is forced to rise.

They maintain the summery vibe but pile on enough BPMs to get you off your beach blanket and gathering around the bonfire to live it up with the rest of the outdoor revelers. The track is not unlike Animal Collective or Panda Bear if they admitted to knowing that people were actually listening. An early morning orgy of sun, sand and melancholy hedonism, “Into The Sun” is the soundtrack to the last party on earth.

Scene I Can See It In: This remix is a genre unto itself: upbeat yet mellow, introspective yet dancey, serious yet fun-loving. Upon a first look at the title and initial listen, it might be tempting to synch this to a spot for a cruise line or vacation getaway:

“Tell my family I had to leave.
I’m going away, tell my friends for me.
They’d all agree I gotta get out of here.”

While it’s certainly possible to use just a portion of the track to support a brand’s uber-positive getaway philosophy (and hey, who’s gonna stop em?), the upbeat instrumentation and initially happy lyrics belie a deadly serious sentiment:

“I’m gonna sail that boat right into the sun
‘Cause everybody knows that’s how it’s done.
Now don’t you cry and don’t you wait
If I meet my end, well that’d be my fate”

This song is too involved to be interpreted on mood alone and would benefit from a brand taking a chance on a more complex yet rewarding spot. To me, it would fit perfectly for a narrative, almost short film-like spot of an unhappy person imagining what the world would be like without them but choosing instead not to find out. This could be for a dating site or a new anti-depressant or anything in between. How tired are we all of seeing the oft-parodied prescription drug spots of random images followed by a series of quickly spoken warnings? A happy couple! People playing softball!! A man playing with a DOG!!! A more story oriented spot could really breathe new life into a stale genre beginning with this synch.

Stuck at their desk at a miserable job or completely alone at home, wishing to get away and find their happiness but NOT sailing off into the sun forever. The monotony of the introductory beats set the scene as the character is stuck in a rut of unimaginable depths at their job or in their relationship and as the steel drums enter and the vocals loop, they are catapulted into their fantasy as the music explodes and the lyrics begin.

The clouds somehow clear and the sun appears and the hero discovers the aforementioned beach party where none of their problems can touch them anymore. They come out of their fantasy as the same vocal refrain that sent them into their fantasy brings them out and the steel drums re-enter. The person has now sampled the happiness they desired and is ready to change their lives and has paid the lyrics off. That — or the theme song to that Joe Versus The Volcano reboot we won’t soon be seeing. Either or, really.

Chris Tarantino is a Music Supervisor at Thwak! Music in NYC, a writer for The Village Voice and host of his own radio show on East Village Radio.

Thwak! Music Does Original Music & Music Supervision for Sony “Surgeon” Super Bowl Spot

NYC-based Thwak Music! , an original music/sound design and music supervision company led by founder Tony Verderosa, did all original music for the cinematic :60 Sony spot, “Surgeon”. The commercial was shot by director Noam Murro and debuted Sunday, Feb. 6 during Super Bowl XLV.

Thwak! worked within a tight time frame to deliver a rhythmic, tense original score and dramatic sound design for the spot, which promotes the upcoming Xperia Play android phone from Sony Ericsson. Thwak’s tense drums, eerie sound effects, and precise orchestral hits pace the film-like spot, which shows the back-alley creation of a robot – complete with human thumbs – that rises up, ready to use the new Xperia Play.

Verderosa worked with McCann Worldgroup Executive Music Producer Mike Boris on “Surgeon”, recording at Avatar Studios with fellow Thwak! composer Mark Petrie. Verderosa created several different options for Murro and McCann Worldgroup, experimenting with varied layers of ethnic drums, strings, and sound effects — the final score builds gradually to an emotional climax that reinforces the story’s visual impact.

“The music helps to illustrate this heroic, epic moment when the robot’s thumbs are revealed,” notes Verderosa, who also served as Music Supervisor on the project. “For a project on this level, it’s really important to be able to deliver multiple creative ideas. Multiple looks and variations gave the agency team points of reference comparison when making their final decision on which musical selections to go with. So its my job as music supervisor and composer to give them different options and flavors, all within a compressed amount of time.

“Communication is made easier between Mike and I for a project like this,” Verderosa continues. “He’s a very seasoned pro, way on top of his game, and it’s easy for the two of us to get very focused on what’s going to be needed to support this picture, in the initial phase of music supervision, strategy, and executing. Mike is also a drummer so we speak the same language!”

The massive ambitions of “Surgeon” apparently gave Thwak! and crew plenty of creative fuel. “We drew inspiration from the unique challenge of this spot,” says Verderosa.  “It’s cinematic, it looks like a short film, and so narrative has to be approached delicately. You can’t give too much away, or fight what that character is going through up to the surgeon. For us at Thwak! ‘Surgeon’ was a film project — a really intense scene from a feature film.”

See the spot here:

You can also see Tony Verderosa’s live drum remixing techniques here — shot in NYC at Avatar Studios.

Full credits for Sony “Surgeon”
Agency:  McCann Worldgroup
Executive Producer : Greg Lotus
Copy/ creative director:  Sean Bryan
Art director / Creative director: Tom Murphy
Exec. Music Producer:  Mike Boris
Production Company: Biscuit
Director: Noam Murro
DP: Simon Duggan
Editor: Gavin Cutler,  Mackenzie Cutler
VFX:  Method
Sound Engineer: Joe O’Connell , Blast Digital (NYC)
Sound Design: Sam Shaffer, MacKenzie Cutler
Music Company:   Thwak! Music
Composers:  Tony Verderosa & Mark Petrie
Music Supervisor: Tony Verderosa

Thwak! Music (NYC) Expands, Music Supervises + Scores for “Lights Out” on FX

Thwak! Music, based in NYC, announced that it has expanded its music supervision capabilities with a long-form division focusing on TV shows and feature films. This new division is headed up by Music Supervisor/Composer, Anthony Roman, leader of the band Radio4.

The development accompanies an influx of film and TV projects for Thwak! including Beware the Gonzo, a feature film starring Amy Sedaris, Jesse McCartney and Zoe Kravitz, which has been picked up by Tribeca Films for distribution.

This new division has also handled music supervision for the upcoming 2011 13-part series “Lights Out” which premiers on FX January 11th. On “Lights Out”, Roman helped the show find the right songs for critical scenes, and Thwak! also scored a significant number of original music cues for the series, including main titles and end credits.

In an expansion of creative licensing services for global ad agencies, Thwak! also recently added Music Supervisor Chris Tarantino, an established DJ and tastemaker who covers music for The Village Voice. Chris Tarantino is also part of the East Village Radio family with his show “The Private Sector”, where he joins renowned tastemakers such as Mark Ronson, Andy Rourke (of The Smiths), Eli Escobar and KCRW’s Jason Eldredge. Tarantino teams with a formidable line up of seasoned industry pros which includes Thwak! Music Founder Tony Verderosa, Music Supervisor Anthony Roman, Producer/A&R DirectorPat Mullen and newly added Associate Producer Audrey Caliguri.

Other recent music supervision projects for Thwak! include Miller Lite, Cuervo, and Olay.

Elie Maman Productions Secures Synch Licensing Placements with E!, Oxygen, MTV

NYC-based publisher/original music house Elie Maman Productions has had a busy December, securing several synch licensing placements for tracks in its catalog. They include:

E! Entertainment: “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” Episode — “Kris ‘The Cougar’ Jenner”

E! Entertainment: “Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami,” Episode — “Scotts-O-Phrenia”

E! Entertainment: “The Spin Crowd”, Episode — “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”

Oxygen: “The Bad Girls Club,” Episodes — “Departures and Arrivals” and “Reunion Part 1”

MTV: “The Real World: New Orleans,” Episodes — “Fired” & “Getting Down, Blowing Up”

MTV: “10 On Top,” Episodes — 103 & 108

“EMP’s main focus is supplying music supervisors and production companies with top notch instrumentals/songs for their projects,” says Maman. “The music licensing business right now is booming. Think about how much content there is on TV alone, besides all of the other media outlets that require music. I think it’s a very lucrative business, provided you have the right ‘product’ and the right connects.

“EMP has a constantly growing catalog with literally every type of genre you can think of, these tracks were specifically selected for TV and every other media outlet. They are all at the disposal of the decision makers at a TV network or production company.”

Razor & Tie Names Angie Ruiz Director of Film/TV Licensing

NYC independent record label and music publisher Razor & Tie announced Angie Ruiz has been named Director of Film and TV Licensing.

Previously, Ruiz was Creative Manager of Special Markets at Peermusic Film & TV Licensing.  She will now be responsible for placing songs by Razor & Tie artists and songwriters in TV/ film as well as movie trailers and video games.

Ruiz will be based in Los Angeles and report to Brooke Primont, Razor & Tie’s VP of Music Placement and Licensing. Her recent synch licensing placements include spots with video game clients such as Activision, EA Sports, Rockstar Games, and Konami, as well as various mobile games and applications.  Ruiz has also successfully secured placements in hit television shows including Entourage and Days Of Our Lives.

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