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Music & Production Coordinator feat. Tanisha Edwards (Part 2)
147 Plays1 year ago
Part 2 - This episode we’ll learn about the life of a Music Coordinator in Film & Television. A Music Coordinator’s primary responsibility is finding music that can be used in a video or production. For example, if a director wishes to hire an orchestra to record music for a film, it is up to the music coordinator to book the orchestra, the recording studio, and studio staff, and they must also negotiate legal rights to use the music, negotiate salaries, and coordinate with editors and film producers. As you can imagine, this role requires project management, negotiation and budgeting skills.
Today’s guest is Tanisha Edwards, Music & Production Coordinator for Saatchi & Saatchi. I’ve always known Tanisha as a music head so I was excited to invite her as a guest so I could hear how she leverages her creative and strategic brain in the world of music & Hollywood. Her path into this career is a bit non-traditional but a rich lesson about ingenuity and intention! Her story is an inspiration so pull up a chair.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanishadedwards/
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Transcript
Introduction and Call to Action
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back for part two of Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. We'll pick up where we left off. But before you go, we need your help to spread our message. So please subscribe, like, and rate five stars wherever you get your podcasts and on LinkedIn at Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. Thank you. Enjoy.
Role of a Conductor in Music
00:00:21
Speaker
So I want to switch your brain now to think abstract about what you do.
00:00:28
Speaker
And so imagine how I've hired a painter to commemorate what you do based upon a visual description. What type of image would you tell that painter to draw? Oh, this is cute. Thank you, thank you.
00:00:53
Speaker
OK, I have an idea. Imagine a conductor of an orchestra. I'm standing at the podium with my little baton stick, whatever you want to call it. And I have headphones on over my head. Above it, you can see little musical notes to denote that I'm listening to music. But instead of an orchestra, there's different things I'm directing. Musical brainstorming section to my left. In the middle, a band.
00:01:21
Speaker
on the side, songwriters. So you see them, you know, next to a mic, singing something. You know, over to the other side, you see, I don't know, budget calculations. And so me with my baton and the conductor is basically creating a symphony with the orchestra of the different places, the labels, the bands, the creative teams to make a beautiful music. Very descriptive. Thank you very much.
00:01:52
Speaker
I try.
Diversity in Music Supervision
00:01:54
Speaker
So now my next question, we've talked a lot about the good of this career and how it helps you feel fulfilled and you get to use your creative side. But as with anything, there can be an underbelly or a bad or ugly side. So what is a watch out that you would give for anybody who may be considering going into music supervising?
00:02:21
Speaker
It is very white. Hello, OK. Which is which is surprising. Well, actually, it's not so you know, it is.
00:02:33
Speaker
Um, I would go places, you know, because you have to meet people, you have to meet who you're working with your clients, your partners. And I would go and feel extremely odd, not because I was on the black girl. That's not uncommon in that fit, but for a music related job that utilizes so much of our work, our creations, we aren't the ones that are driving the bus on this. We aren't the ones leading the way and.
00:03:02
Speaker
It's kind of like, okay, I saw a whole, you know, NWA, like the music supervisor for Straight Outta Compton was probably white. I don't know. Please don't quote me because I don't know. But a lot of our favorite things, you know, don't involve us. Right. Now, I will say this.
00:03:27
Speaker
There are a lot of programs in place to counter that. There are a lot of people making corrective actions to fix that. I don't know how well it's doing because I haven't seen the numbers, but
00:03:41
Speaker
I've run into more of us and we literally look like, you know, cats and headlights because we don't see each other that often. Like seeing a black person in one of like our industry, you know, events is like, oh, who do you work for? Because there's just not a lot of us in this very niche role. There is not. And when you do know them, like they're well known because it ain't been like five of them. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
Well, I know it's a tight rope, but keep walking that tight rope as best you can, I guess. Thank you. I put it this way. One of my goals is not for me, it's to be able to pull up behind me. So however far I go in this career field, I need to be able to bring in, to contribute to
00:04:34
Speaker
more of us in this career field. It's not for lack of wanting to. Trust me, we're just not there yet. Respect, respect, respect, respect. Now, as you think about your career, is there a role that you're working towards? I imagine this is the foundation to build into something even bigger down the line. How do you see yourself contributing to music and to Hollywood 10, 15 years from now?
00:05:11
Speaker
It's hard to answer only because there's so many ways to get there, whatever there is. So I'll give this as a
00:05:23
Speaker
a brief story. So every music supervisor I talk to, I always ask what's next, because there's like, you know, whether it's they're independent, whether they're senior, where to next, because there's no direct plan, there's no first you start here, you go here, you go here, because there's too many ways to get there. And so a lot of times, I think of, I definitely want a leadership role.
00:05:48
Speaker
Because as I said before, I want to pull up the next us behind me. I'm not closing that door. I'm pulling up. That's number one. So it will be a leadership role where I can affect who comes behind me, encourage who comes behind me and advocate who comes behind me because that's important to me. But also like a job that not only allows me to be a leader, but also still do the work. You know how some people, they raise up and they become like people managers, but they're not able to do the parts that they love.
00:06:18
Speaker
I don't want to get to like a desk with a corner office and I'm not in it. Cause why am I here? Like I still want to be involved in the music. I still want to be involved in the work. If a job like that exists, I'm there. Otherwise I probably have to do it myself, but that's what I want.
00:06:38
Speaker
Awesome, awesome.
Nonprofit Work and Mentorship
00:06:40
Speaker
You've mentioned pulling up the person behind you afterward, pulling up the person behind you, paying it forward. I see you are involved with a nonprofit called Unlock Her Potential or part of a new mentorship class through that nonprofit. Could you share more about what that is and how it's helping you?
00:07:03
Speaker
Absolutely. Unlock Our Potential is a nonprofit that seeks to advocate and encourage women of color in their perspective industries. So it was founded by Sophia Chang. She considers herself the first Chinese woman, first Asian in hip hop. She was the manager for RZA.
00:07:24
Speaker
I don't know, several of who, I don't recall. I think like D'Angelo at one point, Raphael's at the other point. Florida girls, man. Florida girls don't know who, so disrespectful. I can name all of them. What I'm saying is I don't recall who she managed. Don't do me. Do not do me. Yeah, I know. You're right. You're right. Let me put my brakes.
00:07:47
Speaker
Thank you. But she founded this organization because she is a woman of color and she realized that mentorship for us, we are least likely to get mentored. And so what she did is she reached out to her industry partners, and I mean music, TV, film, culinary, publishing, writing, advocacy, nonprofit, just all these different industries. And she got these high level people to basically say, yes, I want to
00:08:16
Speaker
mentor a woman of color. I happened to apply the last for this upcoming year. And in 2023, I'm going to be mentored by Paul Brucic, who is the president of music over at Warner Brothers Pictures. And I have one of
00:08:32
Speaker
Yes, kind of dope. I am one of 145 women. There were 2,500 applicants this year. I'm one of 145 and basically we are going to be mentored by these titans in our respective industries.
00:08:49
Speaker
So basically see where we can go, whether it's through advocacy or career planning. So when you asked me that question about like where to next or where am I going to go, those are things I'm going to discuss with him so that he can assist me in mapping out what that looks like. He's been in the industry for over 30 years and he's the president of music at a major studio.
00:09:10
Speaker
what's out there, what's available, what's possible. I'm hoping that he will, you know, be able to assist me in finding the answer to those questions. So maybe next time we talk, I have a more clear picture. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yes. When I was reading about that opportunity, it sounded just as special as you described. So thank you for giving a little more detail and good luck through the program. Thank you very much. I'm pretty excited about it.
Challenges in Music Clearance
00:09:39
Speaker
Yeah. So, uh, I have a unique question. Um, you know, each profession or industry has their own language or acronyms that they use. Is there a favorite term within the world of music or an acronym within your world that you love to use or that is unique that you'd love to just share, you know, what that language means in your world?
00:10:06
Speaker
Absolutely. It's not a term that I like love or it sounds cool or anything like that, but it's my favorite to hear or read. And it's probably easy clear or one-stop clear. So one of the things that's required of music supervision is we have to clear licensed music to be able to use it. Every single percentage needs to be accounted for. So if I see a song.
00:10:29
Speaker
That's wanted, that's easy, clear, meaning I only have to go through one party to get approval. Oh my God, thank you. Because I don't have to chase down all the writers, plus the master, and that just makes my job so much easier and less stressful because I could be like, okay, I only have to come to you. I send the chat to you. Okay, then. What is the highest amount of people you've had to get something cleared for for a project?
00:11:00
Speaker
uh seven on the publishing side and two on the master side so i had to reach out to seven different entities whether it was their admin whether it was a label whether it was a person in general to try and get every single percentage adding up to 100 so that i could have that song used and do you know i got every single person to say yes and they ended up not using the song
00:11:26
Speaker
Oh, that's when you mumble something under your breath. Oh, man. I just had to throw everybody in the trash because how could you? I will say this.
00:11:40
Speaker
It's crazy. Like when you're, you know, on Facebook and Twitter, trying to find this person with 2% of a song, because you got to make sure that they say yes. Like you were literally playing inspector gadget, although inspector gadget wasn't really that good. So I'll say Penny, trying to find this person, contact this person, or somebody is a state. I think once I was working on
00:12:05
Speaker
Was it Johnny Nash? I can see clearly now the rain is gone. He's gone now. So the stuff goes to his estate. Trying to trace that lady down. Don't have some of her emails. By the time she got back with us, we had moved on.
00:12:26
Speaker
Wow, yeah, I can imagine. So if somebody tells me something is easy clear, I'm like, oh, Kha, thank you so much. And then you sparked another question in my head. What's the longest it's taken you to complete a project? To complete a project? Yeah.
00:12:53
Speaker
I don't know the exact timeframe, but I know the project only because I was working with creatives who had absolutely no musical affinity. You couldn't pull out of them what musical direction they wanted. You had to put it in their face and say, this is what you like. It's hard.
00:13:14
Speaker
And I want to say, and it was for the launch of a vehicle. So you wanted to make a big bang. It's the first time everybody, every time, you know, everyone's seeing it. I want to say that one took maybe like nine months. And I do not think that, I don't think it's aired yet either. Wow. Wow. What's the biggest, what's the largest bottleneck in it?
00:13:41
Speaker
Um, trying to get the creators on the same page. And at the time we ended up using Jackson fives, ABC, and, but we had to rerecord it. So you're paying for publishing from Barry Gordon them. And then you have to go to a composition company, music company and say, Hey, I need you guys to redo this. So the amount of.
00:14:07
Speaker
set revisions we went through. Oh, I don't like the way she's saying that. Try it again. Oh, I don't like that voice. Pick another singer. Like we had to go through audition to singers, revision here. Like, and I mean, small stuff. So it's hard to talk music with people who can't talk music. Right. Gotcha. Makes sense. Makes sense.
00:14:33
Speaker
Well, Tanisha, this has been a very fascinating show. Thank you so much for coming and sharing your journey. I have a question for you now that I'm really excited to ask you, especially because I know of your love and passion for music. So are you ready?
Dream Collaborations
00:14:51
Speaker
So imagine. I'm not, but let's go. I love the confidence. Imagine you have just been named ANR of Def Jam.
00:15:02
Speaker
and you've been given an unlimited budget to create a song and you can have any three artists and then one producer or beat maker for the sound of the song. Which three artists are you choosing and which beat maker? I hate you so much right now. Can I ask you some questions before I answer? Certainly.
00:15:32
Speaker
What's the goal here? Are you trying to make a top 40 hit? Are you just trying to make a good jam? Like, what's the goal here? Because I could be like, oh, I just want something Tanisha will listen to versus, oh, I'm trying to go platinum. What's the goal? Something that Tanisha would listen to. Oh, OK. Uh, producer. Because your girl loves a good, well-crafted love song.
00:15:59
Speaker
I'm going to have to go with, uh, I do. They, they're wonderful in love or not. Um, producer. Oh, this is so hard. Okay. I'm going to just go to Raphael Sadiq. We're going to go to Raphael as the producer, um, artists. You said I could pick three. Yes.
00:16:24
Speaker
Okay, I'm picking these artists and I'll explain why. One of them is going to be Faith Evans. It's Faith Evans because the girl's pin is crazy and her background vocals are insane. She's your favorite artist, singer. Like she's just dope. So that's one person. The second person would be, oh, Raphael Saadiq working with Yebba.
00:16:53
Speaker
Okay, okay. That would be nice. That would be nice. And then the third, right? And then the third artist. Ooh. I need a voice. I mean, Yeva's got it, but I need something on top to make it stink. Ooh. You know what? I'm about to throw something super, well not, and actually it's not random. Maybe throw like,
00:17:22
Speaker
Oh no, I need a man. I need a man. Hold on. Uh, why do you throw, throw, yeah, throw D'Angelo in there. Hello. Wow. Home run hitter. Okay. All right. All right. Okay. So Faith Evans, uh, Yebba, D'Angelo, and then Raphael Sadiq, uh,
00:17:42
Speaker
That is going to be a power man. I would love, I wish this could actually be a real thing in here. Like I'm over here like I'm in love and I've even got no man. Well, thank you. I know that can be a tough question. There really is no right or wrong answer. You know, it's all just based on our moves, but I love asking that question to allow the audience to just learn a little bit more about you just on the other side of who you are outside of work.
00:18:10
Speaker
Thank you for answering that tough question. Of course, I could give you another answer, but I don't think you want another one. What, you have a different genre or something? Oh, nope, never mind. Let it go, because I can go for days. Well, we'll definitely come back to this when I bring you back on the show again. Of course, hopefully, I got some new things to tell you.
00:18:37
Speaker
Of course, of course.
Conclusion and Engagement
00:18:39
Speaker
Well, once again, I appreciate you coming on and being so honest and sharing a little bit about how music works in Hollywood. I salute to you for being creative during a tough time in the pandemic.
00:18:54
Speaker
being able to build trust with people even through only just a digital communication where some people actually find it harder to build that type of trust that you've been able to build. So salute to you to everything you're going to accomplish. I wish you nothing but success and thank you for coming on the show again. Thank you so much for having me. This was a fun conversation Brandon.
00:19:17
Speaker
Hey, before you go, we need your help to spread our message. So please subscribe, like, and rate five stars wherever you get your podcast and on LinkedIn at Take Your Homeboy to Work Day podcast. Thank you.