Billie Holiday

“Ultimately, what happens with Spotify and Apple and YouTube or any of the other platforms out there, the majors are going to set the precedent on what the licensing deals look like. That’s eventually going to trickle down to the independent artists to where they just they don’t get a great deal, I mean, they’re never going to really see substantial money, even if they’re doing millions of streams.” — Mac McIntosh

 

This week is the second half of my interview with music supervisor and film producer Mac McIntosh. We talk about how social media is changing the licensing landscape, what’s truly involved in building the right soundtrack, and which musical genre he’s hoping might make a cinematic comeback thanks to shows like Stranger Things.

 

Creative Conversations

We start the second half of the show with a closer look at his team, which includes musicians and Foley artists, and some of the series they’ve worked on. “Creatively, I had to do a lot of things that weren’t traditional to the music clearance space,” Mac explains as we look back at one project. “A lot of creative conversations had to take place to make certain things happen, and to prevent certain things from happening as well, from a licensing standpoint.”

 

Living by the Single

Mac talks about some of the soundtrack trends he’s seen in movies since the turn of the millennium, and how he’d like to see rock music make a Hollywood comeback. We move on to a look at how social media has made things both easier and more challenging for indie artists, and how video games and streaming shows are creating new opportunities for exposure and fame. “They realize that you live and die by the single these days,” he notes. “Artists are at the point where they’re basically hustling on a daily basis, trying to figure out how to maintain their careers, while at the same time most of them have to have a full-time job to go along with that.”

 

Owning Your Music

We wrap things up with a growing industry trend that he advises clients looking to add a musician to their project to follow. “It’s better to do a made-for-hire or paid-for-hire deal with an artist,” Mac says, “where you pay them directly to create an original piece of music for you… versus licensing something that you’re not sure is a good deal or not.” He points out the advantages of owning your own audio assets, such as greater stability and potential revenue, and we discuss some of the different licensing options available and which ones might best fit a given project.

 

Episode Summary

• Mac’s Musiclerk team and how a soundtrack is cleared.
• How social media companies have changed online marketing
• Video games, streaming shows, and the music hustle culture
• Licensing options and how to contact Mac McIntosh

Get your complimentary mini e-book and learn how to create your personalized and branded audio branding strategy with my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy.

Do you need a voice talent for your next project? Visit my voice-over website to find out more about how my voice can help you with your audio brand.  You can also subscribe to the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube to watch the show’s latest episodes.

Please leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review or a spoken review so others can find the show on their favorite podcast player!

This interview episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco.

Connect with Mac:

Website: https://www.musiclerk.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mac-mcintosh-717190126/
Follow Musiclerk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/musiclerk
Get the Studio Numbers Chart Workbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SGNZ59L?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

“Because a lot of podcasting was audio-only people thought, well, it’s like radio, all you need is, you know, a performance license. And that’s not true. It’s exactly like that, and that we’ve all learned, you know, in time, it’s kind of developed to the point where you have to sync music from a licensing perspective with podcasts the same as you do film or television. So, you know, helping people navigate that, that was one of my big goals.” — Mac McIntosh

This episode’s guest is a music supervisor and film producer based in Dallas, Texas, who’s spent over twenty years in the entertainment industry, with additional experience in music clearance, music licensing, film distribution, and more. He’s the founder of Musiclerk.com, a music and audio agency that provides music supervision, music clearance, post audio editing, sound design, and music composition for their film, television, podcast, and video clients. He also has experience helping filmmakers and production companies secure distribution for their projects.

His name is Mac McIntosh, and in this interview, we’ll be taking a deep dive into the world of music and how important it can be to the shape of a project. Mac’s perspective will offer a golden opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of this fascinating field, and how it might come into play with your own content creation.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

The Cadence of Cinema

We start the interview with a look at Mac’s audio influences while growing up, from the rhythm of He-Man’s catchphrases to the cadence of cinematic audio. “The music played a big part of it too from a dynamic standpoint for me,” he explains as he recalls how movie soundtracks helped inspire his love of music. “I think that was something I really grabbed onto at an early age,” he says, “and realized that it does affect in ways you don’t even realize.”

The Willingness to Not Give Up

Mac goes on to recount how his early career as a musician led him to become a producer and music supervisor. “Growing up in Nashville and being a guitar player,” he says, “you quickly realize there are… at least a thousand other guitar players that are either better or a lot better than you are.” We talk about his first music industry blog and the young artists he met whose talent and perseverance inspired him. “I think just determination and just the willingness to not give up are the biggest things, especially for some of the artists that I interviewed at that time.”

Overcoming the Algorithms

We go on to talk about the early days of social media, the new kinds of success and exposure the internet brought to independent artists, and whether today’s older, more structured online culture can still support that sort of breakthrough success. “Because the algorithms had not reached a level,” he tells us, “that everything was, you know, kind of suppressed and you had to spend money in order for it to be seen like it is nowadays, it was very organic and real.”

Helping People Navigate

Next, we look back at how Musiclerk began, as Mac realized that both musicians and industry professionals need someone who can guide them through the complicated process of music clearance and licensing. “What a lot of directors and producers sometimes aren’t aware of,” he notes, “is the length of the process it can take to clear one song.” He tells us about the first questions he asks to gauge the right sound for a project, the process behind securing it, and the movies and series soundtracks that he’s supervised.

 

Episode Summary

• Mac’s earliest audio influences and musical hobbies
• The Nashville Number System and music scene
• How social media has evolved as a marketing tool
• Musiclerk and finding just the right music
• The hidden process of music clearance and licensing

Get your complimentary mini e-book and learn how to create your personalized and branded audio branding strategy with my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy.

Do you need a voice talent for your next project? Visit my voice-over website to find out more about how my voice can help you with your audio brand.  You can also subscribe to the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube to watch the show’s latest episodes.

Please leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review or a spoken review so others can find the show on their favorite podcast player!

This interview episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco.

Connect with Mac:

Website: https://www.musiclerk.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mac-mcintosh-717190126/
Follow Musiclerk on Twitter: https://twitter.com/musiclerk
Get the Studio Numbers Chart Workbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SGNZ59L?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860