Disney Music Supervisor, Brian Vickers, on Placing Music for Trailers

In honor of Black History Month, we’re re-airing one of our favorite NMB episodes with Brian Vickers. He is a music supervisor at Disney. He works in the in-house trailer department where he developed a number of trailers including The Avengers, Star Wars: The Last Jedi & The Rise of Skywalker, Black Panther, Soul, Hamilton, Frozen II, Black is King, and many, many more.

Ari and Brian dig into all things sync licensing. They spend a significant amount of time on how to become a music supervisor. And they touch on how independent artists can get their music synced in trailers.

3:11 - Working as a music supervisor for Disney since COVID-19 hit and quarantine started

12:38 - "Custom spots" and what the conversations look like between music supervisors and musicians

17:41 - How to find reputable trailer music production companies

20:13 - Do these trailer houses have in-house composers or producers that they work with?

23:10 - Clearing tracks / staying away from samples and making supervisors' jobs easier

25:35 - Placing a song because it is perfect and then it doesn't work out when it 'goes up the chain'

28:39 - Breaking down the song placement process

33:59 - Brian's musical background

42:28 - Music supervisor and sync licensing community

45:40 - How to reach out to music supervisors

50:30 - How to become a music supervisor

58:00 - What it means to make it in the new music business