ABSTRACT
The role of the music supervisor has been tested and consolidated by changes to the music placement environment in the twenty-first century. With music supervision no longer tied primarily to film, and music licensing now viewed as a critical revenue stream for all levels and types of music makers and companies, the role itself involves a wider range of activities and a greater number of variations than ever before. The pairing of preexisting popular music with audiovisual media is woven into activities across the cultural industries, and music supervisors, accordingly, occupy key positions in cultural production. As Anderson puts it, “as a profession, music supervision has risen from what was once an often disregarded, below-the-line dimension of the film and television community” to “a sometimes pricey, above-the-line consideration for navigating a new media ecosystem that is focused on issues of licensing and clearance” (2013: 372).
