Laboring Under the Assumption: Gender and Music Supervision

Alyxandra VeseyUW-Madison, Media and Cultural Studies

vesey@wisc.edu@ms_vz

What do music supervisors do?

• Smith: “While some music supervisors perform mostly administrative tasks, several others actively participate in creating a song’s overall concept by taking part in scoring sessions, negotiating licensing arrangements, and in some cases, even organizing ‘casting calls’ for songwriters and performers.”

What do music supervisors do?

• Lewandowski:– Toggling between at least two separate

entertainment industries (television and music and/or film and music)

– Interaction with talent related to those industries– Authoritative taste in popular music– Influence over song selection – Legal dealings with publishing and copyright

-Many have a background in repertoire management or publishing

Gender and Music Supervision

Liza Richardson Karyn Rachtman

Gendered Labor: Music Supervision and Casting

Music Supervision• A&R and publishing (early

90s-present)• Intermediary between

creative, business, and legal talent

• Strong fan identification with musical artists

Casting• Clerical field (classical

Hollywood-post-war era)• Intermediary between

producers, writers, directors, and actors

• Recognizing and harnessing star power

Shared characteristics: Collaboration, process, invisible labor

Alexandra Patsavas

• Protégée of Roger Corman

• Frequent collaborator with Josh Schwartz

• Associated with melodrama

• Works with indie artists• Founder of Chop Shop

Records

Alexandra Patsavas and Josh Schwartz

The O.C. (Fox, 2003-2007)

Gossip Girl (CW, 2007-present; developed with Stephanie Savage)

Alexandra Patsavas with Josh Schwartz

Rockville, CA (TheWB.com, 2009) Hart of Dixie (CW, 2011-present; created by Leila Gerstein,

co-produced by Josh Schwartz)

Grey’s Anatomy and Mad Men

(ABC, 2005-present; created by Shonda Rhimes)

(AMC, 2007-present; created by Matthew Weiner)

Mad Men

• http://youtu.be/tnLpQuQ7Vs8• http://www.amctv.com/mad-men/videos/did-

you-miss-me-mad-men

Twilight

The Twilight Saga (2008-2012; distributed through Summit Entertainment)

Twilight’s original love songs

Bon Iver and St. Vincent, “Roslyn” (New Moon, 2009)

Beck and Bat for Lashes, “Let’s Get Lost” (Eclipse, 2010)

Patsavas’ connection to indie culture

Death Cab for Cutie

Grizzly Bear

The Fray

Chop Shop Records

-Founded by Patsavas in 2007-Partnership with Atlantic Records-Run by former Atlantic Vice President John Rubeli

Anya Marina, Felony Flats (Chop Shop, 2012)

Marina and the Diamonds, American Jewels EP(Chop Shop, 2010)

Indie consumerism and cool postfeminism

• “[t]he discourse of alternativeness remains central to crafting indie’s appeal to a market ripe for exploitation, a group of consumers eager for movies, music, and other culture that do not conform to dominant commercial styles” (Newman)

• “postfeminism grants opportunities for feminine coolness is through its commercialization…[which] commodifies female struggle as resolvable through the use of consumer products, as well as an emancipatory female individualism that is realized in market terms” (Lewis)