Is music supervision the most misunderstood job in film and television? Jen Malone, music supervisor and founder of Black and White Music, sits down with Billboard On The Record to break down the art of building musical soundtracks. From her work on shows like Atlanta, Euphoria, Love Story and more, Malone explains how music supervisors shape a project from pre-production through post-production, collaborating closely with showrunners to build a series’ musical identity. She also breaks down the difference between composers and music supervisors, the process of clearing songs and how she approaches crafting each character’s sound.

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Billboard On the Record is a podcast in partnership with SickBird Productions.

Host:
Kristin Robinson

Executive Producers:
Diona DaCosta
Jade Watson

Produced By:
Kayla Forman
Mateo Vergara

Edited By:
Rachel Derbyshire

Jen Malone
I think music supervision is one of the most misunderstood jobs in this industry.

Kristin Robinson
Season 1 of ‘Euphoria,’ you had “Hold Up” by Beyoncé in there. It’s like 15 or 16 writers and nine producers. When do you decide that it’s worth going through the tricky licensing process of a song like that?

Jen Malone
When there’s a song that a showrunner wants, I will do anything and everything humanly possible to get that song. And with “Hold Up,” it was a monster. We wrote a letter to Beyoncé.

Kristin Robinson
‘Love Story’ is about real people. Can you walk me through the process of trying to define John and Carolyn and their story through song?

Jen Malone
Carolyn, there’s nothing on her in general. But it was so much more than just scoring them.

Kristin Robinson
You said that the cost of songs has risen for film and TV projects. Was there a certain inflection point?

Jen Malone
After the pandemic, artists that might have shied away from sync are now much more open to it. They’re still expensive, as they should … Bruce Springsteen should be very expensive.

Kristin Robinson
Hollywood’s been going through it. From the pandemic shuttering movie theaters globally to the rise
of streaming video on demand, the shortening of theatrical windows, the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes,
and the movement away from filming in LA. It’s been hard to recover. And now, to top it off, there’s major consolidation on the horizon as Paramount purchases Warner Bros. Discovery for billions of dollars. But amidst all of this chaos, some fantastic TV shows and films are still getting made. And when a good soundtrack is needed, many directors turn to Jen Malone to pick out the tracks. From ‘Beef,’ ‘Love Story,’ ‘Euphoria,’ ‘Creed II,’ ‘Atlanta,’ ‘Wednesday’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith,’ Jen has become the go-to for truly cool and tasteful soundtracks that often steal the show. And today, she’s coming on the podcast to talk through the state of music in Hollywood today, how she picks the right songs for the right moment, and where she thinks this crazy industry is going next.

Watch the full video above!