Tag Archives: Music supervisors

Controversy over the music-supervision category

Last year, the Television Academy added a music supervision category to its many Emmy craft fields. Then, the newly admitted music supervisors could vote only in that category; this year, they can vote in all seven music categories, including four composition fields, which has many composer members up in arms. Considerable resentment is simmering in the music “peer group” over how the music-supervision issue has been handled, and I tackle this sensitive subject in a new story for Variety.

Music supervisors in the TV Academy?

The hottest topic in Hollywood music circles for the past two weeks has been the issue of allowing music supervisors to join the TV Academy. (These are the folks who work with the producers to find the right songs to incorporate into the narrative, especially in drama series.) It probably doesn’t sound like a big deal to the average viewer, or even the average craftsperson in television, but it’s very divisive, especially within the composing community — many of whom are angry about the fact that the music-branch governors refused to submit the topic to a vote by the membership (“we were elected to lead, not poll,” they said in a widely circulated email). In a story for this week’s Variety, I report on what’s happened and explore what might happen.