By Ainslie Coghill
“I’ve given myself three, three and a half years to at least have one credit on iMDb,” says Akash Iyer, a 2021 MA graduate in Music and Culture with a collaborative specialization in Digital Humanities.
Success in the entertainment industry often begins with a foot in the door, and through his Master’s research, Iyer has found a way to build insight and connections in pursuit of his dream job — becoming a music supervisor.
The Guild of Music Supervisors defines the role as “a qualified professional who oversees all music related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games and other existing or emerging visual media platforms as required.”
And Iyer has defined the role, perhaps in the most detailed account yet written, for his Master’s research paper.
“If I can write a 70-page paper about it and understand the process from top to bottom, the knowledge will hopefully hold me in good stead as I begin my career,” he says.
If you’ve ever watched a film and thought to yourself, “Wow, what a perfect soundtrack,” you may have a music supervisor to thank.
“I’ve spent my days watching visual content and understanding music’s role within it,” says Iyer, who graduates from Carleton University in June, 2021.
For Iyer, gaining a deeper understanding of the subtle intricacies of the craft meant speaking to some of North America and the U.K.’s most successful music supervisors.
He set his goals high, connecting directly with Karyn Rachtman, whose work includes the films Pulp Fiction (1994), Clueless (1995), and Boogie Nights (1997), Andy Ross, whose credits include Whiplash (2014), and Alex Hancock, a top independent music supervisor in the U.K. who’s worked on popular television series’ Skins (2007-2013) and People Just Do Nothing (2014-2018).
His final list of industry interviewees includes the names of 19 talented, experienced individuals.
“I wasn’t even sure this research was possible until a couple of these people were willing to speak to me. It was a way for me to understand their process, and hopefully to imbibe all those qualities for my own practice down the line,” says Iyer.
At the early stage of his research, Iyer noted that beyond two seminal papers, there was very little academic literature on the subject of music supervisors.
“This research started out of almost nothing,” he says. “I had to convince myself it was important. My research supervisor Professor James Wright really understood that, and helped me structure the paper the right way, to truly hone in on the intricate process of the supervisor.”
Iyer’s paper offers an overview of the role as it has evolved over time while defining its two main components: the ‘aesthetic’ and ‘administrative’ functions.
From his interview with Karyn Rachtman, Iyer points to the 1980s and early 1990s as “the soundtrack era,” and Rachtman provided insight into what were the glory days for music supervisors.
Rachtman is famous for supervising most of director Quentin Tarantino’s films from that time, and looks back at that era as especially lucrative, and one which defined the music supervisor as an aesthetic powerhouse.
In Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992), it was Rachtman who secured the rights to Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle With You, used in an unforgettably gruesome scene in the film. She then brought the film’s soundtrack to MCA Records, and the resulting record deal paid for the use of the song in the film.
For Iyer, this conversation with Rachtman helped make it clear that the aesthetic agency, creative authority, cultural caché, and importance within the entertainment hierarchy of the music supervisor was much higher during the cross-promotional “soundtrack era”, as there was an almost direct economic correlation between the songs that a supervisor licensed and the overall promotional push of the film.
Alongside aesthetic considerations, Iyer’s paper deals in equal measure with the symbiotic administrative and legal components of the role and shares insight from savvy supervisors like Andy Ross.
“Everybody with a Spotify account thinks they can become a supervisor or the new tastemaker of their generation,” Ross told Iyer during one of several conversations between them. “But in truth, being a music supervisor is a detailed, most-times administratively heavy job, filled with excel files, cue sheets and fish-market-like negotiations.”
In Iyer’s paper, Ross recounts an incident where he noticed a character ad-libbing a few lines in a particular scene. The actor said the lines were made up “on the spot” and didn’t belong to any pre-recorded song or literary text. Being an experienced supervisor, Ross asked for the exact lines that were being sung.
It turned out these “ad-libbed” lines were from well-known rap hits of the early 2000s. If this had gone through unchecked, it could have caused legal and financial chaos, and derailed the entire project.
It was a close call, and a cautionary tale that Iyer can learn from for his future career.
Originally from Bangalore, India, Iyer moved to Mumbai as a child, and has studied at the International College of Music in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a singer songwriter, and before coming to Carleton, worked in the independent music scene in India for two years.
When it came to choosing Carleton University, Iyer was impressed with the scholarship package and the supportive faculty who understood the research he wanted to do.
“A lot of the programs I was applying to were musicology focused, and people were going there to study the Bach fugues,” he jokes.
During his MA, Iyer took a film music course with his supervisor Professor James Wright, and a course on Sonic Auteurs with Professor Alexis Luko. He says both were very contemporary, with a focus on newer films from directors like Spike Lee and Damien Chazelle.
“Carleton has significant research and teaching strength in the field of music, media and film,” says Wright. “And those strengths are increasingly being reflected in the students we attract, and the research they conduct. Our dream is to launch a Carleton Centre for Music & Media Studies at some point.”
Iyer says he also learned a lot from peers in class, who helped him understand how filmmakers think about music and how musicians think about film music.
“Akash is very clear that his ultimate goal is to find work in this field, and I'm confident that his degree of focus and goal-orientation - together with his strong personal skills, infectious sense of humour, strong musicality, and passion for the work - will bring him success in his chosen vocation,” says Wright.
At the end of a degree come the inevitable question of “What’s next?”
Iyer is eager to explore a unique global and Indo-Canadian angle that plays to some of his strengths.
“A lot of music supervisors are based in Los Angeles and New York, but I believe that Canadian artists and Indo-Canadian artists have such a wonderful sound,” says Iyer.
“Many projects that are coming out are very international, very global, and I really want to be a part of the process of getting small Indian or Canadian artists into CBC or BBC documentaries.”
Iyer says he also intends to actively work with organizations like the Canadian Guild of Music Supervisors to further the growth and expand the profile of music supervisors based in Canada.
Of course, Iyer’s dreams are about more than securing credits on iMDb. He says he often thinks of wise words his father shared with him.
“He said even if you want to become a potter, make sure you become the best potter around. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, just make sure you’re doing it really well.”
With a Master’s degree, his new professional contacts, music industry experience and a 70-page how-to on his dream job, it’s easy to see he’s prepared himself for just that.