Sing a Song of Freedom – Music of Bold Native.

During the editing process, we utilized about a dozen temp tracks.  I tried not to put anything in the film that we had absolutely no chance of getting permission to use.  However, the difference between having a chance at getting permission and actually being able to get in touch with those who might give you that permission can be pretty stark.

Every time a piece of music is used in a film, two separate permissions must be granted – master rights for the use of the actual recording and publishing rights for the use of the song as written.  Neither of these rights are generally controlled by the artist (though this is changing with more and more artists retaining ownership of their work).  So just finding out who you need permission from and actually getting in contact with them can be a real challenge… which is why it’s part of an entire job called music supervision.  Without a music supervisor on the project, we were left to navigate the wilds of the music business on our own.  Fortunately, we’ve had the help of music supervisor friends Mark Wike, Joel Sill, Philip Steir, and Andrea von Foerster to get us phone numbers, assure labels we were decent people, offer contract advice, etc.

With money and time running out to finish the film, we decided to focus our energy on the few songs we knew we’d miss if they went away.  And we also started looking for songs to replace ones that had never quite sat right with us.  But this still left lots of places without music.  It was January 29, and we went to a party being hosted by Joaquin Pastor (who stars as Charlie in the film) at his new digs.  He’d organized a benefit for Haiti with a bunch of bands playing.  The party ended up getting shut down by the cops, and Joaquin ended up in court with a massive ticket… which he somehow got reduced to almost nothing due to the fact that the party had raised something like $700 for Haiti.  See!  Judges can sometimes make wise and fair decisions!

The party rocked and as we listened to the pure energy blasting out of these bands, we decided to recruit Joaquin and whatever friends he could get together to compose and record a score for the film.  In addition to being a great actor, Joaquin is also an innovative and talented musician.  We figured if he locked himself in a room for a couple weeks, he might come out with something great.  Joaquin was more than down, and he brought in his friend Johann Carbajal as co-composer; Johann wrote the music in the trailer, so you know he’s super-talented.  We met with them and went over themes and ideas, and we stopped by the studio as things developed and revised and honed.

As they started laying down tracks, we continued trying to get clearance for the songs we really, really wanted in the film.  And we’ve been incredibly fortunate to come across some awesome publishing companies, labels, and artists who have been amazingly helpful and supportive of the movie.

We’re very happy to have music in the film from some of my favorite artists, including the incomparable Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Balmorhea, The Blacks, Intricate Machines, Marla Leigh, and several others to be announced soon.  More on each of these artists in the coming months, because if you’re not already down with them, you’ve been totally missing out.

And the score is coming together beautifully.  Check out the progress report -

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