Lisn & Sync Vol.1 is the first in a new series of compilations that brings together a unique blend of music from independent worldwide artists who specialise in creating music for film and television. The project is compiled by Lisn Music – a UK based publishing and licensing company who focus on connecting their catalogue of music to media opportunities. The album represents an opportunity for a wider home-listening audience to directly access and enjoy the music and aims to shine a spotlight on the creative talent at Lisn.
The compilation contains 14 tracks from Lisn Music’s ever growing catalogue of independent artists. The selection on the album covers a wide array of genres ranging from the laid-back vibes of emerging homegrown talents ‘The Broken Orchestra’ and ‘Emma Shaheen’ to the unique blend of ethnic electronica from Mumbai-based producer ‘Rohit Bhusan’, to Floridian hip-hop courtesy of Beef Wellington and the epic instrumental dance music of Ecstasio.
Artists involved have featured on adverts and promotional films for global brands such as DC Shoes, Mercedes Benz, Suzuki, MTV and Microsoft.
Lisn & Sync Vol 1 is available from iTunes, Amazon and other online retailers.
Our artist/publisher Christian Andersson contacted Lisnmusic this week with the fantastic news that he is a finalist in the annual International Songwritering Competition. From over 15,000 entries Christian’s song ‘The Raving World Orchestra’ was selected in the top 15 for the ‘Instrumental’ category. 3 more songs have been selected for consideration for film contracts. The winner will be selected in May and we wish Christian the very best of luck!
The International Songwriting Competition (ISC) is an annual song contest whose mission is to provide the opportunity for both aspiring and established songwriters to have their songs heard in a professional, international arena. ISC is designed to nurture the musical talent of songwriters on all levels and promote excellence in the art of songwriting. Amateur and professional songwriters and musicians are invited to participate. ISC has the most prestigious panel of judges of all the songwriting and music contests in the world, offering exposure and the opportunity to have songs heard by the most influential decision-makers in the music industry.
The success adds to Christian’s impressive record in the TV and film industry, having previously sold 8 collections of ‘epic’ music to broadcasters.
In this artist profile we talk to Rohit Bhusan, a composer Mumbai with a Lisnmusic artist account. Rohit has been a producer and sound engineer for almost six years. Following extensive training on the sitar, Rohit combines contemporary and new age grooves with a backdrop of lush ambient sounds, topped with rich Eastern melodies. Working within a range of styles, he often composes tracks that are meditative and dreamy. Rohit’s cinematic cues will add excitement and zip to almost any TV, film or travel documentary.
What is your musical background?
For as far as I can remember I have always been fascinated and inspired by music. I used to play drums for my school band. Then I started playing guitar and played with number of bands in India for a few years. Then about 5 years ago I started getting immersed in the Indian Classical Music world and went on to start my training in Sitar. The depth and subtlety of this ancient form of music has been and continues to be a big inspiration.
How would you describe the style(s) of music you make? Do you focus on any specific instruments in your work?
I like to project a feeling of peace and tranquility in my music. This invariably leads me to use ambient sounds and deep tones as the bed for my melodic and rhythmic modes of expression. Besides the sitar I love using woodwinds (especially bamboo flute) as they possess the tranquil quality that I seek.
What successes have you had in the music/synchronisation industry so far?
I have done a number of TVC’s and promos here in Mumbai. Till a while back I was actively working in the industry here but i have cut down on it to work more on evolving my sound. I did a number of channel spots for Disney India.
Have you been involved in any exciting projects?
The most interesting commercial job i did was for a car commercial here in India about a year ago.
What are you goals for the future?
My focus would be on my sitar and on developing my sound, which I feel has come a long way. I have received a lot of positive feedback about my music and I hope to have my works released and available for people at large. If it instills a feeling of peace and tranquility then I’d have achieved what I’d set out for.
In the first of a new series of articles where we look in detail at our artist, label and publisher clients we caught up with Christian Andersson from Sweden, who holds a publisher account with Lisnmusic.
Swedish composer Christian Andersson recently received a scholarship from the Swedish Musicians’ Union for his unique artistic work. Starting music at an early age, he learned to play several instruments like the piano, recorder, trumpet, and guitar. His genres include Funk, Jazz, Rock, World, and Classical with a passion for huge orchestral arrangements perfect for films, trailers and video games where moods and styles vary from dark and epic orchestrations and spooky arrangements to bright and majestic.
What is your musical background?
I grew up in a family where all family members were involved in music, so music has always been a big part of my everyday life. My mother was a professional musician, a piano teacher, so I learned to play the piano, recorder, trumpet and guitar pretty early. The harmonic knowledge from piano and guitar gave me some great possibilities to start writing my own music and also to try some really big orchestral compositions. In the 1990s, I started to produce music on my Amiga 500, and then I simply followed the technical evolution for home studios from primitive tools to today’s high-end professional virtual instruments and production software. Today, I have a home studio with professional studio equipment and a huge collection of the best virtual instruments available on the market.
How would you describe the style(s) of music you make? Do you focus on any specific instruments in your work?
I focus on melodic production music with an orchestral sound. For me, it’s really important with a strong melody, so I try to enrich my songs with interesting melodies that make them stand out from the average music producer. I believe (and hope) that this was one of the reasons why I was awarded a scholarship by the Swedish Musicians’ Union. For instrumentation in my orchestral pieces, I love the mighty brass sounds from French horns and also the cello sections playing a tense spiccato/marcato in orchestral arrangements. I also enjoy working with emotional solo instruments, for instance a melancholic and lonely Stradivarius violin or a soft and melodic fairy-tale-like harp.
What successes have you had in the music/synchronisation industry so far?
One of my songs was recently picked out by a major cable network for usage by 20 TV-channels. This was a great success, as it will (very likely) give good royalty payouts. Right now, I am also very close to sign a deal with a feature film production for one of my songs where a nice sync-fee will be paid out, and then there will be royalties on that.
Have you been involved in any exciting projects?
Last year, I wrote the complete sound track for a great online video game. I also licensed music to many of the emerging video games produced for the iTunes/Android market.
What are you goals for the future?
My artistic goal is to continuously develop my skills and find new interesting styles and musical figures. I also aim to double the size of my portfolio and to write at least 10 new epic orchestral style tracks during this year. My commercial goal for this year is to double the amount of film placements from last year and to triple the sale figures from last year. I have worked hard during the beginning of 2011 to establish some really serious business relations, and I feel that Lisnmusic is a great partner in this business, and I look forward to a great partnership and a common success.
Anything else you would like us to know?
I’d like to say something about my relation to music as a profession. I often think about that. I used to work as a software developer. But after having written my first big orchestral compositions, everything around engineering and technical stuff suddenly seemed very dull, dry and boring. For me, music is art and passion. When I have written a new song that feels perfect, I get tears in my eyes, and it’s almost like falling in love. I have never felt something like that when I constructed some great piece of software or engineering work, and I doubt that someone can feel like that for those technical things.
Music is something completely different. Once you start to write music and once you get this strong emotional connection, like a direct link to your soul, there is no turning back. I understand that I am now stuck with music forever, so I will continue to write music as long as I live. I often think about a Latin inscription, written by Tycho Brahe, a famous Danish astronomer: “Non faces nec opes, sola artis sceptra perennant”. It means: “Neither power nor wealth, only Art and Science will endure”, which very much applies to music as an art form.
So can music as art coexist with financial interests? For example: I need to write music that sells, not only music as “art”. Yes, I believe so, but it’s a constant struggle to find a good balance. I allow myself to sometimes forget about if the music will sell or not. That will often yield a piece with a variety of moods, but with a very high quality, interesting melodies, and great emotional content – a song that is really interesting as piece of music art, but not very commercial (because it has too much variety in moods). However, from those creations, I can often spawn some new commercial creations. For example, one of my songs – “Tales from the Forgotten Monastery” – would be hard to place commercially, but it gave me 2 very nice separate creations that I could break out from it – “Peaceful Thousand Oaks Forest” and “The Desecrated Sanctum” (and I have had great commercial success with “The Desecrated Sanctum”). So yes, I think that it’s possible to create true art, and that this will give some great opportunities to find and produce commercial elements from this art.