A) Short Summary of Where We Are

  • After ingesting all the assets, we discovered a disturbing amount of errors and problems with about 70% of the files, and have worked overtime to correct, fix or replace them. Details are in the more extensive report below.
  • We made enough progress to start exploitation in the middle of the third month. This slowed the original plan significantly, but was integral and we are finished with the biggest phase.
  • Disco is finally at a point where the top 50 titles can be permanently accessible to producers, directors and supervisors, with
  • Great presentation
  • Instant access and full resolution downloadability
  • Fresh takes on classics, which is a current trend
  • We did our first mailer, which included a short playlist for quickies, and a longer one for those with time and interest
  • So far, the Deep Dive playlist has been listened to by 98 supervisors, and downloaded/added (to personal Discos) by 28 of them.
  • Most notably by
  • Joe Pistoresi at The Foundry (69 listens and a great email response)
  • Colleen Dahlstrom at McCann, one of the biggest ad agencies in the US (25 listens)
  • Jennifer Smith, who is freelance and does work with Netflix, CBS/Paramount+, American Idol (33 listens)
  • Cynthia Blondelle at Create Advertising (fully downloaded and a great email response)
  • New material to pitch
  • We created a new remix of “Wake Up Little Susie” that is focused on advertising
  • Once these splits are agreed on, we will do a big servicing to both of our contact lists
  • Over 250 new masters of the biggest songs, found and obtained
  • Around 120 have been edited and uploaded to Disco for servicing and pitching
  • The remaining masters are ready to detail, prepare and upload to disco

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  B) A More Detailed Summary

     MONTH ONE

  • Initial discovery of assets
  • This took a bit of time and is when I started to notice audio issues
  • Standouts for sync
  • Normally, this step is tricky, but quite the opposite with the Bryant work
  • The task for this catalog is about how to present clusters of songs and versions to the right demographics
  • Underutilized assets
  • Many of these as well, and they plug right into the above mentioned task
  • Contenders for remixes & covers
  • We have finished, but will continue to grow the list as we move forward

     MONTH TWO

  • Strategy and groundwork
  • Potential Interest assessment
  • Current fans
  • New interest 
  • Testing
  • This is where I started to hear back from supervisors about the problematic file formats
  • Playlisting
  • Strategy prep
  • Seasonal servicing
  • Themed servicing
  • Existing sync staff at attached companies
  • Dialogue opened with Kate Bergman to provide awareness of servicing as a professional courtesy
  • DISCO
  • Organizing
  • Tagging - this gets easier/faster as mistakes get fixed
  • Major problems
  • So many songs were/are misspelled and/or mislabeled that I had to fix them before I could provide the overwhelming presentation this music deserves
  • Once it’s fixed, it’s fixed forever
  • ★ Bad audio
  • Dead spaces
  • Digital noise
  • Beginning of songs are cut off
  • Partial songs
  • Some of these are not fixable because it sounds like they were on tape this way
  • But many ARE fixable and continue to be addressed as they are found
  • Wrong songs
  • Random classic rock like Aerosmith and Def Leopard
  • No idea how these got onto the server but there are a lot and we are paying their rent on Disco
  • ★ Low resolution and outdated files
  • Time consuming because it can only be done in real-time
  • 95% of the songs were in unusable low-resolution format
  • 1/3 of the 90% are now replaced with hi-resolution files
  • Another 1/3 have been found and acquired but are waiting to be uploaded and logged
  • 30% of the songs were corrupt files or outdated formats
  • Corrupt files
  • 100% fixed
  • These had to be fixed first because they are destructive to whatever hard drive they are stored on
  • Outdated formats that won’t play on modern computers
  • 100% fixed
  • These had to be fixed second so I could hear the music
  • ★ Mistakes & Repairs
  • This was/is very time consuming and set our schedule back
  • Extreme misspellings and punctuation inconsistencies
  • This was a big problem at first because a simple title search would turn up 1 or 2 songs when there are actually 5 to 10
  • An Example:
  • ‘Somebody’s Stolen My Honey’
  • ’Some Body Soles My Hunny’
  • ‘Somebody Stolin My Honey’
  • ‘Somebod's Stoled My Honey’
  • ‘Somebody's Stolin My Honey’
  • ‘Somebod Stole My Honny’
  • No-titles, still working on this but making good progress
  • I’m about half-way through these

     MONTH THREE

  • Execution of strategy
  • First servicing
  • Artwork for servicing and introduction to legacy
  • Massive collages of
  • Felice & Boudleaux through the years
  • Modern art interpretations of F&B, together and separate
  • album art of significant covers
  • Individual tiles of F&B for demos and work tapes
  • Procurement
  • Introduction playlist of top 5 earning titles
  • Deeper dive playlist of top 50 earning titles in 4 or 5 different versions
  • Deepest dive playlist
  • This one comes in the 4th month and is extensive
  • Contact list
  • Cherry picked over 1100 of the most effective film, television, advertising, promo, sports and digital gaming contacts for servicing and uploaded them to the Disco server
  • Delivery
  • So far, the Deep Dive playlist has been listened to by 98 supervisors, and downloaded/added (to personal Discos) by 28 of them.
  • Most notably by
  • Joe Pistoresi at The Foundry (69 listens and a great email response)
  • Colleen Dahlstrom at McCann, one of the biggest ad agencies in the US (25 listens)
  • Jennifer Smith, who is freelance and does work with Netflix, CBS/Paramount+, American Idol (33 listens)
  • Cynthia Blondelle at Create Advertising (fully downloaded and a great email response)

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  C. The Next Three Months

  WHAT IS NEXT - Finishing the job.

  • Corrections & Replacements
  • Enough has now been fixed, that I can continue correcting as I pursue more ‘visible’ progress, but I will continue with fixing effort until it is finished and bulletproof
  • The process of fixing and replacing has 4 phases:
  • Find better audio
  • Sometimes on the internet
  • Sometimes on vinyl
  • Capture it (record it in hi res)
  • Trim it down and correct any popping or hissing
  • Upload it to Disco for presentation  
  • Enter copyright and master details, followed by tagging and artwork
  • 5 to 10 versions of the top 50 earners are finished and being serviced to projects and supervisors
  • Most of the remaining songs are waiting for completion at step 3 (above)
  • A few are not replaceable but ARE fixable, and I have been doing those on the weekends
  • More Remixes and MODERN covers
  • I will put the “starter notes” at the bottom of the email in case you want to read them
  • The more obscure songs and even the unfinished ones can become money makers if we use them for remixes
  • Neo-classical covers are a big deal right now. I want to do a short collection with our copyrights.
  • More detailed procurement
  • This is where I put my money where my mouth is and pitch to
  • Specific projects that need what we have
  • Specific people 
  • Who know the work, but don’t know how easy it is NOW to find and download for use in one step
  • Who have yet to discover the work but are headed toward long, established careers
  • More targeted, SYNC BASED feature mailers
  • The end result of the servicing series will be OVER a thousand supervisors stopping to listen to the music, which is the hardest part of pitching
  • There are countless options, but a few are:
  • Felice performances
  • Boudleaux’s performances & orchestrations
  • His incredible instrumental interpretations of some of the songs deserve their own collection
  • Chet Atkins collaborations
  • Instrumental classics, like Mexico, which has dozens of amazing performances
  • Curve Balls
  • Poor Jenny
  • Take a Message to Mary
  • Baltimore
  • Before the Ring On Your Finger Turns Green
  • A Mushroom Cloud
  • Many more
  • Style/genre collections
  • Bluegrass
  • Vintage Country
  • Rock
  • Black & Latinx artists
  • Live recordings - some of these are so interesting, they need to be highlighted
  • Dylan, Phish, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, dozens more
  • Single song features of the obvious hits, and also
  • Mushroom cloud
  • A gun don’t make a man
  • Rocky Top (although a top earner, people outside of our region don’t know it as more than a college song)
  • Let’s Think About Living
  • Devoted To You
  • We Could
  • How’s the World Treating You
  • Sleepless Nights
  • Take a Message to Mary (this one has massive sync potential)
  • Poor Jenny (another one with massive sync potential)
  • Have a Good Time (should be a vocal jazz standard)
  • Midnight
  • Some Sweet Day
  • Lesser known and unknown gems
  • All the found treasures are found money 

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  SYNC REMIX STARTER NOTES:

This is for producers who want direction and want hits. I think further pursuit of remixers will garner interest in the lesser known copyrights and masters that are owned by the Bryants, which is more money in the end.

  • All I Have To Do Is Dream
  • A good one to trailerize, but it might be a tough one. It has been attempted a few times, but I just don’t think anyone has hit the mark yet, so if you want to roll the dice for a huge payoff, this is a good candidate. It will require extra finesse and alt versions.
  • Love Hurts
  • This one can go in any direction, but also might be tough, since the Nazareth version is so beloved. A success on this one would be a home run.
  • It works for most formats and demographics, and doesn’t always need to imply actual love. Best to pick an angle and make it true, or do a few different options.
  • Bye, Bye Love
  • Great for fun, upbeat comedies and dark rug-pulls. Perfect for stops and moment mining.
  • Also perfect for counterpoint or flipping, but remember that while directors and producers still love that stuff, the supes are tired of it.
  • She Wears My Ring
  • This one is tricky, but smart. I can hear a sincere use in a period project or animation, wherein the original version slowly becomes a very modern one with swells, etc… trailer too, if you took the swell all the way to crazy town.
  • Jewelry ads…  Couture… you can go pretty out there with this as long as it stays true to the sincere angle
  • Rocky Top
  • I cannot tell you just how much money this song makes. It is a royalty monster and plays on sporting events reliably. Smartest thing to do with this song is to make a rousing sports event version that the networks will fall in love with and then play it in every bumper after a touchdown.
  • It’s crazy how rarely marching snares get used in these kinds of things. It would be smart to incorporate that sound into whatever.
  • Jock Jams version of this would be good for trailers. Football/sports movies. It’s a perfect opener.
  • Bird Dog
  • Pixar. Dreamworks. Perfect for animation and live action animal stuff. Dogs, Quails, Doves…
  • Ads. Dogfood, pet lines… anything to do with, yep, dogs.
  • Can also be perfect to flip, with some nuance, for trailers.
  • Raining In My Heart
  • Great cutaway/record-scratch material. Awkward moments that turn into punchlines or story-beats.
  • Also good for midtempo, beat-driven focus underscore.
  • another great candidate for feature animation trailers. Super over-the-top.
  • Mexico
  • All things Mexico. Total no-brainer. Great Mexican vibes that are accessible to mid-western and southern demographics are rare. This is a great song to exploit for that purpose.
  • Instrumental - melody line by the brass section, which isn’t great for sync. So replace the brass with something more mixable with a project's dialogue.
  • Traierized version would need to be
  • Tonally dark
  • Tongue-in-cheek cliche Mexican (with a wink)
  • fun, animated, driving (reference Phillip Steir’s remix of Magic Carpet Ride)
  • Wake Up Little Susie
  • This main guitar riff is one of the most requested trailer entries because it’s equal parts cool/focus/fun, which is rare and an absolute manipulator. I would take it to a new home and let it do the work.
  • Ads I’m thinking about sniping are coffee, McDonalds/other fast food breakfast, and pharmaceutical brands, which I think could be a big-money, long term use, so consider the various cover versions of these kinds of songs in ads for drugs with long “do not take if….”, and “may cause all kinds of freaky stuff to happen to you” warnings at the end… haha..
  • Problems
  • I have actually covered this one before, in the 00’s, and it made good money. I put a U2 “desire” guitar intro on it, and it found its way into a number of trailers and one tv show. I think we can repeat.
  • This is perfect for tropes like ’the odd couple’ or ’stuck together’ or ‘omg these kids are going to be the death of me’… so keep the mayhem and exasperation, but frame it in sturdy coolness with no frenetic vibes. Approach the same way you’d approach “Happy Together” or “Stuck in the middle with you”.