NEWS: Getting on Archers Fans’ (Bar)wick with Tesco Cheese Ad

cheese

Tesco recently used our classic track Barwick Green (otherwise known as The Archers theme tune) in an advert for cheese, which had Archers fans raising a stink.

Followers of the world’s longest-running soap opera raced to social media to blast the synchronisation, with one fan saying: “How dare Tesco use Barwick Green to advertise its cheese? I bet it’s not even organic!”

Tesco claimed the usage was “a ‘fromage’ to a popular British institution” and the BBC were quick to remind people that they don’t own the rights to the music, so it wasn’t their fault! While it was us who provided the music, and we think it’s a brilliant use of a classic melody to advertise British produce by our friends at Leland Music, now would be a good time to say that the nature of library music means we have no say in what it is used for. This is also what makes it so easy to use, just download your favourite tracks and file a licence with the PRS and the music is yours!

To be honest, I’m far more outraged that apparently Stilton sales have fallen dramatically – which was the motivation behind the advert. We’re more than happy to make up the difference though, and keep a stash in the Imagem fridge!

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INTERVIEW: Our friends at Spitfire interview John Powell

Two of our composers, Christian Henson and Paul Thomson, own and run Spitfire Audio.
They’ve recently interviewed the awesome John Powell who won International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Best Original Score and Film Score of the Year for his score to How To Train Your Dragon as well as nominations for both a BAFTA and an Academy Award. Without his compositions the movie would not be as magical as it turned out to be and is definitely one of my favourite animation movies. He also worked on the soundtrack to Hancock, Shrek and Antz amongst many others.
The interview made us like John even more, due to his frankness and sense of humour.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

SA: You have been writing film scores for animation, among other things, for many years now – how do you keep your approach and your scores sounding so fresh with each new picture? What for example are your overall differences and similarities in approach to films as diverse as “How to Train You Dragon” and “The Lorax”?
JP:Apparently I don’t. And apparently they aren’t.

SA: When you are writing do you try to take account of what you think the audience will expect to hear? And in what way do you think that has changed recently?
JP:Not really… and Not really?
SA: What do you do for inspiration?
JP: Drugs.

SA: What is your way of continuing to learn about music? Do you study scores in your downtime or consciously try to acquire new knowledge or skills?
JP: I just “retired” a bit, so I can now catch up on all the classes I didn’t know I could go to at college.

SA: How do you think young composers can find their own voice? Is it just a process that evolves from having you own taste in music or is there a conscious element to it as well?
JP: All I know is that if I do have my own voice, it is entirely due to my own “musical fetishes”. I feel we should all ignore what the Vicar says on Sunday and indulge ourselves.
Oh, and STOP LISTENING TO FUCKING FILM MUSIC FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!!


SA And here’s for the most uninspired question, but the one everyone at our site will analyse the deepest. What’s your set up, can you tell us about the kit you have? What are your favorites, both hard and soft…?
JP: I use exactly the same shit everyone has and I do exactly the same things that everyone else does… It didn’t use to be that way… but now everyone can get great gear and incredible sounds. We have all been “equalized” so no one has any excuse for sounding shitty.

You can find the full interview here

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SHOWREEL: Fox Tale

This lovely animation by Andrea Edwards was a great thing to wake up to on Monday. This was her first ever animation film, so we think Andrea has a very bright future ahead of her!

The music is ‘Harmonic Dreams’ by Andrew Morris from Acoustic & Raw (CAVCD 323). It’s great to see our music gracing everything from debuts to multimillion-dollar productions, so here’s hoping Andrea will still be a fan when she’s making box-office hits!

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NEW RELEASE: Put another dime in the jukebox, baby!

AB-CD 226 - Retro Soul

LISTEN: Retro Soul on Abaco Music Library

Listening to the soul and rock ‘n’ roll which came out of Detroit in the late 1950s to early 1970s gives you the impression that life couldn’t have been better. While the social and political atmosphere in ‘Motor Town’ was far from bright, the city’s musical legacy has continued to put joy into the hearts of many, not least during the recent revival fuelled by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Plan B, Adele and many others.

In fact, a lot of our favourite releases in the last few years have been from Retro Soul artists. Mayer Hawthorne’s blue-eyed love songs always inspire warmth and an inner-glow:

Raphael Saadiq’s The Way I See It reminded just how much fun good soul music can be and, more recently, Plan B adapted the ‘Northern soul’ sound to create a slick album of retro pop.

With all this great music flying around, we wanted to try our own hands at reviving the spirit of 60s soul. With some of the best recent Retro Soul coming out of the UK, we didn’t have to look far past our doorstep to recruit some of the top artists in the game.

Also known as soul-heavy nu jazz artists Nostalgia 77, on the popular indie label Tru Thoughts, Ben Lamdin and Riaan Vosloo have worked with Jeb Loy Nichols (Decca), Jamie Cullum (Island), Alice Russell (Tru Thoughts), Bonobo & Andreya Triyana (Ninja Tune) and Valerie June (Sunday Best) to name just a few. With Ben specialising in acoustic analog recording, the results for this album were never going to be anything less than spot on, as the track Good Thing proves:

As Amy Winehouse’s drummer, Stuart Anning was part of the retro soul evolution that changed our charts for the better. He’s written for or played with Ellie Goulding, Seal, Enrique Iglesias and Rachel Stevens, so he knows what it takes to write a great song like Heavy Lovin’:

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SHOWREEL: Jason Statham in Hummingbird (Trailer)

The ever-epic Jason Statham stars in this film about an ex-Special Forces soldier who has found himself homeless on the streets before turning his life around in a typically dramatic manner. Not to be outdone by the UK’s favourite anti-hero, the ever-epic Tom Player steps up to the score 45 seconds in, with his brilliant track Rise Again from Epic Sci-Fi Fantasy on Cavendish Trailers.

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INTERVIEW: Yoav Goren, the man behind 1Revolution and Immediate Music

Film music site SoundWorks have just interviewed trailer-music guru Yoav Goren, the man behind the legendary Immediate Music, about his story, production process and more. It’s a fascinating listen, and great for anyone interested in producing, editing or composing for film trailers, or motion picture advertising which seems to be the latest buzzword!

You can audition and download Yoav’s TV underscore catalogue, 1Revolution Music, from ImagemPM.com.

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Love is…

As you know, each month in our newsletter we have a competition where you can win totally amazing and awesome things (clue, sign up to the right to join the fun)! This month, it was a Valentines Hamper from Fortnum & Mason. All you had to do was complete the following phrase in a unique and creative way.

‘Love is…’

We had lots of great entries as always, but unfortunately there could only be one winner. Congratulations to Jennie Harris for this bit of loving inspiration!

‘Love is… kittens and cake (This is Rosie my kitten and the cake I made for a colleague)’

Kitten in a cake bowl
Rainbow Cake

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Music and Sound Awards 2013

We’re all brimming with pride in the Imagem PM office today for our spectacular colleagues at Imagem Creative Services!

The talented bunch won the award for ‘Best Use of Existing Music in a Film Score’ with music by Benjamin Britten in the Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom. Not only that, but one of our music supervisor bezzies, Iain Cooke, also won best use of existing music in a TV series for Sky Atlantic’s first original British drama ‘Hit & Miss’ starring Chloe Sevigny.

There were plenty of other proud moments throughout the night as our clients and friends went up to receive their accolades, too many to list, but a great night was had by all!
Well done for organiser Dan Neale for pulling off a very fine evening

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Imagem PM Bowling Party 2012

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Composer Alexander Faris

I received a phone call from one of our composers, Alexander Faris, today. He’s 91 years old this year and composed for Cavendish Music back in 1989 on an album called Victorian Edwardian CAVCD 5 with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I was also interested to find out that he wrote the music and theme for the 70s TV series Upstairs Downstairs.

Faris was first associated with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan when he conducted excerpts from The MikadoThe Gondoliers and The Pirates of Penzance with the Linden Singers and the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra for World Record Club in Hamburg in February-March 1961. Then in 1962 for Sadler’s Wells Opera he conducted both Iolanthe and The Mikado. He was engaged by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company to conduct its last season in 1981–82, and he was one of the conductors for the company’s last night at the Adelphi Theatre on 27 February 1982. He was the conductor for twelve of the Savoy operas in the 1982 series of videos by Brent Walker productions. Four years later, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Glasgow, he conducted ten Sullivan overtures.

Besides his work at Sadler’s Wells in the 1960s, Faris has served as the musical director for the Carl Rosa Opera Company in the 1950s and the Royal Ballet. His original Londoncast recordings include Summer Song (1956), Irma La Douce (1958), Robert and Elizabeth (1964), The Great Waltz (1970), Bordello (1974), Bar Mitzvah Boy (1978), and Charlie and Algernon (1979).[1]

As a composer he wrote film scores for The Quare Fellow (1962), He Who Rides a Tiger (1965), Rowlandson’s England, and Georgy Girl (1966).

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