At a recent World Soundtrack Awards industry panel, composer Simon Franglen struck a common chord when talking about his work on “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” “We had hundreds of musicians in a room, pouring their emotion out in that precise second,” he recalled. Here are four takeaways from an event that proved composers needn’t play solo. Labor structures are a hurdle.
Unlike many other key creatives and department heads, composers in the U.S. and U.K. face legal barriers to unionizing and collective bargaining. The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance helps fill that gap, uniting national associations to lobby policymakers and guide young composers through contracts and negotiations. Representing more than 30,000 composers and songwriters across 57 member organizations, ECSA had a strong presence in Ghent, hosting a roundtable before receiving this year’s WSA Industry Award.
Because, as someone once said, if you’re not sitting at the table, chances are you’re on the menu.” To counter the growing threat of generative AI, ECSA is also pushing to shape the EU’s evolving AI Act around three core demands: AI companies must get permission before using copyrighted music to train generative models; creators must be fairly compensated for that use; and platforms must disclose which catalogs and datasets they use. Lindvall had a blunt warning for musicians and composers curious about the technology. As music factories and generative tools take over entry-level work, newcomers risk losing a vital foothold in the industry.
It’s essential that those steps exist.” Darrell Alexander, who runs composer agency Cool Music, sees working as an additional composer as the best entry point for anyone starting out. After her acclaimed work on Netflix’s “Heartstopper,” she pushed to bring on additional hands for subsequent seasons. I hope that in my community, the people I bring on to assist know I’m trustworthy.” Looking ahead, Martin Phipps (“The Crown”) believes that creatives will always prioritize human contact — and that AI won’t eat every job.
Though I do know a few directors who would quite like to write the music themselves, which is a worry!” Beyond AI anxieties, panelists also took to the WSA to share best practices. Sound banks in particular proved well loved. On Kristen Stewart’s “The Chronology of Water,” for instance, Paris Hurley skipped scoring to picture.
Instead, Hurley created and collected bespoke sounds, often using her body as an instrument, then rearranged and remixed them to fit each section of the film. It’s like getting a new instrument each time and working out how it works. There’s a naivety to that, but also a freshness, and the material is fresher because hopefully it’s stuff people haven’t heard before.” Along with giving a project its own sonic identity, a sound bank can speed up the work, a real advantage on a show with a schedule as unrelenting as “Slow Horses.” “The ‘Slow Horses’ sound bank took a long, long time to get working,” Pemberton says.
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