Discussing Film/TV with Michelle Crispin

Michelle Crispin
Sr. Creative Director, Film & TV
E-mail:
[email protected]
Web: http://mightygen.com 
Most Recent: Katie Costello

By Tom Kidd

“Music supervisors are the new A&R,” says Michelle Crispin, Sr. Creative Director, Film & TV at Mighty Generation Music, a full-service music licensing and publishing company specializing in the placement of artist’s songs in all media. As with label A&R, those in film & TV take just anything that comes across their desks.

No one knows this better than Crispin who brings to Mighty Generation a wealth of experience in the music business. The original lead singer for Fem 2 Fem, as a solo artist Crispin subsequently worked with the development team behind Christina Aguilera. Like every career artist, she eventually felt that she needed to know the administrative side of the music business. That lead to the music major’s work with Mighty Generation Music, a job Crispin describes as “So much fun.”

Crispin has learned what every musician should know. “Format can hurt a song’s chances for placement if the hook is not immediate,” she says. Songs need to have short intros and long fadeouts are no help to a good song either.

“Certain songs are easier to place than others,” she confirms. “The sky is the limit for source music. For that, the music needs ambiguous language. Still, the hook has to come in quickly.”

Certain artists are easier to work with as well. “Some will do whatever is necessary to get a placement,” Crispin says. “Others are totally offended by it.”

While Crispin’s desk at Mighty Generation is already overloaded with music, that doesn’t mean she’s not open to submissions. However, she is just as strict about format as are the productions she services. All submissions need to be able to stream. She warns new artists, “If I have to download, I won’t.”