Recording - December 2019 - 59

DECEMBER 2019
TAXI Road Rally 2018

10 Reasons Your Song Will Get Used or Not
Part Two

Moderated by Michael Laskow
PANELIST:
Beth Wernick began her career in the music
industry as a publicist in New York City, working with iconic recording artists like Tom
Petty & the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac,
Heart, Ambrosia, Judy Collins, Tanya Tucker,
KC and the Sunshine Band, War, and many
others. After moving to Los Angeles, Beth
worked at Rhino Records and later on cofounded Imaginary Friends Music Partners
with singer/songwriters Stacy Robin & Donna
Rawlins. Imaginary Friends is a one-stop,
exclusive song catalog, which licenses the
music of unsigned, Indy artists to TV shows,
films, commercials, etc. In 19+ years of pitching songs, IFMP has had a wealth of
placements, including regular uses on CBS's
daytime drama, The Young & The Restless;
ABC's Nashville and American Crime; Hallmark
Movies; NBC's Nightshift, MTV's Siesta Key;
the film The Bleeder; plus numerous reality
series and films. Beth gives full credit to the
truly gifted artists, bands and songwriters
whose music she is honored to represent. We
give credit to Beth for finding many of those
artists through TAXI listings, and landing lots
of placements for them. Ladies and gents,
please give a warm welcome to Miss Beth
Wernick!
You know, [Music Supervisor] Maureen Crowe
sitting in that very chair in that very spot about
four years ago, said something kind of profound
here. She had a young girl come up to her at a
conference and said, "I've done my research and I
know you use a lot of XYZ kind of songs on the
show." And Maureen said, "C'mon, let's go talk,"
because the girl had done the research and Maureen knew that she wasn't going to waste her
time, as opposed to, "What are you looking for
right now?"
Right, nobody wants that question.

We love it when our panelists hang out and talk to Road Rally attendees after their panels. Beth Wernick stayed until every question was answered!

So use Tunefind to your advantage, and don't
look for the exception to the rules, look for the
rule of thumb. Yes, they used the Christmas
song, because it was the December 15th episode.
But generally speaking, the show has kind of a
Southern-rock thing that they do-a lot of roadhouse-type music.
A lot of shows have a bar, and that bar is
gonna play that bluesy, twangy...
So you can figure out what they use in about
70% of the shows by going on Tunefind. And
then, when you approach somebody and say, "I
know that you use a lot of this, and I've got
some, and it's really good; can I please send it to
you?" They are more likely to say yes, because...
I sold shoes when I was a teenager, and I very
quickly figured out if a woman came in and

asked for a size 7½ peau de soie in beige, that
you didn't bring her a man's Bass Weejun in 9½
D. Duh. Well, the same thing is true of music. So
it's just like selling shoes.
Yeah, it kind of is like selling shoes. If the
song stays, it's a good fit, it's true. And why
not make it easier on yourself to know what
the game really is?
Now this is #10 (of the reasons your music
does get placed.): You have a great attitude,
you understand the competition is fierce and
you always bring your A-game to the party. If
you bring less than that, you shouldn't be
doing this. I don't know how else to say this; I
wake up every day excited to hear new music.
By 7 p.m., I wish I couldn't hear anymore, but
every day it's another opportunity to hear
Continued on page 60
RECORDING December 2019

Recording - December 2019

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