MUSIC+SOUND AWARDS TALK TO...

Alec Stern

Composition Juror

As the Director of Music for the global agency DDB, Alec has the unique position to oversee music for some of the largest brands in the world, including McDonald’s, Miller Lite, Capital One, State Farm, Skittles, The US Army, and many others. With a background in both music supervision and composition, Alec’s history of scoring and selecting music for ads runs deep. He has licensed some of the biggest songs in music history, working with the likes of Prince, Whitney Houston, John Williams, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and The Beatles, co-produced a Broadway musical on Super Bowl Sunday, and is always looking for new and untapped talent to elevate the campaigns he works on.

Outside of work, it’s still all about music. Alec is a prolific songwriter, guitarist, and producer, a DJ, and a published music essayist.

We’re thrilled to have Alec on this year’s jury. Read our interview with him below…

March 2020

We’d love to hear how music first entered your life…

Many of my first memories revolve around music, specifically being in the backseat of my dad’s convertible as the classic rock station in Chicago played classic rock bands like Pink Floyd, The Who, and AC/DC. I always loved listening to music, but I grew up in an athletic household and in a town where little league sports were what all kids did. The first twelve years of my life were something of a giant identity crisis - one big why don’t I like all the things the other kids seem to like question running through my head again and again. That all changed when I first held a guitar at a sleepover at a friend’s house, when I wandered into his sister’s room as she was being given a lesson. That night I learned “Secret Agent Man”, and The Rolling Stones “Satisfaction”, and as soon as I stepped into my mom’s car the following morning, I asked her to take me to the nearest guitar store so I could continue practicing. 

From there, it was discovering the euphoria of Nirvana and trying to master Eddie Van Halen solos, starting my first band with my middle school best friends, going to indie rock shows in the city on weeknights, writing my first songs and figuring out how to record and release them, discovering artists and genres and movements that opened my eyes to entirely new possibilities, and everything else that tends to happen when you figure out music is the focal-point of your life. 

Since I was thirteen, when adults would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always the same: “Just something that has to do with music.” I never anticipated I’d be a Music Supervisor - I didn’t even know that was a job, much less what it was called or how to become one - but the fact that I have a career in music is kind of a dream come true. 

So how did you eventually break into the industry? And can you tell us a bit about your career path to date?

Throughout college, I was able to snag a couple music internships, working for a concert promoter and a summer-long music festival, and finally landing as a production intern at an original music house in town. After convincing one of their composers to send me some of the work they were demoing on, I tried my hand at composing, and it turned out I had a knack for it, which lead me to freelancing as a composer during my senior year of college. 

Through that experience, I was introduced to a number of producers and creatives at different advertising agencies throughout Chicago and was eventually given the names of the Music Supervisors at Leo Burnett. After finding out they had worked on a Sprint ad where they used “I’m Always In Love” by Wilco - my favourite band in the world - I was all in. I wanted to do what they did. They took a chance on me and gave me a shot, and I’m really forever grateful for that.

I worked at Leo Burnett for five years, growing that department and rising from a lowly intern to Senior Music Producer. Then, about two-and-a-half years ago, DDB called asking me if I would be interested in building the agency’s music department. They had the insight that investing in music would be a crucial step in being able to elevate the agency and their clients to the global level they were shooting for, and it was a true honor to be considered to lead that charge. They wanted to do the best work in the world, and since coming onboard, our collective ambitions have only grown, and I am beyond proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two years. 

Just brilliant. Would be great to hear about your role on some of your favourite, or most challenging, spots since you started at DDB a couple of years ago? 

2019 was a massively successful year creatively for me. We kicked things off by producing a full-blown Broadway musical for Skittles on the day of the Super Bowl. I worked on the music and co-produced the official cast album, which was pressed on vinyl and distributed on Spotify. That was one of those projects that seemed absolutely impossible to pull off, but somehow came together totally perfectly in just about every way. And how often do you get to do something like that as a music supervisor?? AdAge recently nominated it for “Content Marketing of the Year” for their A-List & Creativity Awards, and it continues to be referenced as one of the true game-changing brand activations in recent memory. It was the kind of project that seemed impossible to pull off, yet with some incredible teamwork and innovative problem-solving, we made something unbelievable. 

I also had the opportunity to oversee the score for a massive Miller Lite spot called “Followers”, which was a :90 black-and-white chase film. This was uncharted territory for Miller Lite, and it was a thrill getting to work on an original massive-scale orchestral piece with the brilliant composer Phil Kay. The finished product, which is just so brilliantly arranged and performed by Phil and his incredible session players, is one of the absolute most inspiring pieces of work I’ve ever done. The spot was nominated for a Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Original Music which was a real honor for myself, DDB, and the brand.

An incredible year, indeed! Huge congratulations on all the accolades. Moving on to the structure at DDB - do you tend to work in a team or independently? 

I am a one-man-team, but one of my favorite parts of the job is that I get to work with pretty much everyone at the agency - the producers, creatives, strategists, etc. – and across every account we have. This keeps me engaged and able to pick out some of the bigger creative opportunities for our agency and clients. 

Can you give us a rough idea of the ratio of original compositions vs. existing music that you use?

It varies, but I’d say the ratio usually falls somewhere around 25% - 30% original to 70% - 75% licensed. And licensed covers everything from stock music to indie bands to a cue from John Williams’ Jurassic Park score.

How do you go about sourcing composers and artists and keeping abreast of new talent? 

I try to do the best I can to listen to as much music that’s sent to me as possible, even though sadly there is no way to get through all of it. I try to keep up with the blogs and the charts to stay on top of where trends are heading, as that’s one of the major roles clients expect from someone with my role. And there are always going to be friends and industry colleagues that I trust that I’ll often hit up for talent I may have missed. It’s really about practicing not getting too narrowed down to one style or sound or theme and being open to new and different things. I’m lucky enough to get to work on projects that range stylistically - from dusty funk & soul gems to massive orchestral suites - so I have to be able to source tracks of all varieties all the time. And I need to know who I can lean on to create certain kinds of music when that’s what is called for too, and the process of keeping a good ear on composers is kind of the same as artists or songs. Either way, I strongly believe in working with diverse, bold, talented people, no matter the job or its needs, and keeping an ear out for whatever direction that may come from.

And lastly, do you have any wise words to impart to readers wanting their music to get noticed by music supervisors? 

There have been a lot of phases of what music in ads tends to sound like. It went through a sugary sweet phase, a dirty stomper blues rock phase, a grand emotive cinematic phase, a twee folk phase, and many many more. Luckily, I think “ad music” has caught up to the overall trend to some degree that authenticity is king. The internet and streaming have taken over, and the old gatekeepers of what’s popular to the masses no longer call all the shots. We saw it with “Gangnam Style”, we saw it last year with “Old Town Road”, and we are seeing it now with Roddy Ricch’s “The Box”.  Genre doesn’t matter, and how much money was put behind a song’s success doesn’t really matter either - what matters most is: does it make people feel something? Is it new, and different, and tapping into something happening culturally while also appealing to people on an individual level? It can be a multi-platinum artist who headlines festivals, or it can be a kid in his bedroom with no label or industry backing. The song itself, and the artist putting it out are what’s most powerful, and that’s an amazing space to be as a music fan and creator. The people pulling the strings for so many years have become obsolete, which is great in terms of leveling the playing field, especially in a time when more people are making and listening to music than ever before. 

As it relates to music in ads, or even music in other mediums like film, TV, video games, and trailers, I think that same idea applies more than ever. The same things people want from the music they listen to on Spotify are what more and more brands are looking for in their ads. There are more risks being taken, more big swings. As music supervisors, we have more music available to us for consideration than ever; more incredible artists to collaborate with than had ever been possible, more exciting experiential music ideas to align with brands than there’s ever been. 

So, my advice is to just make music that feels authentic to you. That’s what’s ruling the charts right now, and that’s what gets the attention of music supervisors and brands. The rules have largely been thrown out, so there is less of a need for an artist to make a certain kind of song in hopes of getting synced than there was even a couple years ago. Here’s something to remember: music supervisors got into this business because we love music. And if we love your song on a personal level, the odds that we will try to find a home for it are a whole lot better than if we aren’t passionate for it. 

Thanks so much Alec. Wonderful to have a little glimpse into your world.

To find out more about Alec visit www.alecjstern.com and DDB, www.ddb.com