Kat Harlton
Lead Photo: Provided via artist
Toronto-based musician, songwriter, producer, and music publisher James Gadon is continuing to expand his footprint in film and television, with six song placements across two seasons of the hit series Resident Alien. Spanning both his solo work and contributions with his band The Hollowbodies, securing this volume of placements within a single series is a rare feat in the highly competitive world of sync licensing, underscoring both the demand for his sound and a proven ability to deliver music that consistently resonates with story.
Sync licensing, the placement of music in film, television, and media, is an increasingly competitive and curated field, where songs are selected not only for their sound, but for their ability to enhance emotion, tone, and story. Gadon’s work has proven to resonate within that space, with placements that integrate seamlessly into a range of scenes and formats.
I had the opportunity to chat with James about song writing for television, sync licensing and more.
Kat: You’ve secured multiple song placements across two seasons of Resident Alien, what does that kind of consistency mean for your career?
James: It’s such a competitive landscape that it’s an honor any time a Music Supervisor or Showrunner informs me they are using a Route 84 song. To be a part of helping to enhance someone else’s storytelling is a real privilege. And I’ve been fortunate to have music in a variety of projects. But I’ve never licensed six songs in one show (four that I’ve written and two that I co-produced and played on with my band ‘The Hollowbodies’). That kind of consistency is something new and it certainly helps with career momentum. But similar to a hockey season, each season of TV and every film is a new beginning where you have to grind and prove you have something that complements the artistic vision of the project. So, in a way, consistency is great but I have to keep pushing forward to find ways to continue landing future syncs as it’s not necessarily a cumulative endeavor. It’s nice to reflect on and appreciate but the nature of the business forces you to stay competitive and hungry!
Kat: Sync licensing can be incredibly competitive, what do you think helped your music stand out to supervisors on a show like Resident Alien?
James: Sometimes it’s timing. I connected with Chris Sheridan (The Showrunner) at exactly the time he was heading into editing season three of the show. By coincidence, it was a fortuitous exchange. In another sense, the songs I licensed for Resident Alien weren’t written specifically with film and television in mind. They were organically written and produced about very personal stories. A couple of them are so lyrically obscure, I never thought they would even have a chance of being sync’d.
My solo songs stood out to Chris because their singer/songwriter style is right in the pocket of the show. According to Chris, “Ballad of a Traveling Man worked really well tonally because it plays both hopeful and somber, telling the story of someone who is a little resigned to their fate — trying to make the best of a bad situation. It was a perfect song for the spot I needed because Kate was resigned to the fact that she’s going to allow the aliens to take her again so she can get close to her daughter. I often stay away from lyrics that are too on the nose, but this was subtle enough, and the reason Kate was “leaving” is so hyper real and bizarre (forced alien abduction) that it didn’t feel too pushed. It actually grounded the moment really well”. Long Way to California worked because tonally, it also grounded the moment in the diner when Harry was talking to the other alien.”
A few of the other songs were appealing for the 59 bar because they sounded like music you might hear in a bar, while others were of the folk/Americana/country nature and the series has a bit of a rural feel to it, so that may have helped. Even, ‘Scenes’ – although technically alternative, it has an acoustic guitar and Gretsch electric guitar playing through a tremolo pedal, so the twang gives it a bit of a country flavor. ‘Scenes’ has an atypical structure too but it’s cinematic and one of Andrew Ioi’s (the main vocalist in ‘The Hollowbodies’) strongest vocal performances in my opinion.
Kat: How does your approach to writing music for film and television differ from creating songs for standalone listening?
James: For standalone listening I’ll write from the heart and do what I feel serves the story I’m trying to tell. Sometimes they’re short, other times long. Sometimes they have a bridge, and other times I’ll skip writing one depending on how it feels. When writing specifically for film and television, I’ll be more intentional with lyrics if I’m trying to fit a certain theme. Tan Ciyiltepe is my writing and producing partner in our electronic pop duo ‘Sunrise in the Desert’ and we often do this as do Andrew and I for ‘The Hollowbodies’. Sometimes we’ll write alternative lyrics just to have for purposes of sync. There may be differences between the two approaches but either way, the common denominator is that we try and write the best songs we possibly can. I mostly write songs for a standalone purpose and if they end up landing a sync down the road, then that’s a bonus! Some of the songs I’ve written specifically with sync in mind have never landed in film and TV. While other songs that I didn’t write specifically for film and TV and never imagined would sync, ironically found their way into a show or movie! So, it’s hard to predict. But if I receive a brief for something specific that I don’t have in my catalog, then I will attempt to write for that request if there’s enough time and if it’s in my wheelhouse. And time permitting, I’ll also attempt to record new lyrics to a preexisting song that hasn’t been released – lyrics that fit the theme of what the Music Supervisor or Showrunner is looking for. Then I’ll have a few different versions of the song which can help for purposes of pitching.
Kat: Several placements came from your band The Hollowbodies, how does writing collaboratively in a band setting translate to success in sync?
James: Andrew Ioi and I only have a couple of songs where we are listed as co-writers. We very much co-produce all of the music together, but most of the songs are written separately by either him or I. However, the collaboration is more in the form of arranging the songs and encouraging certain ideas. Even songs that are written separately are fleshed out with the band and that helps to give them the life they need. Andrew and I have similar but also different influences. We both admire songwriters like Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Noel Gallagher and were heavily influenced by bands such as The Band. So, the Americana and folk-rock influences are a common thread. But we also veer in different directions too as Andrew was heavily influenced by punk and alternative music growing up, whereas I gravitated towards dance, electronic and hip hop. I was always mesmerized by the repetition in some of the famous hip hop songs of the 90’s such as ‘Still D.R.E.’ by Dr. Dre. When I first heard the song, I didn’t really notice that it’s one repetitive riff and drum beat with a few other instruments interspersed throughout because it’s easy to get lost in the infectiousness of it all. Its simplicity is brilliant, repetitive and not so obvious with Dre and Snoop’s hypnotic vocals. It’s really a masterclass in production. It inspired me to employ repetitive techniques on a few of the songs for the upcoming ‘Sunrise in the Desert’ EP.
In terms of the band syncs in Resident Alien, one of the songs I wrote called ‘1983’ has a bass line by session player Marc Rogers. He’s a tremendous talent and has played with so many amazing artists such as The Philosopher Kings, Mickey Guyton and John Oates to name a few. We brought Marc in to play bass on our second record, ‘When The Lights Go Out’. Collaborating with him on ‘1983’ gave the song a completely different and playful vibe.
With ‘Out to the Country’, that song has been through a number of changes dating all the way back to 2007/2008 when my cousin Jesse Gadon was in The Hollowbodies. I wrote the song after I graduated from Bowdoin College and moved back to Toronto. I was living in the Annex on Wells Street and Jesse used to live nearby on Huron. We would often get together and either write or play on each other’s songs and in between we’d rehearse down at Cherry Beach with our drummer Steve. I remember writing and working on some of those songs on my porch in the summertime. Toronto is such a great city in the summer. There’s just something magical about the swaying trees and the sound of the leaves in the wind at night; streetlamps ever so slightly illuminating the dark side streets. The warm eeriness of the summer provides inspiration for writing and playing guitar. Jesse worked out a fun bass line for ‘Out to the Country’ and we eventually recorded it on the first unofficial demo album for The Hollowbodies. That version has a grungy feel with distorted guitars and a lagging tempo. We later re-recorded the song with more of an Americana/country flare for our official debut album ‘Town Without a Name’ and that was the one licensed for Resident Alien. Working and reworking ‘Out to the Country’ helped us to see what we got right and what could be improved upon and that process brought it to a great place we are proud of. I also think it lends itself well to sync because it has a fun energy and everyone can relate to wanting to slow down at some point in their lives. I’d still love to record a new version of the song that has elements of the grungier take from back in the early days of ‘The Hollowbodies’. Maybe one day it will happen. It’s always great to have alternative versions of songs too for different sync requests.
Kat: Tracks like “Ballad of a Traveling Man” and “Long Way to California” have a strong narrative feel, how intentional are you about storytelling when writing for potential screen use?
James: Those songs weren’t specifically written with film and TV in mind. I wrote ‘Long Way to California’ while I was staying in a house in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. I had my guitar with me and the back patio of the house had an incredible view overlooking the entire canyon. Decades have come and gone but the magic of the Canyon is still very much in the air. So many of the songwriters I admire such as Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, and Bonnie Rait lived, wrote and played there and I think the inspiration must have hit me because ‘Long Way to California’ just poured out. It’s about the difficulties of trying to ‘Make it’ in the entertainment industry and there was no better spot to soak up the inspiration of it all.
I wrote ‘Ballad of a Traveling Man’ after spending time in Tulsa, Oklahoma while my wife was filming the television show, ‘Reservation Dogs’. It’s about the sadness of always having to pick up and leave places I’ve been to and familiar faces I’ve come to know. Tulsa is a very inspirational place for musicians but it’s not easy to get to from Toronto. There aren’t any direct flights and it’s about a seventeen-hour drive. My wife and I experienced both routes! Either way, it must have influenced the aspect of travel in the song.
Without intention, both songs are very similar in feel. They’re short, folk/Americana songs with just acoustic guitars and vocals. Neither of them has a bridge too. Even though I didn’t write them specifically for film and TV, I had a feeling their narrative elements would pique someone’s interest at some point.
Kat: You’ve also had placements in projects like Good Girls and Vox Lux, how do different types of productions influence the kind of music you pitch or create?
James: An integral part of my routine involves research on IMDBPro. I routinely check in on what projects are in production and postproduction. I’ll also read articles on different films and TV projects to try and understand what’s happening in the business and proactively reach out to producers and Music Supervisors on top of waiting for briefs. So, if there’s a new science fiction movie in production, I’ll contact the Music Supervisor and let them know about titles in my catalog that have a fitting vibe. And this works in a similar way for creating new music too. If I see a project that leans in a certain direction, I might create a piece and pitch them on what I’ve worked on. Way back when, I wrote a piece called, ‘Road to Georgia’ – a haunting cue that I wrote and recorded when I was deeply involved with watching The Walking Dead on AMC. My wife Sarah recorded the vocals while I played a very reverb and echo drenched electric guitar. I had the song mixed by Dan Branco and mastered by Noah Mintz at Lacquer Channel Mastering, then pitched it to the Music Supervisor of the show. It never made it in and was a long shot to begin with since it wasn’t associated with a brief or pitch. Now that I look back, it was a lofty goal but worth a shot, nonetheless! I’ve never released the song, but at least I still have it for future pitches.
I did the same with another song by ‘The Hollowbodies’ called ‘On Fire’. I was inspired to create that one for a live sports environment. I tried pitching it to the Tennessee Titans for their in-game entertainment – the initial lyrics being “I was standing in line all the way to Tennessee. And I’ve been up all night just driving Arizona heat.” That was the version on our record, ‘When the Lights Go Out’. However, we also recorded alternative lyrics to pitch for more universal uses outside of anything Tennessee related with the lyrics being, “I’ve been standing in line, all the way to live this dream. And I’ve been up all night driving to the light I see.” It has a lot of energy especially with the opening drum sequence. I initially wrote that song with more of an Eagles/Jackson Browne vibe – very much like ‘Take it Easy’. However, Andrew Ioi suggested making it a bit more modern with a driving feel – drawing inspiration from, ‘Ballad of Hugo Chavez’ by The Arkells. So, we took it in that direction and I’m glad we did. Great call Andrew! I always thought we would sync ‘On Fire’ but it’s never caught on anywhere. Sometimes that’s how it goes!
My catalog is also small and focused, consisting of my solo music, and music by my bands ‘The Hollowbodies’ and ‘Sunrise in the Desert’. I also represent a few other artists and friends of mine and the music they’ve created over the years. Every artist is uniquely different so there isn’t really overlap in what I’m pitching. I get more excited to write a cheque or send an e-transfer to another Writer or Musician in the Route 84 catalog than I do about earning money myself. I love the feeling of telling someone that a song of theirs released over a decade ago just landed a sync – a song they never thought would be played in a popular TV Show or film. It’s a great feeling!
Kat: What’s the process like from submission to final placement, can you walk us through how a song actually lands in a show?
James: For some reason I’m often out in public when I receive a brief from a Music Supervisor. Whether it’s checking into a hotel or waiting to board a plane, I always seem to be on the go when those emails pop into my inbox. When they do, my heart will start beating a little faster with excitement and before I open the email, I’ll say a quick prayer that I have what the brief is seeking, hoping to avoid reading “Top ten hits from the 1950’s” (which I obviously don’t have!) Then I’ll read the email, which will usually lay out the project: if it’s a film, television show, advertisement or trailer, the scene, what kind of song or songs they are looking for, and the terms – licensing fee, territories needed etc. Often, there will be a temp song the Music Supervisor is hoping to replace. At that point, I’ll comb through my catalog and start flagging songs I think will work. I’ll ensure all of the metadata is up to date and correct, then send them in with my pitch message through the Disco AC platform.
If there is enough time between receiving the brief and the final deadline, I’ll compose something specifically tailored to the pitch with Andrew or Tan. There was one brief I received for a film, and the Music Supervisor was looking for a piece to replace Wendy Carlos’ rendition of “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” by Henry Purcell from Stanley Kubrick’s, ‘A Clockwork Orange’. I composed a piece of music in this vein with Tan called, ‘Memory’. I pitched the cue, but it never made it in the film. However, we’ve improved upon the original recording, adding better sounding drums and the addition of electric guitars on top of the experimental synth and now we have a song for future pitches – one that we wouldn’t have actively created if I hadn’t received that brief in the first place! It’s never truly a loss in this instance, because the more music we compose, the more songs I have in my catalog to pitch.
If a Music Supervisor gets back to me and says they want to use a song I’ve pitched, then they will usually ask for a Wav file of the song for final use, as it’s standard to pitch with mp3’s, and send along either a quote request or terms of the license to confirm (including use, scene description, fees, a confirmation of who owns the master and publishing, and who the writers are and which PRO’s they belong to, among other terms) before a final licensing agreement is sent. I’ll have my lawyer look over the licensing contract to potentially flag anything of interest. There might be negotiation that follows, then, hopefully all parties will come to an agreement, and I will sign the contract. After that, I’ll follow up with the Music Supervisor to get a copy of the cue sheet to confirm the accuracy of the information submitted to the performing rights organizations (PRO’s) for royalty collection.
And then I’ll keep an eye on my repertoire and catalog within SOCAN to ensure that the cue sheet was received and is set up properly to start collecting royalties (this can take a long time, sometimes up to a year). Over time, I will also keep an eye on my statements and see where the royalties for those sync’s are coming from. I’ll do the same for SOCAN RR (Reproduction Rights) for mechanical royalties in addition to performing rights royalties because SOCAN RR now collects my mechanical royalties too. It ends up being a long, ongoing process of administration. SOCAN has also recently shifted their online portal to a different platform. My cue sheets and statements aren’t yet visible in the new portal, so I have to keep an eye on that progress and ensure everything is correct when the transfer is complete. The administration never really ends!
The SOCAN statements reveal the geographical territories of where the sync was played and how many times it was watched. It’s interesting to track because it reveals where the song is specifically being consumed around the world. There’s a category in the statements called ‘International Radio & General’. And under this heading, it shows that the ‘Sunrise in the Desert’ song ‘Better Days’ that I licensed for the show ‘Good Girls’ has been played almost a billion times in the territory of Brazil. For the past seven years, each quarter shows the number of plays – 68 million, 72 million, 85 million etc. It was a bit staggering to see so I inquired about the unusually high numbers, but SOCAN doesn’t really know where they are specifically coming from in Brazil as they don’t receive a further breakdown under this category. I tried to connect with someone at UBC (the PRO in Brazil), but I didn’t have any luck in getting a response from them either. I also tried to see if Anthem Entertainment (Formerly Ole Music Publishing) might consider taking me on as a client to help figure this out, but they only acquire large catalogs, not songs on a case-by-case basis. ‘Good Girls’ is apparently very popular in Brazil, and I don’t believe we are getting any radio play there, so it must be associated with the number of times the song is played in the episode. Perhaps something else is happening altogether or it’s one big mistake, but that doesn’t seem to be the case! Either way, Tan and I joke around that ‘Sunrise in the Desert’ has a bit of a Rodriguez situation going on but instead of being secretly famous in Australia as Sixto was, we’re known in Brazil!
Kat: For artists looking to break into sync licensing, what are the biggest misconceptions about the industry?
James: That you have to have a certain type of sound or music to land syncs. It’s such a unique business that requires a wide variety of songs, even one playing on the radio in an actual scene that a character comments on as sounding, “Bad” – in which case the Music Supervisor would have to find a song that might be generally perceived as not very pleasant. It might not be the greatest sync for an artist, but it’s still a sync nonetheless!
Another misconception is that you have to be known to have success. Unlike mainstream radio, where a lot of deals are made to give artists exposure and airtime, Music Supervisors are often simply looking for a song that serves the scene and story best, not one that is known or deemed to be a ‘hit’ (although It’s possible a placement in film and TV can be responsible for creating a ‘hit’). Sometimes, I’ll receive a brief where the Music Supervisor is searching for a song by a recognizable artist or an actual popular ‘hit’ – especially for trailers, but most of the time an artist’s notoriety doesn’t factor into the decision making for the briefs I receive. So, in a way, it feels like it’s more about the music than other external factors of special interest. And that can be very refreshing quite frankly, especially in today’s world of social media metrics and celebrity culture.
Kat: You’ve contributed to major broadcast moments like CBC’s Olympic and Paralympic coverage, how does composing for large-scale events differ from scripted TV?
James: With the Olympics and Paralympics, those were such prominently featured advertisements broadcast during peak times. They were licensed tracks, but I wrote ‘Better for You’ by The Hollowbodies with the idea of licensing it for sports, knowing it could potentially be in front of a large audience. As such, it was very intentionally written with that mind. It’s a song about trying to be better for your teammates. I was inspired after watching Hockey Night in Canada and thought of a lyric to fit one of their opening montages. It didn’t make it into the program but did find its way into sports with the Olympic broadcast.
The other song I licensed for the Paralympics is called, ‘Dream Tonight’. However, it isn’t specifically about sports. It’s actually about trying to achieve my dreams as a Songwriter, but the concept of believing in yourself is universal and applicable to any theme, sports included so I knew it could potentially work if I pitched it as such. I used to read music when I played violin in Elementary and Junior High School but stopped playing when I reached grade nine because strings weren’t offered at my High School and I wasn’t confident enough to learn a brass instrument from scratch. Over time, I slowly forgot how to read music. Fast forward to 2014 and I wanted to start reading again and expressed an interest in learning how to play the piano too, since I had never learned. So, I enrolled in a course at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where I learned how to play. During this time, I wrote, ‘Dream Tonight’ and Andrew and I recorded the song on my Aunty Maureen’s grand piano in her living room in Barrie, Ontario. I was really proud of that one since playing piano was a new endeavor. It’s a slower, sparse number but I wanted it to sound vulnerable. I thought that would connect well with an audience regardless of its use. And sure enough, all of a sudden, it was broadcast nationwide on the CBC which was pretty surreal since I had just started learning how to play the piano. However, I haven’t kept up with my piano playing and I don’t remember how the song goes anymore, haha. No seriously, I have no recollection of how to play it so someone will have to show me! Maybe someone will make a YouTube tutorial, and I can check it out! That will give me a good laugh!
The other song that was licensed for the Olympics was set to an advertisement about Usain Bolt. The song is called, ‘Bang Bang’ and I co-wrote it and co-produced it with Tan for ‘Sunrise in the Desert’. We weren’t commissioned to write that one for TV either. But it’s about seizing the moment and like ‘Dream Tonight’ contains a story of chasing your dream. As such, we had a feeling we might be able to sync it, so we wanted it to sound big. I searched far and wide for a fuzzy synth sound to put on ‘Bang Bang’ like the one on ‘1901’ by the band Phoenix. I eventually found it on a used Nord Synthesizer I got a great deal on at Long and McQuade and that’s the one I used for the recording. Sadly, I sold it through the Facebook Group ‘All Buttons In’ during the height of the pandemic but I recently bought the Moog Minitaur Bass Synthesizer so I’m looking forward to creating new fuzzy tones with that.
In my experience, I suppose the difference in composing for large scale events vs. scripted TV might lie more in the lyrics themselves because I’ve licensed both soft and slow songs for major advertisements as well as edgier and faster ones too. But the songs I’ve licensed for large scale events don’t contain specific lyrics to geographical regions or names of people. However, every sync request has different needs so there isn’t one rule that applies to all. Maybe if I receive a brief for a specific reference to Nashville or Maine, then my song, ‘Town Without a Name’ could be a great fit. So, you never know!
Kat: As you continue building momentum in film and television, what does a sustainable long-term career in sync look like to you?
James: It would be nice to continue landing syncs in the Route 84 Music Inc. catalog and to be a part of other people’s storytelling. It’s a tough business because a lot of luck and timing goes into making that a reality. But I’m still excited when I receive a brief or pitch music. I’m fortunate in the sense that a lot of the projects I have landed syncs in are still circulating and watched by people around the world. However, I hope the royalty rates for streaming improves. Songwriters and Musicians really took a hit a long time ago with the advancement of streaming and the devaluing of our work. I’m grateful for what I do receive but I hope the streamers will one day pay better rates to creatives and copyright holders.
I’m also a Screenwriter and have a few projects on the go – a short science fiction based musical, a half hour comedy pilot I created with my wife and a feature film too. In addition to songwriting and licensing music, I really do enjoy the craft of screenwriting. As such, finding ways to place Route 84 songs into my own projects is something that excites me too. I did this with a television show I created with my wife Sarah for Bell Fibe called, ‘Six Miles From the Grand’. It’s a road trip docuseries where we met up with artists and entrepreneurs who became important parts of their communities during the pandemic.
Ultimately, I’d like to continue landing syncs, but more importantly, to keep enjoying the process of it all. Because enjoying the ride, regardless of how slow or time consuming it can be is the most gratifying part to me, not necessarily the results. Similarly, whatever happens with the outcome of where my music ends up or doesn’t end up for that matter, I’d like to continue enjoying the process rather than having the number of syncs exclusively determine my worth.
Connect With James:
https://www.instagram.com/jamesgadon