Following 45RPM’s launch in 2022, the music supervision collective expanded into publishing with UMPG in 2024 – the same year Ayla Owen, former head of music at advertising agency BBH London and European VP of sync at Warner Chappell, became MD. Here, she discusses the TV streaming boom, UK talent and why experience matters...
How has 45RPM been able to become a key player in sync since launching four years ago?
“What my co-directors did at the beginning was unusual because music supervisors, particularly for film and TV, tend to be solo hitters; so you build up your reputation as an independent music supervisor over decades. Our combination of people across film and TV – and now commercial and interactive, given my background in that world – as a full-service music supervision business is quite unique, particularly in the UK.”
What was the vision for the company in terms of expanding within sync and beyond?
“They were looking for an MD to come in and launch the publishing company and production music library, bringing the company together across those vertical strands. Because I’m also a music supervisor, more on the brand side, I set up the commercial and interactive part of the business at the end of 2024 [for brands, gaming and content creators]. We’re looking to evolve 45RPM into a music entertainment company, not just music supervision.”
With your combined industry connections, does that give you an edge in securing placements?
“When you’ve got the collective years of experience that we have within the building, we have access to talent and we can have conversations in a meaningful way with people that make decisions. But we also have a very diverse team and younger people in the business who bring their own unique points of view, which is really important. We’re very committed to evolving the business in a way that feels culturally relevant.”
Do those complementary verticals at 45RPM help you to secure more opportunities for music?
“We’re really focused on and interested in having an ecosystem where there are a lot of touch points within the business where we can solve creative problems. I think that having the publishing company and the composer agency, and also just having those close relationships with rights-holders and managers, means that we can put things in place at all different price points, at all different sorts of stages of the artist’s career – and we can do it in a way that’s quite joined up.”
How is your JV with UMPG progressing?
“We’ve made four artist, writer and composer signings – most recently Daniel Blumberg [composer, The Brutalist]. I signed him when I was at Warner Chappell, and we’re absolutely thrilled and honoured to have him as part of our roster. Universal are a brilliant partner: they’re very good at bringing things together and they have an extremely talented creative team as well. With their reach, scope and international presence, plus our more boutique focus as a small business, it’s quite powerful.”
With all the TV streamers and all that content coming out, it means it's a great time for British talent
Ayla Owen
What is your approach to signing songwriting talent to the publishing roster?
“It is really important for us to be signing writers who have scope outside of the film and TV world – all of the composers we’ve signed have that and do that. Quite frequently in publishing, it’s hard to hang on to the rights for film and TV, so it’s beneficial from a business point of view to have writers who are doing lots of other things.”
Will the stable of composers grow significantly?
“I think it’s the same ethos for the publishing company as for the composer agency 33RPM in terms of quality versus quantity. We’re being very particular and intentional about who we’re signing, because we want to be able to have a really serious, meaningful impact on the success of those who we sign. We’re never going to grow beyond our means. We want to be actively involved in the careers of our signings in a way that, if we just expanded too quickly, we wouldn’t be able to maintain.”
Overall, how strong is the sync market in 2026?
“Media has become more fractured, so there are a lot of smaller opportunities for younger bands. The big songs and the big artists still command healthy sync fees. I think there’s more of a question mark over the emerging to mid-level singer-songwriter artists. In the brand world, there seems to be less space for them because brands will either use production library music or, increasingly, turn to AI music – which I’m not a fan of.”
Does your production music division help to address the threat from AI music?
“All of our production music signings thus far are very artist-focused. Nick Angel is spearheading the production music library with his background in A&R at Island. We’re very much looking at it in that there is a hole in the market for genuinely credible records from artists in that space. But if clients, brands and production companies want to use AI music, there’s nothing that we can do to stop them, and it is a concern.”
Is the audiovisual sector, including Netflix and Amazon Prime video, still powering ahead?
“It really is. I don’t have a crystal ball and I’ve certainly read lots of analyses about whether the [audiovisual] streaming craze has hit its peak. But there’s just show after show. It’s really been brilliant for music supervision. We’ve been really fortunate to have access to a lot of that.”
At Warner Chappell, you were involved in the Lola Young 2021 John Lewis advert. Is the resurgence of UK talent positive for sync?
“Looking at the UK for advertising, youth-centric brands will be keen to have artists like Lola Young. For more heritage brands, they tend to still go for catalogue tracks. Film and TV are different – TV in particular, with all the streamers and all that content coming out, it means it's a great time for British talent. But particularly at Christmas, it feels like brands still gravitate towards known songs because it’s a time for nostalgia and recognition.”
Finally, the Government recently included sync in its new Music Plan – is that a welcome sign?
“Anything that shines a light on the craft of sync and music supervision is encouraging. That was very much at the forefront of our intentions with setting up the Guild Of Music Supervisors in 2017 – it was to encourage best practice in the craft and give it the attention from an industry point of view that it deserves.”
PHOTO: 45RPM
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