Music's in the Clear: An interview with music clearance expert Deborah Mannis-Gardner

gamedeveloper.com:

In film, television, and video game production, there are many adjacent fields that, while not a part of the creative process per se, are vital to the project’s completion. In the digital world, one increasingly relevant role is that of Deborah Mannis-Gardner, owner of DMG Clearances.

Having worked in music clearances for the past three decades, Mannis-Gardner has both witnessed the rise of the field through the explosion of the rap scene of the early '90s and its renewed relevancy amid the complexity of music rights in the streaming era. Her career has covered multiple corners of the entertainment industry, from those early days securing samples for rap songs to clearing tracks for projects like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and the 2003 Jack Black vehicle School of Rock. Most recently, she was the person who made sure that the blood-pumping jukebox level Bar Room Blitz in Back 4 Blood was accompanied by tunes to match, channeling the glorious, genre-classic pub scene from Shaun of the Dead.

In this Q&A, she gives some insight into the continued necessity of music clearance agents, how the role has changed since the ubiquity of streaming media, how to get into the field, and even how to approach music clearances if you’re an independent studio or content creator with a smaller budget. Read on.

Game Developer: So how does a person get into the profession of music clearance in media?

Mannis-Gardner: That's a great question. I started back in 1990, with not too much experience working for a company called Diamond Time, where I was just really learning about music clearances. And that was really the explosion of hip hop and rap, which was a genre of music that I really kind of connected with because it felt similar to punk