Thanks to the fine folks at Warner Chappell—along with some lax security and dim lighting—on 9/12, HITS partook in a screening of the much-buzzed-about A24 flick, I Saw the TV Glow at AMC Theaters at L.A.’s The Grove and even managed to overstay our (not) welcome and stuck around afterwards for a Q&A with the film’s co-music supervisor and co-founder of Secretly Group, Chris Swanson and Sloppy Jane lead singer, Haley Dahl (who appears in the film)—all moderated by Grammy-winning music engineer Emerson Mancini.
I Saw the TV Glow is a psychologically tense homage to sexy-ish soft-horror, mid-'90s TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files, which connected with a generation of Hot Topic-shopping teens. The film’s writer/director, Jane Schoenbrun’s—whose deep affection for the equal-parts-optimism-and-nihilism music of the era prompted Swanson and his team at A24 to take a new approach to curating the film's soundtrack.
Instead of traversing the precipitous terrain of negotiating and securing pre-existing tracks for the film, Swanson directly approached indie and up-and-coming artists like Caroline Polachek, Sloppy Jane, King Woman and yeule, among others to create bespoke songs for specific scenes. “It’s a beautiful thing when a director knows exactly what role they want music to play in their film,” said Swanson.
Swanson’s inverse-curation approach is responsible for birthing a soundtrack that lands at the pitch-perfect intersection of rage and torpidity. “A strong soundtrack to a favorite film can make its way into the fans’ imaginations and subsequently get played many dozens of times, get added onto playlists and ultimately re-soundtrack beautiful memories,” said Swanson. “Is there any better marketing for a film than this amazing cycle?” The latchkey kid in all of us agrees.
Trot out those Dr. Martens and babydoll dresses, friends. I Saw the TV Glow is now streaming on MAX.
Pictured here thinking about how much they prefer earthquakes to appearing in this publication are music supe Chris Swanson, moderator and engineer Emerson Mancini, artist Hayley Dahl aka Sloppy Jane and the Recording Academy's Qiana Conley Akinro.
Sony Music Publishing has elevated Antoine Dathanat to the role of Managing Director, France, succeeding Nicolas Galibert, who is retiring at the end of this month. 
Dathanat joined SMP France in 2018 as Head of A&R, having previously spent the better part of two decades in that realm with BMG Publishing and Barclay/ Universal. In his new role, he’ll continue to be based out of Paris and will report directly to SMP President, International Guy Henderson.
Of Dathanat’s appointment, Henderson said, “I am so pleased that Antoine will take over the reins as Managing Director for SMP France, which has emerged as a one of our most important international territories. He has spearheaded the most successful A&R team in France, and I know that he will bring those leadership qualities to his new role."
Dalhanat added, “I look forward to beginning this new chapter with the team as we nurture and grow the talent of SMP France both onstage and backstage and ensure that the creative impulse remains at the heart of the process.”
The official changing of the guard will take place on 10/1.
Downtown Music Publishing (DMP) has signed a global music publishing deal with PDU, the record label and publishing company founded by Italian singer Mina. Under the new agreement, DMP will provide global publishing administration and sync services for Mina's catalog.
Heralded as "the greatest singer in the world" by Louis Armstrong, Mina is considered the most successful female performer in Italian pop music. Her catalog includes the 1959 classic "Tintarella di Luna" and her 1998 effort, Mina Celentano, the highest-selling album in Italy’s history. To date, she's sold more than 150m records worldwide.
DMP will represent Mina’s extensive body of work via PDU, comprising over 80 LPs and 1,395 songs performed in multiple languages and dialects, including Italian, English, Spanish, Neapolitan, French and German. PDU’s catalog includes more than 400 songs from 1980 onwards, with DMP also representing Mina’s forthcoming album set to be released in November.
"Mina is an extraordinary musician and performer who can master different genres of music," PDU Music & Production President Massimiliano Pani said. "The PDU catalog is a source of true classics that have been top hits in Italy but are yet to be as known globally. We are glad that Downtown Music Publishing has decided to take on this challenge and we look forward to working together on this innovative project for the international publishing market."
Listen to "Tintarella di Luna" below while we try to figure out what that means.
