Why This Emmy & Grammy-Winning Music Supervisor Has A Busy Fall

Fresh off an Emmy nomination for The Queens Gambit, Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated music supervisor Randall Poster has a full slate of projects this fall, including the latest in his longtime collaborative partnership with Wes Anderson. 

Recent projects include:

•The French Dispatch: This is the ninth movie that Poster has music supervised for Wes Anderson. There are two albums associated with the critically-acclaimed film that premiered at Cannes 2021 - the first is the film soundtrack (Searchlight/ABKCO) that boasts songs by Jarvis Cocker and an original score from Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat. The second album serves as a companion piece and is a collection of songs recorded by Jarvis Cocker as the pop idol character Tip Top in the film. Titled Chansons d’Ennui Tip Top, the album is a tribute to French pop music that features songs made popular by artists including Françoise Hardy, Serge Gainsbourg, Brigitte Bardot, Jacques Dutronc and Christophe’s “Aline.” Both albums are music supervised by Poster and produced by both Poster and Anderson. The French Dispatch will be released in theaters widely on October 22, with both soundtracks arriving the same day.  

•The Velvet Underground: A Documentary Film was music supervised by Poster. The film, as well as the 2 CD & digital soundtrack, will be released on October 15 (Republic Records/UMe), and features both well-known and rare Velvet Underground tracks. Poster formed the soundtrack which features favorites like “Sunday Morning,” “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” “I’m Waiting for The Man” and “Sweet Jane,” as well as the mono version of “Heroin” and the rare cut “Foggy Notion.” There will also be live versions of “After Hours” and “Sister Ray,” Nico’s “Chelsea Girls,” and “The Ostrich” by The Primitives, an early band formed by Lou Reed and John Cale. Watch the trailer here.

•Home In This World: Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads (Elektra): Poster produced and music supervised the reimagined version of American folk icon Woody Guthrie’s groundbreaking 1940 album. The reimagined version was released in September. Poster assembled an all-star cross-genre collective of artists including Grammy Award-winner Lee Ann Womack, Waxahatchee, Chris Thile and more. Poster recently spoke with Rolling Stone andConsequence of Sound about the project.  

•No Time To Die: Poster was brought on as a music consultant for the latest installment in the James Bond series. The movie soundtrack was released on October 1, and was composed by Hans Zimmer with the theme song performed by Billie Eilish. 

•I’d Rather Lead A Band: Poster produced legendary folk singer Loudon Wainwright's new album, which was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. The two previously worked together on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, which earned Poster his first Grammy. 

In July, Poster was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-winning series The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) and recently spoke to Vanity Fair about the music from the hit series. Poster also music supervised Summer of Soul, Questlove’s directorial debut about the overlooked Harlem Cultural Festival that took place in the summer of ‘69, as well as Tiger King and One Night In Miami including the Oscar-nominated song “Speak Now” performed by Leslie Odom Jr. 

Poster is currently the music supervisor of Airmail and was just featured in the New Yorker alongside his Premier Music Group partner Josh Deutsch.

ABOUT RANDALL POSTER:

Randall Poster is one of the most highly sought-after music supervisors in the film and television industries. His unparalleled taste and extensive musical knowledge has bolstered the work of some of the most innovative film directors of the last two decades.

In 1996, Poster produced the soundtrack for Larry Clark’s groundbreaking film Kids, a foray into music supervision that led to high-profile collaborations in independent and commercial cinema. His selective, distinctive ear has been essential to the musical identities of critically acclaimed films including School of Rock (Richard Linklater), Country Song (Shana Feste), Meet The Parents (Jay Roach), The Hangover Parts I, II and III (Todd Phillips), and Skyfall 007 (Sam Mendes). Poster has lent his skills and substantial musical vault to the works of directors Mark Romanek, Jason Reitman, Danny Boyle, Mike Newell, Frank Oz, Kevin Smith, Harmony Korine, Allison Maclean, and Sean Penn.

Poster has been an essential player in shaping the unique aesthetic of all of Wes Anderson’s films, supervising the scores and soundtracks from 1998’s Rushmore to 2014’s Grand Budapest Hotel. Poster has also developed musical identities for many of Martin Scorsese’s biggest recent projects, including films Hugo, The Aviator, The Wolf Of Wallstreet, the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl. In 2011, Poster’s work on the Boardwalk Empire soundtrack earned him a GRAMMY Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack.

ABOUT PREMIER MUSIC GROUP:

Founded in 2017 by music industry entrepreneur Josh Deutsch, Premier Music Group is an award-winning music strategy and supervision company. Premier creates breakthrough music solutions for advertising, film, television, and podcasts.  

A leader in its category, Premier’s range of services include music strategy, licensing, original composition and music production. The company’s integrated strategy and supervision approach provides clients with expert music curation supported by deep consumer data and cultural insights. Serving clients across all media, Premier works with leading global brands, agencies, and creators. Recent advertising clients include T-Mobile, Samsung, Amazon, Apple, Target, Google, Instagram, ESPN, M&M’s, and Shiseido. Recent film, TV and podcast work includes projects for Martin Scorcese, Wes Anderson, Showtime, Netflix, the Obamas' Higher Ground Productions, and Malcolm Gladwell's Pushkin Industries.

In 2019, Premier acquired the celebrated music supervision firm Wool & Tusk, bringing in a team of veteran music supervisors with extensive licensing experience in music and advertising. Last fall, Premier acquired Search Party, the celebrated music supervision company founded by Randall Poster in 2004, expanding its supervision team and original composition capabilities and its footprint in film, TV and audio.