This week we bond with Kate Mills from Native Tongue to have a look at what goes on behind the scenes in the world of music publishing.  Ever wondered how you get your music onto the next big commercial? Read on…

Tell us about Native Tongue Native Tongue is a leading independent music publishing company with offices in Australia, New Zealand & UK. Since it’s inception in 2003, NT has built a respected stable of local writers such as Kid Sam, Oh Mercy & Philadelphia Grand Jury as well as representing international catalogues such as Domino, Beggars Group, Orbison Productions, & Westbury Music. It also represents international writers such as Tom Waits, Will Oldham, Wolfgang and the Jesus and Mary Chain among others.

What role does licensing play in the music industry? With artists no longer able to solely rely on traditional revenue streams, licensing provides an all-important way for artists and writers to generate income and have their music heard by a wider audience. In particular, a well placed and timely sync can really speak to an audience and significantly raise the profile of an artist.

What does your job involve? As a licensing assistant I work in conjunction with our creative team, writers and catalogues to facilitate many aspects of Native Tongue’s operations. An average day could include finding the perfect song for a license, drawing up agreements, servicing music, liaising with our writers and catalogues and generally making sure things run smoothly for our team.

What are the advantages in being a smaller independent company? For me it provides a fun & familial working environment. And as a company it allows us to be highly proactive and flexible in our dealings and enables us to react quickly to the needs of our clients.