Ron Proulx is the owner of Arpix Media, a music supervision company based in Los Angeles and Toronto. A large part of Ron’s job is finding independent bands with great music to feature in current films and TV shows. Much like set designers provide films with a certain look, Ron and his company give those films a specific sound.
“I work for the producers,” Ron said, explaining that filmmakers will task him with not only getting quality music for their productions, but also ensuring all rights are cleared. New bands typically make anywhere from $500 to $5000 for one of their songs, depending on the tune’s placement in the movie or TV show and the overall notoriety of the band. “Most don’t need to be on labels” to be chosen for a film or television production, he said.
While Ron prides himself on being a bit of a technophile (earning himself an honorary geek nod for using “Twitter” as a verb during our conversation), he’s unimpressed by many websites that try to offer one-stop-shop music rights direct to the buyer. “The deal is still a human thing,” Ron said, and Arpix has featured over 1500 tracks from indie bands in film and television over the past 10 years.
Ron gives a great answer to how he’d improve the indie music scene. Check out his response below.
