In his new series Alien: Earth, Noah Hawley wanted more than Jeff Russo’s remarkable score. He also gave special weight to the end titles — not with original cues, but with rock, metal, and grunge bangers. This choice isn’t incidental: it shows what music supervision can achieve when it goes beyond sonic illustration and becomes narrative.
Read MoreAlien: Earth’s end titles: music supervision at its best
The ongoing legal dispute between former members of The Police over “Every Breath You Take” illustrates the gap between artistic creation and copyright law. Released in 1983 and credited solely to Sting, the song remains a massive hit, generating enormous revenue: Sting reportedly earns between £550,000 and £740,000 per year, with nearly 3 billion streams on Spotify.
Yet, Andy Summers, the band’s guitarist, said the song “was going in the trash until I played on it” — and he invented a riff that became iconic and one of the most recognizable guitar lines in rock history.
I’ve just returned from a beautiful 15-day trip to Japan with my son, and like any emotionally sensitive human being, I was deeply moved by this extraordinary country — by the remarkable kindness of its citizens, the technical ingenuity of its people, and of course, its magnificent culture and heritage.
But what I didn’t expect to find — assuming I expected anything at all amidst so many surprises — was the special attention the Japanese give to sound design.
