Rush Hour director Ratner joins Jingle Punks
by Michael del Castillo
August 8, 2012
Not just a director, Brett Ratner‘s Rat Press Imprint published the controversial Naked Pictures of My Ex-Girlfriend. Lacombe
Brett Ratner, director of Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist, has joined forces with Jingle Punks, a business-to-business music curation site that takes the guesswork out of creating soundtracks for film and television.
“I am so impressed with Jingle Punks’ efficiency and technology in providing access to music for my projects as they streamline the licensing process for musicians and producers,” said Ratner, who now sits on the company’s board of directors, according to an announcement released today. “I truly believe in their mission of supporting filmmakers by helping them secure the perfect music.”
The Jingle Punks player, or Jingle Player, as they call it, consists of a database of over 75,000 curated songs that are tagged, categorized, and organized, much like Pandora, though with film and television producers in mind. Cost to license a song varies dramatically, with no average number, according to the site.
But to give an idea of the kinds of numbers we may be talking about, look at this story originally published in 2007 on Portfolio.com (the precursor to Upstart Business Journal). Here, a music supervisor—the person’s whose job it is to do what the Player does—earned between $20,000 and $200,000 per film and between $1,500 to $4,000 per television episode. In the new Jingle Punks model, once a price is agreed upon, revenue is split fifty-fifty between the company and the musician.
Founded in 2008, the New York-based startup was cofounded by “Rock n’ Roll CEO” Jared Gutstadt, who also blogs for the Huffington Post, and videogame developer Dan Demole. The pair met at a Black Keys concert in Brooklyn.
In a statement provided to Upstart, Gutstadt said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have Brett join us in our mission to change the music licensing world. Brett brings valuable insight into what producers and directors are looking for when securing music. He will help us find the best ways to reach filmmakers who can use our services and cut their costs when purchasing music.”
