“There was a time where the record
business was booming, and everything kinda
centred around that and, particularly over
the last 5-10 years, that’s not the case - now
everything is centred around the use of music
in entertainment.”
Merkley attributes this as the reason people
are starting to say that music supervisors
now have more power and influence over
taste profiles and music trends than ever,
even more so than record labels, and are
fastly overtaking the divisions of artists and
repertoire (A&R), which are responsible for
talent scouting and oversight of the artistic
development of recording artists and
songwriters within a record label or music
publishing company.
“The thing now, which is both the greatest
thing about music and worst thing, depending
on where you sit, is that there is more access
to music than there has ever been...and having
your voice, particularly if you’re a musician, or
a manager of a musician, or you want to start a
record label or publisher, is getting your music
above the noise.”
His advice is to be open, creative and
encourages everyone to make connections
outside of their direct industry. While it may
not be easy to rise “above the noise”, there are
many ways to access support, share ideas and
build your tribe.
“One thing that I always have to give a
lot of props to is Canada. Our infrastructure
offers a lot of different communities and
groups and support that have events that
people can attend and meet other likeminded individuals. And these are provincial
organizations, as well as federal, and exist all
throughout the country, and a lot of them
communicate to each other...so there’s a lot
of sharing of information and, beyond that,
there’s a lot of resources they provide to artists
that allow people to further communicate.”
Over the course of his career, Merkley has
also had the opportunity to serve as a panelist
and moderator on various music & film panels,
including the Northern Ontario Music & Film
Awards (NOMFA), Songwriters Association of
Canada’s Date With A Demo, guest lectured at
Durham College’s Music Business Management
Program, and has received a 2011 Golden Reel
Award Nomination for ‘Best Sound Editing:
Short Form Music in Television’ for music
editing on Flashpoint.
175
inspadesmag.com