“I didn’t want to give them some generic dance sh*t”: Mark Ronson on producing for BarbieMark Ronson has reflected on the process of curating the soundtrack for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, and the importance of “serving the picture”.
The new film, which sees Margot Robbie star as a Stereotypical Barbie who finds herself becoming more human-like in a strange turn of events, landed last Friday (21 July) accompanied by the Mark Ronson-produced soundtrack.

READ MORE: Mark Ronson on how he used “basic plug-ins” to produce Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black

The soundtrack features artists such as Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice (with a sample of Aqua’s Barbie Girl), HAIM, Tame Impala, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Lizzo and more. Ronson has produced tracks for a range of movies throughout his esteemed career, including box office smashes such as A Star Is Born (2018) and Suicide Squad (2016).
Speaking to NME, Ronson explained how he tried to serve the new unapologetically pink film, without being generic or predictable: “I wanted to get the job, but I also didn’t want to just give them some generic dance shit. I wanted to do something I’ve never done before.”
Ronson later adds, “You know, I’ve been asked to do songs for movies before, and they just say, like, ‘hey, we’re doing a Ghostbusters reboot! Just make a song!’ Like, sure, you can go make a song but your brain goes 1000 different ways.
“No offence to the Ghostbusters reboot, but they ended up with, like, 11 interpolations of the original Ghostbusters song on that movie…”
He continues to explain, “The thing I learned very, very quickly doing the score for Barbie is that you’re always serving the picture. You’re always serving the emotion. You have to turn off all the things you know about making pop and rock and soul music for the last 30 years. Yes, it needs to be beautiful, but sometimes you just need to get the fuck out the way.”
Listen to the Barbie soundtrack below:

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‘When you’re seeing Jane’s Addiction or Porno For Pyros on stage, that’s what life’s about. It’s the best job in the world at that point’Perry Farrell's co-manager, Michael James, talks about working with an alt-rock pioneer and the cultural impact of his client's bands and projects, from Jane's Addiction to Lollapalooza
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Sound Particles launch AudioMatrix utility plug-in AudioMatrix is a useful utility plug-in that offers a quick and simple way to change and configure the channel routings of DAW tracks. 

Songtradr partners with Twitch to bring licensed music from Pretzel to Twitch streamersSongtradr acquired Pretzel in 2021
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Ford’s Q2 earnings show a thriving trucks, commercial business with EVs playing catch upFord generated $45 billion in revenue in the second quarter, a 12% pop from the same period last year largely fueled by sales of gas-powered trucks like the new Ranger, SUVs and commercial vans. Its EV business, meanwhile, has a long way to go.
Notably, the automaker raised its full-year guidance for 2023 to between $11 billion and $12 billion in adjusted earnings. The company also expects adjusted free cash flow of between $6.5 billion and $7 billion. Ford had previously set a guidance for adjusted earnings to between $9 billion and $11 billion.
Ford noted that while uncertain economic environment and inflationary pressures still exist, it raised the guidance because of an improved supply chain, higher industry volumes, upside from the all-new Super Duty and lower commodity costs. Rival GM also raised its guidance for the year by $1 billion to between $12 billion and $14 billion, before interest and taxes.
It’s not rosy everywhere. Ford now expects its EV business to lose $4.5 billion in 2023.
Ford’s results, which beat Wall Street expectations, and its raised guidance helped push shares higher by more than 3% in after-market trading, before settling.
Ford’s second-quarter results show a company still reliant on sales of its popular gas and hybrid vehicle as well as an expanding commercial business. Ford also appears to be gaining a little ground in the world of EVs.
Ford is a little over a year into a reorganization that split the company into three business units: Ford Blue for gas and hybrid vehicles, Ford Model e for connected EVs and Ford Pro for its commercial products. The company now breaks its earnings into these three units.
CEO Jim Farley has previously said 2023 would be a pivotal year for the automaker with the reorganization giving the 118-year-old Michigan company the speed of a startup that will ultimately turn its EV segment into a profit center.
EVs: still a money loser
Ford’s EV business is still far from that goal.
The segment reported revenue of $1.8 billion, a 39% increase from the same year-ago quarter. However, it also reported loss of $1.08 billion in adjusted earnings, which was steeper than analysts expected. The company also previously reported a 2.8% drop in EV sales in the second quarter after pausing production at the Mexico factory that assembles the Ford Mustang Mach e.
And those losses will continue. Ford forecast the EV segment will lose $4.5 billion largely reflecting the present pricing environment, disciplined investment in new products and capacity and other costs, CFO John Lawler said during a call with analysts.
“The near-term pace of EV adoption will be a little slower than expected, which is going to benefit early movers like Ford,” Farley said in a statement. “EV customers are brand loyal and we’re winning lots of them with our high-volume, first-generation products; we’re making smart investments in capabilities and capacity around the world; and, while others are trying to catch up, we have clean-sheet, next-generation products in advanced development that will blow people away.”
Ford said that it expects its EV business to reach a 600,000 run rate in 2024, which is a year delay from its original forecast. Ultimately, the company is targeting a 2 million run rate. Ford originally targeted 2026 to hit that figure, but didn’t provide a date in its most recent earnings report.
The company is sticking with its goal for the EV business to have 8% margin run rate by the end of 2026. “We’re not walking away from that,” Lawler said. 
The numbers
Ford generated $45 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2023, up 12% from the $40.2 billion in revenue it reported in the same period last year.
Ford’s net income (on a GAAP basis) was $1.9 billion for the second quarter. On an adjusted earnings before interest and taxes basis, Ford earned $3.8 billion in the second quarter (about 8.4% of revenue), essentially flat compared to the same period last year.
Operating cash flow for the second quarter jumped to $5 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $2.9 billion. Ford closed out the quarter with nearly $30 billion in cash on hand.
Commercial wins
The big winner was Ford’s commercial, or Ford Pro, business segment, which reported revenue a 22% quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue to $15.6 billion. The segment had $2.4 billion in adjusted earnings, double its profitability from a year ago.
That revenue jump isn’t just do to sales of trucks, although the new Super Duty Work Truck did help. Sales of services and software also contributed to the bottom line. Ford Pro accounts for more than 80% of the company’s nearly 550,000 paid software and services subscribers, to date, including solutions for fleet management, telematics and EV charging, according to the automaker.

Jennifer Adan Signs with Reel Muzik WerksPlatinum song-writer, Jennifer Adan, has signed both an administrative and a songwriting deal with a full-service independent music publisher specializing in music for Film & TV and international rights management company, Reel Muzik Werks. In addition to joining their creative team as a songwriter, she has also signed an administration deal with Reel Muzik Werks for her previously existing catalog. 

Reel Muzik Werks, Teri Nelson Carpenter states, "We are so excited to be working with her and can’t wait to see what she does in the future!" 

"I am so excited to be a part of the Reel Muzik Werk family," expressed Jennifer Adan. "I am so thrilled to have such a great team behind me. " 

About Jennifer Adan:The music journey for Jennifer Adan began in San Mateo, California, when she was ten years old. During a fifth-grade history class, Jennifer secretly wrote her first song unaware that it could lead to a career. At age fifteen, she revealed her talent by playing her parents a song she had written for their 25th wedding anniversary. In addition, she let them know she had 100 more songs.

reelmuzikwerks.com/

LR - Reel Muzik Werks-Teri Nelson Carpenter and Jennifer Adan

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Get A FREE Impulse Response Pack From OwnHammer
OwnHammer offers the Rock-Box-H30L-2011A impulse response pack as a FREE download for a limited time. Ah, free guitar stuff is my absolute favorite. After I’ve spent all my money on lord knows how many dual humbucker guitars, there is at least the occasional guitar freebie to act as a salve upon my self-inflicted wounds. This [...]
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AI meets multiplayer creation: Using Create to kickstart a collaborative jam in Endlesss
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Spotify study confirms importance of superlisteners + How to reach themSpotify has published new data insights about how super listeners, aka superfans, drive streams, buy more merch, and help power artists’ careers through long-term fandom and strategies to reach them. . Continue reading
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Soundiron's new Quadral 3 soft synth The latest version of Soundiron’s versatile Kontakt-based synthesis engine promises to be an ideal solution for film and game composers who need to work quickly whilst maintaining their creative spark. 

You just booked a show; now what?Micahel Brandvold and Jay Gilbert dive into the essential things every musician needs to do after they book a show or tour. MichaelBrandvoldMarketing · 574 Checklist of Everything You Need. Continue reading
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“The perfect blend of design culture, creative culture and engineering”: New Beats headphones collaboration with Samuel RossBeats has released new Studio Pro headphones in collaboration with fashion designer Samuel Ross and his design venture SR_A.
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The new headphones look the part but the brand assures it’s not a case of style over substance. They have fully-adaptive noise cancellation and transparency modes, and bespoke spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.
There’s 40 hours of battery life, too, and engineered leather and premium metal sliders. The headphones’ custom acoustic platform and 40mm drivers are designed for almost-zero distortion and improved clarity, and there are optimised sound profiles to suit listening to music, watching movies, playing games, or having conversations.
You can choose from four different colourways: black, deep brown, navy, and sandstone.
Image: Beats
In a press release, Ross said, “When Beats approached me to bring a new design language to the Studio Pro, my goal was to retain the integrity of the design while creating a more sophisticated look and feel that compliments all of the technological advancements. The result is the perfect blend of design culture, creative culture and engineering coming together”.
It’s not the first time the A-COLD-WALL* founder has worked with Beats, either. In 2021, he worked with the brand to revamp its Studio3 Wireless headphones.
Samuel Ross / Image: Beats
And, in June this year, he became Beats’ first principal design consultant. The move was part of Beats’ strategy to target younger consumers. Chris Thorne, CMO at Beats, said products must “have the right design, the colours right, the messaging and positioning. That’s something that Samuel is so good with for the brand.”
Thorne continued, talking about Ross’ previous work with Beats, “It went so well and designers enjoy working with him so much, they were almost asking for more”.
You can find the new headphones at Apple, where they’ll be available soon at a price of £349.99.
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