Berklee Blogs catches up with Heather Rajcic, a Music Business /Management major and fall intern, as she reflects on her internship with Clearsongs, a full service music supervision company in Los Angeles. In today’s blog, Heather discusses adjusting her expectations of what she thought an internship would be and how supervisors are prepared to help advance her career…

My first two months at my internship with Clearsongs were incredible! There was so much information being passed around that I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed and excited all at the same time. Immediately, they welcomed me into their close-knit group and talked about all of the things they want me to accomplish personally during my time with them. I was completely flattered that they would think of me like that and not just as their coffee runner or unpaid assistant. I have to admit, movies influenced my idea of what an internship would be like and that is kind of the image I had going into this. Turns out, it is more than I could ever have hoped for. The work they have given me so far has already helped me better understand the ins and outs of music supervision.

I upload and import TONS of music every day, add up timings on cue sheets for songs used in the shows, update and keep track of all social media sites for Clearsongs, and have already been asked to pull music for specific scenes! Obviously they are mostly exercises to help me start the process of thinking like a music supervisor, but it is still awesome to be a part of it! I also like that my supervisor has asked me to start doing song research for the songs she chooses for shows. It is important that they find the exact and correct information for who owns the master (sound recording) and sync (copyright) rights. She says this is 80 percent of a music supervisor’s job and for the first few years of her own career, that was all she did.

I cannot express the emotions that go through me every day at work. The amount of “insider” information I hear and get to be a part of is exactly what I dreamed. My supervisor’s assistant, Allie, is sitting in the exact place I want to be in five years. She is practically doing the duties of a music supervisor already. That is how much my supervisor depends on her! It is so informative to spend my days with Allie and see the kind of work my supervisor requires of her. My other boss and partner at Clearsongs is also a very professional and successful music supervisor, working on Fox’s new Fall show The Mindy Project. His assistant also just supervised his first ever movie.

The amount of opportunity this company has to offer is something I never thought would happen to me. I am so thankful that I get to be a part of this and am actually learning what goes on in the life of a music supervisor. Nothing- no interviews or books, could have prepared me for this. That is something I think students should know, especially students from Berklee. It is easy to think you know how something will be because that is the way trusted professors and friends say it will be, but until you are actually sitting there witnessing everything happen, you cannot prepare yourself.

Being someone who relies on these helpful hints (immensely) I was basically freaking out before my first day. The beauty of the Music Industry is while there are some people out there wishing you to fail, the vast majority are pushing for you to win. And more often than not, they want to be the ones to HELP you win and to mold you as their own. I did not understand that until I showed up my first day. I am almost in my third month and everyday I look forward to the next!

 

Bio

Heather Rajcic is an 8th semester Music Business/Management major from Lubbock, Texas. She has played Clarinet in orchestras/ensembles such as the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, Berklee’s Musical Theatre Orchestra, and Berklee’s Woodwind Quintet, as well as playing on numerous scoring sessions for Film Scoring majors. Heather has also had the rare opportunity to study Clarinet in Athens, Greece through the Berklee Study Abroad Program. Originally going to school for Music Law, her passion and obsession for music and film have led her to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Music Supervision. She is currently interning at Clearsongs, Inc., a full service music supervision company in Los Angeles, which will complete her last semester at Berklee.

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