As part of our Horizon Future Leaders series of interviews, we are connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys.
This week we spoke to Codie Childs, Senior Music Supervisor at PlayStation Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe.
Starting with a background in music technology and composition, Codie transitioned into TV advertising production before moving into music supervision. Each step has built upon the last, leading her to her current role at PlayStation Studios, where she shapes the soundtracks and music for some of PlayStation’s most iconic games and trailers.
As new technologies constantly reshape the way music integrates with games, Codie highlights the importance of staying proactive and embracing these developments. By capitalising on these advancements, Codie and her team are constantly pushing the boundaries of what music can do to elevate player experiences.
Her journey underscores that no experience is wasted. From working in recording studios at university to mastering TV advertising production and studying interactive formats for surround sound, every step has paved the way for her current role.
Read the full Q&A with Codie below 👇
What’s your current role in the music industry?
I'm a Senior Music Supervisor at PlayStation Studios, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). I work on in-game music and also music supervise PlayStation brand advertising and game trailers.
What does your general day to day look like?
My day-to-day is pretty varied, depending on the active projects that are on my plate. Most days I’m collaborating with our core music team, game developers, rights owners, stakeholders in SIE Marketing, external agencies and our wider creative services teams.
My role is a nice balance of creative and administrative responsibilities. On a usual day I might be briefing a composer on a cue for a game, pitching commercial tracks for use on an advert, negotiating deals and reviewing contracts, managing budgets and helping to arrange recording sessions.
Oh, and playing through in-progress games! What a dream.
 What steps did you take early in your career to gain experience and build skills to get you where you are now?
I studied Music Technology in Australia and completed a Master of Music Composition (Sonic Art) degree in New Zealand. Through this, I learned to speak the language of music and understand composition and production processes. Working in recording studios throughout university gave me experience managing client relationships, too.
I took a slightly different path after graduating, working in advertising TV production. This was a blessing: I learned a lot about film production and how music helps to communicate stories and emotions in visual mediums. During this time, I discovered the role of a music supervisor and, after moving to the UK in 2014, I sought out opportunities in the field.
I worked at a production music company and then a music supervision agency for eight years all-in before joining Sony Interactive. I honed my skills in the creative side of music supervision at these companies, through extensive researching and pitching tracks, working with composers and producers, and understanding how music works to picture.
At the same time, I learned all about the admin side, negotiating licensing deals, handling productions, client relationship management and understanding legal contracts.
Music in games was my next step. I've always been a player and am forever impressed by the sophisticated and immersive stories told through games. I’d composed and studied music for surround sound and interactive formats at uni so was able to translate this knowledge to my new role at Sony, discovering the complexities of, and opportunities available, within interactive music systems in games.
What opportunities did you explore early on that were particularly valuable?
When I was working as a TV producer in advertising I made a point of finding opportunities where I could lead music conversations with the creative teams. I would pitch ideas and help mood board the music direction for our ads.
From there my passion grew. Moving to the UK, I took full advantage of networking in music supervision / music sync circles and leveraged my knowledge of advertising to get a foot in the door with supervision agencies.
Has the opportunity landscape changed since then?
When I started in music supervision there were a good number of specialised companies in the UK, as well as many freelance supervisors, particularly in film and TV. Although it’s still a fairly niche area, recognition of the role is becoming more widespread with award shows recognising the craft more and more, for example.
I’d say the landscape has shifted a lot in the past decade with more content being created for streaming services in particular. As a result, a lot of companies have popped up offering music supervision as a service. On the other hand, COVID and events like the recent Hollywood union strikes have impacted a lot of roles within the film and TV industries.
Music supervision within games is somewhat different: there are independent companies that supervise music for development studios but it’s more common for in-house music teams to manage the process, as is the case with us at Sony. But with a huge number of games being made each year, there is a need for specialised music support, so opportunities are out there.
Are there any specific internships, projects, or initiatives that you would recommend to newcomers looking to pursue a similar role?
I’d recommend newcomers connect with the UK & European Guild Of Music Supervisors or the US Guild Of Music Supervisors if you’re interested in the role. Members can hear about job openings, learn more about the craft through workshops and masterclasses, and become part of a network of supervisors.
I also recommend people consider internships or placements in sync departments at record labels and publishers. They’re great opportunities in their own right, but it can also be a path into music supervision as you’ll learn music licensing skills and likely work with supervisors as your clients.
What advice do you have for building and leveraging a professional network in the music industry?
There are a lot of names and companies in the UK supervision and sync community, but if you do your research and connect authentically with people, you’ll find loads of folks who are willing to help.
Get out to gigs and relevant events if you can. People are often up for meetings or calls to share knowledge, too, but it’s worth remembering not everyone has the time to accommodate.
And just be nice! It goes a long way.
How has the evolving digital landscape impacted your role, and where do you focus to stay ahead?
We know digital technology has transformed every aspect of music production and engagement. That’s led to a democratisation of music creation and distribution, so there’s more music out there than ever before.
Discovery is a huge part of the role of a music supervisor and we have to have an awareness of new artists and releases across all kinds of platforms. There are not enough hours in the day to listen to everything, so having an awareness of key tastemakers and building relationships with trusted labels, publishers, artist managers, etc is so important for finding a lot of the very best talents.
And in games, technology is constantly evolving. With every new generation or innovation comes opportunities for creative uses of music. We as a team therefore need to be aware of innovations and the capabilities of tech in game dev, to make sure we’re forging new paths and creating exceptional music experiences for our players.
What trends or changes do you see on the horizon for the music industry, and how can early career professionals prepare for them?
We're in a burgeoning era of personalisation, with music and entertainment platforms offering algorithmic recommendations based on your streaming habits. I see this becoming more and more personalised: there's already conversations happening about hyper-personalised film and TV content that could be generated based on you as an individual.
As a creative, I would hate for us to lose collective audience experiences in this way, but I can see cases where flexibility empowers audiences.
For example in gaming, a lot of players have a desire to stream their own music whilst maintaining SFX and dialogue in the mix. Services are being developed that enable this and respond to events in-game with varying degrees of interactivity.
I see cases for this approach, but for games where we as developers wish to curate the player's music experience, we should always be looking for ways to keep the music engaging, interactive and exciting. We want to create cultural moments, rather than a passive background soundtrack that can be switched off.
I'd recommend early career professionals engage with current trends in media and doing the research and work to gain an edge, whilst not neglecting the classic parts of this role: understanding how music helps to tell stories, and sharpening your taste levels, curation skills and knowledge of all kinds of music.
What’s one piece of advice you wish someone had given you at the start of your career?
“Trust your gut”. Be curious and honest, and don’t be afraid to fail from time to time too.
It’s easier said than done in an industry where things can feel very high stakes, but I’ve learned some of my greatest lessons through making mistakes, and when you have that “stomach drop” moment it’s likely you won’t make that mistake again!