International

LONDON — When Daniel Blumberg collected his Academy Award for best original score back in March, it wasn’t so much a warning that the British were coming, but they were here already – and not planning on budging anytime soon. The London-born musician, formerly of post-grunge band Yuck, was collecting the prize for The Brutalist’s score, and became the first U.K. composer to collect the Oscar since 2013 (Steven Price, Gravity).
Blumberg’s success, however, is just the tip of a British success story as Hollywood productions are enraptured by the sound of the U.K. scene. Experimentalist Jerskin Fendrix landed an Academy Award nomination for Poor Things (2023), as did Mica Levi for The Zone of Interest that same year. A24’s upcoming The Smashing Machine (Oct. 3), starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Emily Blunt, will feature music from London-based alt-jazz star Nala Sinephro. 

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These successes on critically-acclaimed films are spurring on a new wave of British artists and companies amidst a boom period. The IFPI reports that revenues for synchronisation – the placement of recorded music in a visual format – grew for a fourth successive year in 2024 (6.4%) totalling $650 million, and accounted for 2.2% of global recorded music revenues.

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A powerful synch can alter the course of a song’s journey. Think Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” which appeared in Stranger Things in 2022, and eventually topped the U.K. Singles Charts 37 years on from its original release. Or consider Aurora’s haunting “Through The Eyes of a Child,” which underscored the emotional final moments of Netflix’s hit drama Adolescence earlier this year. Director Philip Barantini crafted the final scene with the song in mind, and told Billboard U.K. that he “knew that it was going to be in the show” from an early stage.

The British Phonographic Institute’s L.A. Sync Mission, which takes place every June, seeks to maximise these opportunities for independent publishers, labels and musicians. The five-day trip takes attendees to Hollywood for a series of networking and panels, and positions British music for contention in popular series. Previous success stories for attendees has seen placements in Dune: Part Two (2024), Alien Covenant (2017), Star Wars: The Acolyte (2024) among others.

“There’s a genuine excitement for British music,” says 2025 attendee Dougie Deane of Raygun Records, whose independent label represents The Xcerts and Tiger Cub. “I think music supervisors have had good experiences with U.K. indies. They look to us when they’re in a difficult position or being squeezed for a fee by a major.”

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Alex Kelly, head of synch at Cooking Vinyl (The Prodigy, Jesus & Mary Chain), concurs. He’s seen a spike in interest towards British creatives. “There’s just an appetite for music that’s outside the box, creative, genre-bending… and I think U.K. music does that really, really well.”

The Sync Mission – which first ran in 2004 – provides priceless access to music supervisors at some of the biggest studios. This year’s delegation was invited to Netflix and Disney’s headquarters for tours and meetings. Briefs for upcoming shows were given in a face-to-face setting, a rarity for some of these publishers and rightsholders. Maximising these relationships is how these companies and creatives are able to market their respective catalogues. 

Networking parties and performances also give chances for musicians to perform live and showcase their skills. Fran O’Hanlon, who performs under the moniker Mezami, performed at a PRS-hosted showcase and is seeing the benefits as a songwriter who holds the rights to his own music.

“Artists often scratch their heads wondering why their music isn’t getting picked,” he says, but the mission “opened my eyes to how the synch industry works and what’s possible for my work.” His creative output now extends to composing scores specifically for movie and video games trailers, which enables him to “be creative across different areas of composition.” Indie companies such as Colourbox and The Horror Vault and are having success placing producers and sound designers, as well pitching their library of sound effects. Previous Sync Mission attendees have secured spots on popular video game franchises such as Assassins Creed, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.

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The trip, Deane points out, helps understand what opportunities are out there for creators. He points to Raygun signee Luke Sital-Singh, who has seen successful synchs in shows such as Grey’s Anatomy which call for emotional, powerful ballads to enhance scenes. A series of thoughtful synchs can help prop up an artist’s income. “In the past, getting a synch was like a lottery ticket coming in – it felt like luck and once in a lifetime,” Deane says. “But there’s no real downside to [landing a synch], and it all plays into an artist’s entire offering beyond recording and touring.”

For Cooking Vinyl, securing synchs helps show its artists the value of being a part of its roster. “You can never really gather what’s gonna take off following a synch, but artists can see you’re being proactive, you’re looking for the right opportunities for them, and that you’re still driving exposure to that music beyond its initial release.”

The mission arrives at a crucial time for U.K. talent. In May, the BPI reported that artists such as Dua Lipa and Charli XCX had driven British recorded music exports to a new high of £794 million ($1.01 billion), but that growth was slowing. The government’s Department for Business & Trade contributes funds to the mission, and O’Hanlon says the investment needs to continue. 

“I think it’s a really clear call for why you benefit from investment in the arts,” O’Hanlon says. He points to Fendrix’s inventive – sometimes deeply unsettling – score for Poor Things as a success story to follow. “We should be reflecting on why those things happen and how we continue to make sure those opportunities are there and not let them dissolve and waste away. Without funding, there’s a real danger of that happening.”

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Chris Tams, the BPI’s director of membership and international, says that the mission and interest for collaboration goes both ways. “Every year, there’s a palpable sense of excitement for what the latest delegation of artists, publishers and label representatives will have to offer Hollywood,” he tells Billboard U.K.. “The music supervisors who take part, many of whom are very senior within their industries, know that the L.A. Sync Mission is a reliable way to meet people with brilliantly diverse and unique music at their fingertips and great business acumen to go along with it.”

What starts with synch is now resulting in British artists taking home the industry’s biggest prizes – and kickstarting careers. “There’ll be so many acts you don’t even know [who] are in these products, but they’re propping up some of your favourite films, TV shows, and games,” says O’Hanlon. “For that to be British acts from all different genres and backgrounds is so exciting.”