SATURDAY, MAY 16th, 2026
BURBANK, CA
SCHEDULE TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
All membership levels are welcome. Spend the morning with fellow music supervisors and leave with new skills and strategies for supporting your business.
Not yet a GMS Member? Apply here by April 8th, 2026 to access registration to the Member Summit.
For ticketing questions please contact Humanitix Support.
A Half Day Exclusive Event
for Guild Members Only
The Education Committee is excited to present this annual Member Summit to provide support, knowledge, and tools music supervisors can use to form better business habits and gain new skills. We will host discussions on the following topics:
Success
Our panels will provide opportunities to discuss business strategies and solutions for Music Supervisors. An open dialogue about the state of our craft and how we work with others is essential for our members.
Sustainability
Our industry is constantly evolving. This summit provides a secure platform to stay informed about emerging trends and new essential skills necessary to excel as a Music Supervisor today and in the future.
Synergy
The Guild's primary objective is to unite our community. We will provide inclusive networking opportunities with like-minded professionals.
All membership levels (Freelance, Associate, Corporate & Legacy) are welcome. Spend the morning with fellow music supervisors and leave with new skills and strategies for supporting your business.
Not yet a GMS Member? Apply here by April 8th, 2025 to access registration to the Members Summit
For ticketing questions please contact Humanitix Support.
PANELS
Panel #1 Making Your Mark:
How Music Supervisors Can Stand Out in a Tumultuous Time
Nearly two years after strikes crippled Hollywood, conversations continue to be dominated by uncertainty. With the industry continuing to evolve, how can music supervisors at every level stand out? Representatives from agencies, studios and PR discuss current hiring trends, and how music supervisors - both individually and as a community - can elevate the profile of our craft in a way that will lead to more work for all.
In 2011 Thomas Mikusz co-founded White Bear PR, a Public Relations Company, specializing in Composers, Music Supervisors, Songwriters, Soundtrack Promotions and International Film Music Festivals.
He spearheaded several successful Award campaigns, including for Clément Ducol & Camille (Emilia Pérez), Volker Bertelmann (All Quiet on the Western Front), Hildur Gudnadóttir (Joker, Chernobyl), Germaine Franco (Encanto) and Carlos Rafael Rivera (The Queens Gambit, Lessons in Chemistry). In addition, he worked on the PR campaigns for the Academy Award-nominated Best Score and Best Original Song for Everything Everywhere All At Once and on the successful campaigns for Best Original Songs from Barbie and from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. He works with composers such as David Fleming (The Last of Us), Dan Romer (Lilo and Stitch), Anna Waronker & Craig Wedren (Yellowjackets), Duncan Thum (Chef’s Table), Electronic Arts Music, and The Guild of Music Supervisors, to name just a few.
Over the past decade he has represented clients at major Film Festivals, such as Berlinale, Festival de Cannes, Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival.
For the past six years he served on the leadership of The Alliance for Women Film Composers, amplifying and supporting the work of women composers.
Thomas Mikusz
President - White Bear PR
Panel #2 Creating Custom:
The Process, Politics and Paperwork Involved in Bespoke Music Across Media
From outreach to deal-making to navigating creative feedback, what is the process of getting bespoke songs and music created across various media? A diverse group of experts from TV to trailers share their experience and expertise, illuminating what music supervisors should know and how the role and responsibilities differ depending on the media.
Alec Stern is a Music Supervisor, and the Head of Ads for Radish Music. The campaigns he's led have achieved wide recognition, including a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Grand Clio, an Emmy for Outstanding Commercial, and most recently, a win for Best Music Supervision for Advertising Synch at the 2025 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards. His company Radish has led music efforts for brands such as Apple, Visa, Adobe, Cadillac, and Uber Eats, created full-scale music strategies for clients such as Walmart, Miller Lite, The U.S. Army, Emerson, and Kellogg’s, supervised two SXSW Audience Award-winning films (2024’s “Monkey Man” and 2021’s “The Fallout”) and has a slate of high-profile film & tv projects premiering in 2025 on Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, and more.
Fun fact: he’s the first and only Music Supervisor to ever license a Prince recording for an ad.
Alec Stern
Music Supervisor: Radish Music
BREAKOUT ROOMS
Last year’s Summit included three panels. This year, instead of the third panel there will be three separate breakout rooms that attendees can choose from.
These will be an hour long each, centered around topics and issues music supervisors have to manage daily, and guided by two thought leaders on the topic at hand. The goal is free-flowing conversation, sharing experiences good and bad, as well as advice and knowledge, and will be a combination of social and educational!
Our intent from the beginning in creating this member only Summit has been as a “meeting of the minds” for working music supervisors, and we hope to encapsulate that spirit with these breakout rooms.
The Business of Being a Freelance Music Supervisor
Discussion of common issues from negotiating rates, to adding team members, techniques and approaches for getting work, current best practices as an employer and/or indie music supervisor, the challenges in setting up shop and more.
SAG/AFTRA, AFM and Beyond: The ABCs of Union Fees
How to navigate working with unions across different media. From collaborating with music contractors on on-camera needs (sideline rates, meal penalties, etc) to new use and re-use fees, what those stamps on master approvals really mean, and why many are seeking to record outside of the US.
Navigating Difficult Negotiations: Too Tough or Not Enough?
A conversation on ways to handle difficult negotiations - and personalities - whether you’re trying to secure creative approval, a lower fee, or your next job.
Melissa Chapman
Owner, Music Supervisor – Groove Garden
Melissa is a Chicago-based independent music supervisor working in film, TV, and advertising. Some of Melissa’s most recent music supervision credits include A24’s “Death of A Unicorn,” “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” and the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning “A Different Man.” Over the past 16 years, she has worked on Sundance favorites like “Between The Temples,” “Beach Rats,” and “Stress Positions,” award-winning documentaries “Caterpillar,” and “Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado,” and HBO Film’s “Reality,” as well as Audible Original’s podcast “Punk in Translation,” and ad campaigns for Target, JCPenney, and Best Buy.
As a long-time champion of independent film, Melissa feels especially grateful to have collaborated with so many singular voices sharing fresh perspectives in cinema.
Madonna Wade-Reed
Music Supervisor
Madonna Wade-Reed is a Music Supervisor and the former Vice President of The Guild of Music Supervisors. Her current credits for television include work on series as “All American,” “Found” and the Netflix series “Ransom Canyon.” Past television credits include such shows as “5 Days At Memorial,“ “The Crossover,” “Batwoman,” “American Crime,” “Reign,” “The Shannara Chronicles,” “Blue Mountain State,” “Smallville,” “One Tree Hill,” “Alias” and “Felicity.” Her film credits include “Shirley,” “8-Bit Christmas,” the documentary “Let It Fall,” and “A Thousand Words.”
Prior to her career in music supervision, Madonna honed her skills (herding kittens, opening mail and writing about herself in the third person) while working in feature films, commercials and assisting a well-known actor. A lifelong love of music lead to a career move into music video production (finding the right visuals to match the songs) and eventually flipping the process to work in music supervision (finding the right songs to match the visuals).
When Madonna’s not working you can find her in her kitchen recipe testing, stealing fruit from her neighbor’s garden and buying shoes (she’s really really good at it).
Celeste Chada
Freelance Music Production Executive
Celeste Chada has more than 20 years of experience with successfully providing analysis and accurate forecasting of budgets for film music in all phases of feature film production including pre-production, physical production and post-production. An effective and plain communicator, Celeste has extensive experience liaising with producers/directors/internal executives regarding the scope of music for all aspects of feature motion pictures including clearance, on-camera visual vocal and instrumental performances, as well as creating a comprehensive plan for orchestral score recording. Expert in identifying and addressing union versus non-union issues, Celeste is particularly helpful in addressing budgetary constraints balanced against location of recording musical and vocal talent.
Celeste obtained a bachelor’s degree in international trade and finance from Mount Holyoke
College and a law degree from Southwestern University School of Law. A longtime resident of Venice Beach, Celeste is a vocal neighborhood activist promoting installation of mid-block
signaled pedestrian crosswalks, and participating in ocean clean-ups.
Micki Stern
Senior Vice President, Clearance and Sync Licensing
Warner Chappell Music
Micki Stern is Senior Vice President, Clearance and Sync Licensing at Warner Chappell Music. While running the Sync clearance and licensing teams (the former with Pat Woods), her focus is helping to drive Warner Chappell’s licensing strategy forward with the goal of finding new opportunities that add value to songwriters at all stages of their careers. Prior to joining Warner Chappell in 2019 as Vice President of Clearance and Sync Licensing, she ran her own music clearance company, Micki Stern Music Services, for over a decade. She worked closely with music supervisors, studios and independent companies to clear tracks for more than 1,000 episodes of television and 50 movies – including Insecure, The Righteous Gemstones, Vampire Diaries, 13 Reasons Why, Life Of The Party, Game Night and The Wrecking Crew for which she won the Guild Of Music Supervisors Award in Best Music Supervision in a Documentary Film in 2016. She has also held roles at Universal Music and Soundtrack Music Associates.
Lisa Klein Moberly
Managing Partner, Loudspeaker Music Group
Lisa Klein Moberly is a Managing Partner at Loudspeaker Music Group, a Music Supervision and Clearance company based in Los Angeles, music supervising for film, TV, commercials, documentaries and multi-media events. Her projects include the Tupac Shakur docu-series Dear Mama, the Paramount+ series Nothin’ But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of 80’s Hair Metal and Hulu feature film Memes & Nightmare, as well as clearing music for numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays. Lisa also founded Optic Noise, pitching, negotiating and licensing music for independent and major label artists for film and TV. She has worked as an artist manager, club booker, label manager, music journalist, and for a punk rock music distributor out of a garage with no heat.
One-On-One Networking
We are excited to offer an optional 30-minute one-on-one networking sessions over coffee at the start of our upcoming GMS Members Summit!
Freelance and Corporate Members will have the opportunity to share your experiences and insights, with one of our Associate Members (up-and-coming music supervision talent who are actively working in the field) in a respectful and inclusive environment.
For ticketing questions please contact Humanitix Support.
From The Education Committee
This organization was originally formed by music supervisors joining together to uplift and elevate the craft of music supervision, as well as a resource for each other. I’m looking forward to an event that goes back to those roots, a “meeting of the minds” with peers to educate, strategize and energize.
Amanda Krieg Thomas
