About Us - At Think Music, Inc., we are an exclusive representation licensing and publishing company, aimed at providing the music supervision community with premier (and primarily one-stop) music from artists, writers, producers, and record labels from around the world. We tend to lean a bit left of center (because it's more fun!), and we love representing music of all genres. Our primary focus is licensing music for Television, Film, Advertisements & Trailers. We also have pitching partners around the world.
We pride ourselves on our close relationships with music supervisors and personally work on each project until the supervisor has found what they need. We are also able to utilize our Premier artists and writer/producers to create the perfect custom song for any type of project. We LOVE music and we LOVE what we do!
In addition to our Premier artist roster, we have a Library Division; a catalogue of songs focused exclusively on sync available for library rates.
About Our Deals - We are transparent with our agreements and all of our agreements are the same. Although they have evolved over the years, we pride ourselves on our artist friendly terms. At Think Music, artists retain all rights to their masters and publishing and we only co-publish upon Custom Compositions created specifically with us, and on various sessions we help set up. We commission 30% from all media and 35% from advertisements (An additional 20% is taken X-USA for our global partners). If only one side (ie only master or publishing) is available, we commission 40%. Every artist has approval rights over each sync. We are the exclusive sync partner for 18 months and then year by year unless the artist wishes to part ways. The majority of our artists have been with us for 5+ years. We pay out every 45 days, and normally quicker. For our Library Division of artists, we are non-exclusive for a period of 3 years, no approval rights, and we commission 50%.
Charity - In an effort to better the world, even just a little, a portion of every license commission is donated to various charities around the country. If you have an organization you'd like us to consider, please email us.
Branding - Our unique backgrounds and over 5 decades of combined experience with artist and producer management, major label representation, radio promotion, booking, A&R, and artist development, allow us to help advise our artists on how to best build their brands. When an artist signs exclusively with Think, they too become a part of the Think brand and a part of our family. We like to say that we are not in song business, we are in the ARTIST business. We want to help each one of our artists build their brands, their sync income, and stay with us for years to come.
Publishing - We participate in various songs from current and past artists. We also offer our Premier artists opportunities to collaborate with other artists, producers and writers signed with other publishers and sync agencies. Although we do not administer songs on the artists behalf, we have a partnership with Bluewater Music and can help connect you when the time is right.
Julie Shama Stephens
< julie [at] thinkmusic DOT LA (.la) >
Julie has been in the music industry for over 20 years. She serendipitously landed in music licensing in 2006 when she managed and signed sync veteran, Tim Myers to his first licensing deal with Zync Music. When they parted ways after 3 years, she launched a new sync agency, which has since morphed and developed into Think Music, Inc.
Julie has been spearheading the charge into the licensing world and aiding in the global recognition of many artists whom have landed campaigns for notable companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Apple, Dell, Captain Morgan, Maybelline, VW and more. With her extensive management and A&R background, Julie is also always in pursuit of the best undiscovered talent and catalogues to bring into the Think family.
Originally from Boston, Julie attended Berklee College of Music and ultimately acquired her Bachelors from Emerson College. During this time, she had the opportunity to work for one of the world's largest Top 40 radio shows: John Garabedian's Open House Party. There, she met hundreds of major label recording artists and industry veterans that would later help propel her career in Los Angeles.
In 2002, Julie made the move to Los Angeles and immediately joined Mosaic Media Group (Green Day, Alanis Morisette, Goo Goo Dolls, etc) working under the day-to-day Manager for The Goo Goo Dolls. This gave her the experience which allowed her to attain a position at Hollywood Records/Disney in the Promotion Department for the following 3 years, working with artists such as Hilary Duff, Jesse McCartney, and Phil Collins. Shortly after leaving Hollywood Records, Julie began managing artists and developing what would soon become her own management and licensing company, along with a brief transition to Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in the International Music Department where she worked most notably on a tour for Beyoncé. By 2006 Julie had grown her company to what is now Think Music, incorporating licensing and publishing, along with helping artists develop and find their passion.
Julie has signed over 500 artists, writers and producers, generating millions of dollars for her clients. Many of her clients have been working with her for years and years.
Shannon Quisenberry Palazzolo
<shannon[at] thinkmusic DOT LA (.la)>
Head of Sync and Artist Relations
Shannon has been an integral part of helping independent artists land placements in hit TV shows, national & global Advertisements and everything in between. With a strong ear for lyrics and love of artists who fall left-of-center, Shannon is always looking for new music to fall in love with….that could also work for sync!
With a background in artist management, Shannon spent six years at Brick Wall Management in New York City, working with their large roster of artists and producers that included Citizen Cope, Marc Broussard, The Clarks, and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Ari Hest. After moving to LA and working on Ingrid Michelson’s management team, Shannon was quickly drawn to the licensing side of the industry which ultimately led her to Think Music.
Shannon was introduced to the music industry through a collegiate program at The University of Texas at Austin, assisting the producers for the acclaimed live television program Austin City Limits. After two seasons working on episodes with some of the biggest artists on the planet (Wilco, Etta James, Pixies, Elvis Costello, The Shins, The Flaming Lips, to name a few), she decided that behind the scenes in the music industry is where she belonged, and the rest is history.
Shannon also takes pride in her work with non-profit organizations, most notably The Kristen Ann Carr Fund, Alliance Schools, Artist Against Hunger and Poverty, and Musicians on Call.
Tarik Bradford
(Dahomey Music - Think Music Pitching Partner)
Tarik Bradford is a Los Angeles native and graduate of California State University, Los Angeles. He began his career in the Urban promotions department at Noo Trybe/Virgin Records, working with several of Virgin’s acclaimed artists including Janet Jackson, Gang Starr, The Geto Boys and Luther Vandross.
Once Noo Trybe folded, Tarik made a career transition into the world of licensing with a start at Warner Music Group handling clearances for TV, Soundtracks and master rights samples. After several years, he began working in a more creative capacity securing placements for artists under the WMG roster. Tarik was honored to work with a variety of developing artists who would later become household names, some of which included The Black Keys, Muse, and T.I. He also had the opportunity to secure placements for legacy artists such as Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, The Doors and Frank Sinatra.
After 8 years Tarik left Warner Music Group for the opportunity to head the creative licensing department at Universal Music Enterprises. Over the next two years, Tarik was crucial in securing placements and branding opportunities for the likes of Lady Gaga, Wale, and Florence & The Machine as well as being instrumental in the Motown 50 Campaign helping to promote, brand and land placements for many of the the classic recordings.
Tarik next moved on to be Senior Director of Film & TV placements at EMI Music Publishing where he helmed the film and trailer department and secured placements for artists such as Kanye West, M83, Drake and Sia. Since then, he has consulted for BMG Chrysalis Music Publishing, Downtown Records, Bridgeport Publishing, Westbound Records, Stampede Publishing & Management working with a variety of artists including Macy Gray, Snoop Dogg, Far East Movement, Parliament Funkadelic and The Ohio Players
Trevyn Savage
<trevyn[at] thinkmusic DOT LA (.la)>
Sync Coordinator
Trevyn Savage is a Music Coordinator based out of Portland, OR. As a mix-cd aficionado and show choir-nerd in her high school years in Burbank, CA, she naturally joined college radio when she moved to Portland to study Art History at Lewis & Clark College. After running on-campus concerts and two weekly radio shows, she worked for Portland venues Mississippi Studios and Revolution Hall as their Merchandise Manager and Marketing Assistant.
More recently, she’s transitioned into sync, coordinating music for short films and ads for Deadline via Bandwagon Media and assisting Music Supervision on the Bravo series ‘Below Deck’ & the Netflix film ‘Arnold.’.
Her history and passion for the music industry dates back to the young age of four, when she was forever enshrined on the cover of the iconic Black Sabbath “Reunion” album!