Help For Heroes DVD raises funds and profile of music students
Music written by Danny Owen and Darren Jerome, who are both in the final year of a degree course at the Academy Of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Surrey, features in Help For Heroes - The Greatest War Movies Ever, which was released last week to support personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The pair have supplied the incidental music soundtrack, plus all TV and online idents for the DVD, which has been prepared by UK distributor Revolver Entertainment and features extracts from movie classics such as Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, The Longest Day and The Great Escape chosen by The Sun's online readers. All proceeds from the release, which has already shipped 30,000 copies and is expected to net nearly pounds 1m, will go to the Help For Heroes charity established in 2007.
The commission was set up by Platinum Sound, the independent publishing company which was established as part of the college in 2004, but which has since developed into a standalone specialist in the sync sector.
The same company has also placed tracks by other recent ACM graduates Alex Metric and duo Subsource in the Capcom computer game, Moto GP 2009/10, which is scheduled for release this spring.
According to Platinum Sound music and print publishing manager Claire Welch, "ACM's operating philosophy is that students on all our courses regard themselves as part of the music industry. Part of Platinum Sound's role at ACM involves giving students advice and guidance on writing for syncs, so we're overjoyed when they make this kind of impression at such an early stage in their careers."
Platinum Sound was originally conceived as a publishing companion to ACM's record labels Worst Case Scenario and Spin Out to provide the students with a 360-degree environment in which to learn how music is commercially released as well as written and recorded. Since then Welch has struck deals with companies such as new music specialist Centric, US indie Pig Factory and Imagem Music's Boosey and Hawkes division to represent their copyrights to film and games companies on a sync-only basis.
The Help For Heroes release also coincides with the signing of an administration deal with Peermusic through which Platinum Sound intends to further develop ACM's best songwriters.
"I have been continually impressed by the talent and enthusiasm of the people who emerge from the Academy," says Nigel Elderton, managing director of Peermusic UK, who signed Newton Faulkner in 2006. "I am delighted to have formalised this relationship with Platinum Sound and the opportunity it provides to work with the new talent which they nurture."
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