Sponsored content
Finding the right piece of music is rarely just a search problem. Chief creative officer Ali Johnson shares his thoughts on curiosity, discovery and the creative judgements that shape great storytelling
You spend your days surrounded by music. Has that changed the way you hear it?
If anything, it’s deepened my appreciation. The privilege of my job is being exposed to an extraordinary range of global music and the cultures, influences and musicianship behind it.
Every session teaches me something new, whether it’s an instrumental technique, an unexpected chord voicing or a fresh way of arranging a passage of music. It’s equal parts emotional appreciation and musical education, and that constant discovery continues to inspire me.
What makes a piece of music feel ‘right’?
People often say the best music is the music you hardly notice because you’re completely immersed in the story. There’s definitely truth in that. But music can do so much more.
Sometimes it creates contrast, adding tension or making a moment more complex. Other times it steps into the spotlight and becomes part of the storytelling itself. That’s what I love about it. Music doesn’t just support a story. It can shape how we experience it.
With more music available than ever before, what makes someone truly good at finding the right track?
We’re constantly improving the way people search and discover music, but nothing beats collaborating with someone who’s genuinely obsessed with it. That’s what makes our creative team special. They’re always championing new artists, rediscovering forgotten gems and making unexpected connections across our catalogue. Sometimes the perfect track is the one you never would have searched for in the first place. That’s where the magic happens.
What’s the most exciting musical discovery you’ve made recently, and why should everyone else hear it?
That’s almost impossible to answer because my recommendations change every week! The joy of this job is the incredible breadth of music we get to discover and champion.
Right now, I’d point people towards four very different projects that have really stayed with me: the beautiful First Nation Canadian compositions of Geneviève Gros-Louis featuring Tony Duncan on the Native American flute, Lorne Balfe’s forthcoming Heroes and Villains project, Hazel Mills’ exciting debut with Audio Network and our expanding body of work we’re creating with artists and composers from the African music landscape, reflected in our Amapiano album with Nigerian producers Jerome Kenechukwu and George Onyekwere.
They’re all completely different but each one reminds me why I still love and feel lucky discovering and Geneviève Gros-Louis creating music for a living.
ANDREW SUNNUCKS, Co-founder
”When we founded Audio Network in 2001, our ambition wasn’t to build the biggest music catalogue, it was to build one people could trust. Twenty- five years later, technology has changed almost every part of our industry, but trust, creativity and judgement remain as important as ever. New technologies demand that we continuously scale up creativity, get ever braver with our ideas and never let up on innovation, so I’m even more excited about where the next chapter takes us.
Every editor knows the feeling. A sequence that’s technically sound suddenly feels complete, not because another cut has been made, but because the right piece of music reveals what was already there.
There’s rarely much discussion after that. The track goes around once more. The room has quietly moved on to the next problem. It’s one of those moments that says something about music’s place in storytelling. Music often arrives late in the process and yet it has an uncanny ability to reshape everything around it. A cue changes the rhythm of a scene. A performance suddenly lands. An audience feels something it can’t quite explain.
That moment of recognition matters more than ever. Production schedules are tighter. Delivery expectations are higher. Audiences continue to surprise us. New technologies are reshaping how programmes are made. Through all of it, the creative decisions that matter the most remain stubbornly human. Great stories are still built on thousands of judgements, informed as much by instinct as experience.
That’s why conversations about music are rarely just about music. They’re conversations about pacing, character, tension and emotion. In other words, they’re conversations about storytelling.
At Audio Network, we’ve spent 25 years having those conversations.
