Made Music Studio Announces Number of Promotions and Hires

Made Music Studio, the award-winning sonic branding and design agency, announces a round of new promotions and hires in response to the agency’s continued growth in 2021. Looking ahead to 2022, the agency’s focus will be to continue to expand its portfolio of creative audio solutions and services to better serve their global clients including American Express, AT&T, and PepsiCo and entertainment brands including Star Wars Theme Park, HBO, The Superbowl on NBC and IMAX. 

Made Music’s new technology arm, VentureSonic, an internal incubator for exploring new technologies, partnerships and applications for creative audio, will be bringing on Ben Arons as its first VP, director of music technology. In this newly created role, Ben will be focused on audio innovation projects from development to beta testing, creation to refinement, to deliver on client and industry needs. 

Previously, Ben worked as an independent recording producer, sound designer and mixer for projects including the Intel Sonic Logo, Discover Sonic Logo, Credible Sonic Logo, Boeing, MSNBC, Drums for The Muppets’ Animal in Geico Home Insurance (National TV Commercial), and Invesco QQQ (National TV Commercial). His affiliation with Made Music Studio began in 2001 where he has held a variety of roles as composer, sound designer and producer, both in house and in freelance capacities.

Made Music’s Danielle Venne, EVP, executive music producer + director of innovation, who has been overseeing the creative team for Frito-Lay, AT&T Discovery District and American Express, will be adding VentureSonic to her purview as creative lead for the technology group. 

New areas of exploration will focus on audio design experiences for autonomous vehicles, new platform-based audio innovations, the future of retail and work environments and location-based entertainment attractions. 

“Made Music has always been a pioneer in the application of sound and music for brands in the world. Our founder wrote the book, literally, on sonic branding. Our new VentureSonic group is the natural evolution of our expertise in creating iconic sound and music along with our growing body of research and data intelligence on the impact of music and sound on human behaviour. With new audio technology solutions at our fingertips through partners like Spatial we are now able to create even more impactful emotional experiences everywhere, from physical spaces to the metaverse,” shares Lauren McGuire, president of Made Music 

Amy Crawford and Alex Coutts, two veteran Made Music executives, will also have new and expanded leadership responsibilities as part of the overall growth strategy.

Amy’s new role as SVP, head of creative, music and culture, will be dedicated to ensuring world class creative output across the Made Music production teams. This will include creative team process, operations, staffing and cross departmental collaboration. She will also continue to spearhead the Belonging, Dignity, Justice and Joy initiatives (a DEI alternative framework created by Decolonize Design), focused on the creation of iconic and enduring music and sound in collaboration with writers from underrepresented groups. 

Previously, Amy was SVP, executive music producer and director of artist relations at Made Music. A composer, artist and producer, Amy has creative directed and/or created music and sound for global brand and entertainment clients including Disney, HBO, CBS Entertainment, ESPN, Citi, AT&T, Hulu, TCM and Viacom brands including Paramount Network and CMT.

In his new role, Alex will be leading Made Music's client experience department as SVP, head of experience - partnering across all facets of the business to further Made Music’s best in class creative work and cultural impact in sonic branding, design, and research. 

Since joining Made Music in 2016 as account supervisor, Alex has led the client experience teams for NPR, TCM, Polaris, Doritos as well as Made Music Studio’s location-based entertainment projects for AT&T Discovery District, WarnerMedia and American Express, most recently as VP, managing director.