SixtyFour Music Appoints Jennifer Fife as Senior Music Supervisor

Full-service creative music agency SixtyFour Music welcomes Jennifer Fife as Senior Producer and Music Supervisor. Alongside fellow Senior Music Supervisor Julianne Wilson, Jennifer will oversee original music, music supervision and sonic branding projects for SixtyFour’s New York office.

Before joining SixtyFour, Jennifer served as senior producer and program manager for Antfood, where she served the music and sonic strategy needs of clients such as Starbucks, Google, PayPal and CBS.

A native Texan, Jennifer studied classical music and flute performance before moving to NYC to earn a Masters in Music Business from NYU. Jennifer spent seven years working alongside Liz Penta at Emcee Artist Management on behalf of jazz legends Medeski Martin & Wood and americana darlings The Wood Brothers before moving into music production. Armed with a deep love for the experimental side of all genres and years of professional experience in classical, jazz and americana music, Jennifer brings a well-rounded and unique approach to curating and developing music and sound for brands.

SixtyFour sat down with Jennifer to learn more about her experience, perspective on advertising sync, and love for Björk and Suzanne Ciani.

Q> Tell us a little bit about your music industry journey. How do you hope to continue growing in this new role at SixtyFour?

Jennifer> I spent most of my career in artist management, and I also managed imprints for our artists who owned their own masters. I gotta be right there where the music is being made, and be a part of the process from start to finish. Doing what I can to herald new music into the world is my calling, because the world needs music and - most importantly - I need new music. Me!!

Keeping the music industry engine humming happens in many ways, and sync is a critical one. Beyond the financial benefits, it’s creatively exciting work. When sound and picture come together in either satisfying or surprising ways, the results are divine.

At SixtyFour, I’m going to keep that magic alive in every way I can, but I hope to emphasize the potential for surprise and encourage brands and creatives to take some well-informed risks sonically. I know I can deliver on a brief, but I want to do more around the edges of a brief. We all have a unique perspective, and I hope mine can produce some fascinating results.

Q> What would you consider to be your area of expertise?

Jennifer> Foremost, I’m a Björk expert. My life’s work is to unravel her magic and then live inside it forever.

Beyond that, sonic branding is my forte. Talking about sound can feel abstract to most, and yet we all recognise its power - and I am obsessed with the finer details of sound that you can focus on in short durations. It’s a fun challenge to craft a clear methodology around the ownable characteristics of sound, and build a shared language around how sound connects emotionally with people so successfully. 

Sonic branding is more than just one two-second-long sound, though; it can be a comprehensive sonic universe with its own personality and tendencies that, when people are inside it, they immediately recognise the brand and experience the positive emotions they associate with the brand. Kind of like how I fold myself into Björk’s sonic universe and just vibe. 

Q> Who in our industry is doing work that you admire?

Jennifer> On the music side, I’m a big fan of Low Profile. Women with great taste who love music, know the biz and are hustling to get money for artists? Truly a beautiful thing. I’m also a die hard fan of the record labels Warp and Sacred Bones. I’m likely to take a record straight to the register if I see either of those logos.

On the visual side, I’m excited to work with directors who bring their unique (read: quirky) sensibilities from their films and music videos into the world of advertising. The folks at Sing Sing do this so well.

Q> What was the best concert you went to last year?

Jennifer> I saw Suzanne Ciani perform in an Ambient Church concert and felt 100% blessed. She’s a living legend, and the music she coaxes out of machines is pretty much my perfect aesthetic. The live production was also great - psychedelic projections, quadraphonic sound - all in a beautiful cathedral in Manhattan.

Q> With an all new team in the New York office, how do you anticipate SixtyFour's US presence will evolve?

Jennifer> We’re singing the praises of strategy left and right. Sometimes producing music is straightforward, but sometimes a client doesn’t know what they need, or how to even begin to explain what they need. I want brands coming to us saying: “We know sound is important, but we don’t know how to use it effectively.” Then, they trust us to dig in, do the research, explore, discover, and map it all out for them. 

SixtyFour has always been a dependable music partner, but I want to see brands leaning on us for deeper and more comprehensive approaches, bringing us in earlier so we can build a strategy that can strengthen their audio presence across all touchpoints for the long-term - not just one ephemeral campaign.

Q> Fun fact time. Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us. 

Jennifer> I have two special hobbies that I feel represent the complex dualies that live within me. One is that I’m a birder - though that’s no surprise to anyone who has talked to me for more than five minutes, because I can pretty quickly steer the conversation towards birds. The other one is powerlifting. I’m out here moving heavy barbells at 6:30AM most mornings. Don’t ask me what my 1 rep maxes are, though - despite the work I put in, my numbers are not impressive.