Uprising: How Oscar Webster Bell Built a Music Career on Niche Obsessions

“As a kid, I had that classic combo of learning difficulties and niche obsessions,” says Oscar Webster Bell. Luckily for Native Music, one of those was the guitar, and set Oscar on the path to his current career.

Now a music supervisor and composer, music featured heavily in Oscar’s formative years, picking up essential skills like recording, production, and of course, composition at The Brit School. “I also endured all the performing – not my thing, but a great experience nonetheless.” With his passion discovered, Oscar moved north to continue to pursue it at Leeds College of Music.

Above: KitKat 'Break Better', with licensing by Native Music's Oscar Webster Bell and music supervision by Oscar, Dan Neale, Fred Ashworth and Sophie Faricy

Ever the hard worker, Oscar had “tons of jobs” growing up: teaching guitar, stacking shelves at Wickes, cycling for Deliveroo – you name it. When that transformed into freelance composing, his sense of hustle became more focused: “I had a good reel but needed to get my foot in the door somewhere. So, I grafted.” Beginning with a spreadsheet of contacts at music companies, audio-post houses and game companies, he emailed and called but rarely heard back.

Oscar’s luck took a turn when his cousin happened to visit a post house as a client, and put him in direct contact with someone he’d already emailed countless times, leading to his first job as runner. It’s a classic story of connections holding more initial sway than your reel, which Oscar hopes will become less prevalent in future. “The industry has started to wake up to this and the effect it has on diversity. I’m actively trying to be part of the solution,” Oscar reflects. 

For now, he’s using the network he’s built to help others who need one, linking people up and sharing his own words of advice. One key pearl of wisdom: avoid asking for a job right away. “Instead, ask for a call or coffee to hear their story and learn about the industry. It’s inspiring for you, and helps build connections in a more natural way.”

During his time as a runner, Oscar continued to spend late nights and early mornings freelance composing, which Oscar describes as “tiring, but worth it!” It’s clear why – one of these projects landed him the job at Native.

“I wrote music for an online National Theatre promo. I like to think the Native team were impressed, as not long after that they offered me a supervision job and a studio to start composing from – the dream.” It’s this that Oscar cites as his biggest achievement. “These guys changed my career.”

In the five years since then, Oscar’s career has continued to bloom, working on brands like Ferrari, O2, and Xbox, and even winning four awards for use of music on B&Q ‘Flip’. His most satisfying projects involve bespoke composition – light orchestral briefs, in particular.

Above: B&Q 'Flip', with music supervision by Native Music's Dan Neale and Oscar Webster Bell

One of the elements he admires about composition is its originality, drawn from the unique imagination of the composer. It’s also why he doesn’t look kindly upon AI music: it can only regurgitate what it’s already learned. “At this point in time, it lacks originality and brings up very complex questions on copyright. I know one AI company that trained its software on over 30,000 scores from various composers – is it fair that they aren’t credited or paid?”

It seems to Oscar that budgets will encourage people to favour AI music over library music and small-scale media composers, but he urges those who want something truly distinct to opt out of this. “AI can’t match the innovation of a human, nor can it replicate the emotion of a musician performing live,” he points out.

Asked about what he enjoys outside of work, Oscar lists cooking, playing chess, training Muay Thai, and going to the cinema – but it’s not long before this leads back to his main passion: music.

“I love films and their scores,” Oscar enthuses. “Last year, I was obsessed with ‘Can You Hear the Music’ by Ludwig Göransson from ‘Oppenheimer’ – a real feat in composition, especially when you look into how it was written and recorded.” The ‘Minari’ soundtrack by Emile Mosseri also made it to the top of Oscar’s Spotify Wrapped, while this year, the soundtrack to ‘The Brutalist’ has blown him away. “Composer Daniel Blumberg talks about the importance of the musicians he worked with and how they brought the score to life.” Let’s hope, as Oscar does, that the role of real people’s creativity in making original music continues to be recognised.

Above: Microsoft Xbox 'Therapeutic Play', with music supervision by Native Music's Dan Neale and Oscar Webster Bell