For the sixth instalment of our Women of West One Music Spotlight series we head to Dublin, Ireland. We spoke with Sally O’Connor, who is based in the Dublin office, about her journey into the Production Music world and delved into her role at West One Music as a Music Supervisor and Senior Music Consultant.
Tell us a bit about your journey into the music industry?
I come from a musically rich town in the West of Ireland. There was always a session going on and I grew up playing music, surrounded by all kinds of creative and talented musicians.
I worked a lot in live music promotion throughout the years while studying music composition and technology at Trinity College Dublin.
While I love the live music scene I was always particularly interested in music for film and TV and made the decision to seek out a career in the music sync world. After university, I moved to London and started working for a production music label called JGM, which led to a job in EMI Production Music. I worked there for almost two years as a creative assistant to the production team, working closely with the composers writing music for the catalogue. That was my first delve into music publishing and the production music industry, and what I learned in that job prepared me for the role I would go on to take in West One Music.
Can you talk about your role at West One Music Group and how it has developed?
I started working for West One Music in February 2017 as a music consultant, hired to officially set up the WOMG Irish office in Dublin. The goal was to grow our Irish database of clients and consult with them on music for their productions. It was just me full-time in the Dublin office for two and a half years until last year we hired Emily Shaw. It has been amazing growing the team and developing into my current management role as senior music consultant, as well as expanding into full-service music supervision, including pitching our incredible composers for custom work.
Day to day I’m in touch with editors, producers and directors, working with them to help shape the music for their projects. We work across all the different media sectors, mainly advertising, tv and film, so no day or project is the same! As well as that we work closely with the marketing team organising our Irish events, and with the production team on the Irish A&R side of things. We always endeavour to further contribute to the music industry in Ireland and we have some exciting things coming down the pipeline for next year – watch this space!
My favourite thing about working with WOMG is that I’m still learning new parts of the industry all the time – it’s a continuous challenge in the best way possible. With the recent growth of our team, we’ve been able to expand our efforts and focus on Northern Ireland too, which is another amazing creative hub for film and TV.
What advice do you have for anyone starting out in the industry?
My advice would be: If you want something, ask for it. The worst that can happen is you get told no. Find people working in an area of the industry that appeals to you and ask them questions. Enthusiasm goes a long way. It’s not the easiest industry to make a career in, and you have to be a go-getter, but it’s very rewarding if you’re willing to put in the hard work.
What is your favourite album on the West One Music catalogue?
I definitely have a soft spot for our two Irish trad albums – WOM 488 Irish Trad: Old & New and WOM 487 Ceol: Stories in Song – as I was involved in the making of them, and the incredible musicians and composers on the albums are friends of mine. The recording sessions for these albums are still some of my favourite memories of working with WOMG so far.
Check out the video for the making of both the Irish trad albums below and find out more on the West One Music’s blog by clicking here.
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