May 2023
Julian Krohn created the Scholz & Friends Sounds department at Scholz & Friends in 2021. They consult companies on music supervision, artist cooperations and licensing, as well as developing and producing successful audiovisual formats. Krohn is responsible for the audio and music campaigns of brands like McDonalds, UBER, VW, Sparkasse, PayPal amongst many others.
Until 2021 Krohn served for 6 years as Creative Director Music at creative agency Jung von Matt, where he was responsible for the music strategy of brands like Vodafone, BMW, BOSCH, Douglas, EDEKA and many more.
Before his career in advertising he spent many years at Universal Music, holding positions such as A&R Manager at Island Records and Repertoire Manager at Universal Music Publishing.
He’s a music mastermind with a whole wealth of experience! Let’s dive deeper into his world…
MASA: We’d love to hear a bit about your musical background and how it got you into the world of advertising?
JULIAN: I grew up in a musical family, with my dad being a dancer and my brother a drummer. For me it was always about music and finding new ways of being creative. I always loved being on stage, so I started rapping – and went on tour with my crew. I started in the music industry in 2003 at Universal Music in Berlin with the dream of discovering and working with artists - and became an A&R a few years later. The moment that brought me to advertising came, when I started supervising soundtracks for Universal. For me it was the greatest thing, to combine music and moving pictures. It felt like I had much more creative freedom, then when just “selling music”. I specialized in that niche - music supervision and music licencing - and started to work in the advertising industry in 2015.
MASA: You joined Scholz & Friends, starting up Scholz & Friends Sounds, in 2021. Can you tell us about how it’s progressed since?
JULIAN: Scholz & Friends Sounds started in June 2021 as a one man show – and since then we’ve managed to grow the team as well as the output. In-house, we created a little buzz around “music first campaigns” – for those we look for the right song and artist before shooting, and plan the whole production around it. We’ve had some significant success with this approach, for example with campaigns like UBER EATS “Erstmal Essen” (“eat first”) with artist Dilla, or McDonald’s “Lieben Wir” with Shirin David.
MASA: That’s certainly the best way to do it! Next question… what does an average day look like for you?
JULIAN: There is no average day! Nowadays I try to attend as many showcase festivals, concerts etc as possible, to stay in the loop regarding new music. The rest is video calls, studio work, presentations – and obviously listening to a lot of music…
MASA: What are the main considerations for the team when deciding on music for an ad? How do you ensure that what you choose aligns with the brand's identity?
JULIAN: The main reason for a song will always be the fit to the film. There’s a lot of discussions involved, with the director, the creatives, the client, as well as the music producers and/or artists. Additionally to that, we make sure to match the brand attributes with those of the songs and artists. There are actually also great new AI programs, like Cyanite for example, to check that a song is on brand.
MASA: How do you go about finding new artists and writers? Do you accept unsolicited submittals?
JULIAN: I listen to music on all possible levels – whether it’s radio, Spotify, TikTok, YouTube… I also love newsletters – and obviously direct tips from the network. I also love my release radar on Spotify, where I follow thousands of artists. We definitely accept unsolicited submittals – the question is whether we’re able to listen to it, timing-wise.
MASA: What has been a favourite spot that you’ve worked on recently? And why?
JULIAN: I personally love the UBER EATS “Erstmal Essen” campaign – because of the music first approach (we held a song camp to select the right song & artist) and because of the cooperation with the artist DILLA, who also acts in the spot. It feels just very modern and cool – and has a music video vibe, which I love.
MASA: And has there been a particularly challenging job during your time there?
JULIAN: Isn’t every job challenging in some way? I love challenges, they let you grow.
MASA: What is the best gig you have EVER been to??
JULIAN: EVER?!? That’s tough. I once stage dived on a gig from Radiohead – I think that was my one time stage diving, and it was their last song. The crowd “handed” me from the first row to the last. There are so many other great experiences though.
MASA: And lastly, what will you be looking for when judging? What makes a piece of work worthy of a Music+Sound Award?
JULIAN: It would be great to be surprised by a work, because it has taken chances and risks. I’ll be looking for edgy productions and lots of fresh music and artists. So much looking forward to this!
To find out more about Scholz & Friends Sounds, visit their website here.
