Ten Music, Sciotto's Santa Monica-based music agency has assembled a roster of labels and artists that reads like a global who's who in the best of techno, beats, drum & bass and electronic fusionists. Eighteenth Street Lounge, V2, Nuphonic, Versatile, Ninja Tune, K7/Schacht Musik Verlage, Guidance, Om, Sunburn, Compost and Fingerlickin are the labels for artists ranging from Thievery Corporation and Alex Gopher to Kruder & Dorfmeister, Ian Pooley, Kid Koala and Faze Action, artists Sciotto connects with creatives eager to hook up their visuals with the sounds of the underground. Fresh back from the Miami Winter Music Conference (described as "spring break for DJs" by Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim), Sciotto peeled her ear away from the ground to give Boards the lowdown on the trends and artists she scoped out at the annual Floridian techno-fest.

"It's gotten consecutively more and more difficult to even view this as a conference because it's just clubbing. That's what the music is about, but it's difficult to feel intimacy when you are fighting your way through a club at four in the morning," says Sciotto, who found that the smaller parties were the best way to sit and chat with the electro illuminati.

"Then you have the opportunity to share a beer with Peter Kruder and everything feels OK. It's a great way to hear trends of what DJs will play. This year, it was all Latin and samba inspired," she says, referencing German and Austrian musicians Jazzanova, Ian Pooley and the Rainer Truby Trio (healthy doses of Afro-Cuban funk were also in the mix).

"Latin and samba make electronic music more comfortable and approachable, although it's kind of ironic that electronic music is following on the heels of pop music."

As much as she spent her time scanning the musical horizon, Sciotto also spent her time forging relationships with artists, not just labels, which explains her role in connecting their works with the more creative side of advertising, via licensing or through original compositions.

Already, Ten has procured an original Thievery Corporation track for Martini (through agency Amster Yard) and licensed their tracks or procured remixes for Dockers (FCB/San Francisco) and Gap (Gap/Modernista!). Some other collaborations? Minus 8's "Snowblind" appeared in the launch spot of the titanium PowerBook G4 for TBWA/Chiat/Day, LA. The same agency has used original tracks, remixes and licensed songs from Iceland's Bix Pender on spots for EarthLink (the ad was directed by Partizan's Michel Gondry) and Infiniti (directed by Andrew Douglas of Anonymous). Bix has also contributed tunage to spots out of Dallas' Pyro for the Dallas Mavericks and Foot Action.

Sciotto was again involved with Chiat/Day on the Apple iTunes campaign, but instead of finding music, she arranged for artists like Deep Dish to appear in the "Rip, Burn, Mix" spot directed by Kinka Usher. This led to an even more unlikely pairing, with Ten Music linking artists and tracks to an Apple print campaign for Chiat. Despite the popularity of her services, Sciotto says the level of interest is a recent development.

"There are three sections to licensing music to pictures: film, TV and advertising, and up until Nick Drake in

Volkswagen ["Milky Way"] and then Moby, advertising was the redheaded stepchild of music publishing, a bit taboo," says Sciotto. "Music publishing is an insular world so they never invested any time in the process or [figured out] how to catch the ears of creatives and integrate their music into commercials."

Since her roster reflects her personal tastes, Sciotto is not interested in working with major labels, instead focusing on niches she understands and people with whom she feels a connection.

"Licensing is the most immediate part of what we do, but my more long-term goal is to see music as a part of the

creative process earlier on," says Sciotto.

"I am introducing to artists and labels the artists from this side: the directors and creatives. These musicians are the people that often inspire that creative and hopefully they will be part of the process and not a footnote."

While many underground artists are at first hesitant to have their music linked to advertising, Sciotto says others are in many ways already in cahoots with the biz. She met Philippe Cohen-Solal of Parisian label Ya Basta! in Miami in 2000; not only did she sign Gotan Projects, Boyz From Brazil and Stereo Action Unlimited to Ten, but she discovered Solal was a film music supervisor for Lars von Trier before starting his label. When it came out that Solal had already worked with directors like Nick Brandt, Andrew Douglas and Joe Public on commercial projects...well sometimes things just come together, don't they?

Webfiles>

Ten Music> www.tenmusic.tv

Eighteenth Street Lounge> www.eslmusic.com

Nuphonic> www.nuphonic.co.uk

Ninja Tune> www.ninjatune.net

Fingerlickin> www.fingerlickin.co.uk