Music supervisor Jen Malone on Euphoria, Wednesday, and why sync licensing is misunderstood

The woman behind the needle drops

Jen Malone is one of the most consequential music supervisors working in film and television today. According to Billboard, her placements on Euphoria generated streaming bumps of up to 10,000% for songs featured in the show. That kind of cultural lift is rare, and it helps explain why her client list kept growing. Malone now runs her own firm, Black and White Music, an all-women team that has handled sync for shows including Beef, Wednesday, Will Trent, Umbrella Academy, and more.

A job nobody fully understands

In her conversation with Billboard's On the Record podcast, Malone was direct about the gap between perception and reality. "Music supervision is one of the most misunderstood jobs in this industry," she said. The work begins before cameras roll: any moment where music is performed on screen, from a wedding band to someone singing in a shower, has to be cleared and arranged in pre-production. That means working across casting, props, locations, and licensing simultaneously. It is, as she put it, "a full production job."

Budgets stuck in the past

One persistent frustration is money. Malone noted that song licensing costs have risen significantly over the last decade, with a notable jump after the pandemic, but many productions are still budgeting at decade-old rates. The mismatch creates pressure on supervisors who need to run multiple projects just to stay profitable. "The business model is terrible for a music supervisor," she admitted, though she added that the showrunners and post producers on her shows have generally protected her budgets.

Catalog consolidation and a surprising Springsteen story

On the question of whether catalog acquisitions are driving prices up, Malone offered a counterintuitive take. She argued that many artists who once avoided sync deals are now more open to them, which has actually eased some clearances. Her example: landing Bruce Springsteen for Wednesday was, in her words, "actually an easy clear," despite the surprise it caused in the industry.

Why she left Euphoria

Malone confirmed to Billboard that she will not be working on Euphoria season 3. She did not detail the reasons at length, but the departure closes a chapter on one of the most talked-about soundtrack collaborations in recent television history. After years on Atlanta, her first major TV credit where she spent considerable time clearing hip-hop, Euphoria became the project that put her name in wider circulation.

The full episode of On the Record is available on YouTube and other podcast platforms.