The Society of Composers & Lyricists is an organization founded in 1983 to represent composers and lyricists working in visual media, such as television and film. [1] [2] It sought union status in 1984 after the dissolution of the Composers and Lyricists Guild of America, but the National Labor Relations Board denied the bid on the basis that songwriters were independent contractors. Another attempt to become a union in the 1990s was also unsuccessful. [3] [4] Members of the organization also include orchestrators, arrangers, music supervisors, music agents, music attorneys, music editors, copyists, and audio engineers. [5]
Since 2020, the Society of Composers & Lyricists has presented annual awards for music in film, television, and other media. [6]
# | Date | Location | Host | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | January 7, 2020 | Skirball Cultural Center | — | [7] |
2nd | March 2, 2021 | Virtual | Michael Giacchino | [8] |
3rd | March 8, 2022 [a] | Skirball Cultural Center | Aloe Blacc | [10] |
4th | February 15, 2023 | Darren Criss | [11] | |
5th | February 13, 2024 | Siedah Garrett | [12] | |
6th | February 12, 2025 | [13] | ||
Since 2024, the organization presents awards in eight competitive categories: [2] [14]
# | Year | Film | Music by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2020 | Joker | Hildur Guðnadóttir | [15] |
2nd | 2021 | Soul | Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste | [16] |
3rd | 2022 | Encanto | Germaine Franco | [17] |
4th | 2023 | Nope | Michael Abels | [11] |
5th | 2024 | Oppenheimer | Ludwig Göransson | [12] |
# | Year | Film | Music by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2020 | Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am | Kathryn Bostic | [15] |
2nd | 2021 | Blizzard of Souls | Lolita Ritmanis | [16] |
3rd | 2022 | The Green Knight | Daniel Hart | [17] |
4th | 2023 | Everything Everywhere All At Once | Son Lux | [11] |
5th | 2024 | Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie | John Powell | [12] |
# | Year | Production | Music by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2020 | Chernobyl | Hildur Guðnadóttir | [15] |
2nd | 2021 | The Queen's Gambit | Carlos Rafael Rivera | [16] |
3rd | 2022 | The White Lotus | Cristobal Tapia de Veer | [17] |
4th | 2023 | [11] | ||
5th | 2024 | Succession | Nicholas Britell | [12] |
# | Year | Production | Music by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
5th | 2024 | Lessons in Chemistry | Carlos Rafael Rivera | [12] |
Prior to 2022, a single award was given for Original Song in a Visual Media Production, irrespective of genre.
# | Year | Song | Production | Song by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2020 | "Stand Up" | Harriet | Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo | [15] |
3rd | 2022 | "No Time to Die" | No Time to Die | Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell | [17] |
4th | 2023 | "Applause" | Tell It Like a Woman | Diane Warren | [11] |
5th | 2024 | "Can't Catch Me Now" | The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro | [12] |
Prior to 2022, a single award was given for Original Song in a Visual Media Production, irrespective of genre.
# | Year | Song | Production | Song by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2nd | 2021 | "Husavik" | Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga | Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, and Rickard Göransson | [16] |
3rd | 2022 | "Just Look Up" | Don't Look Up | Nicholas Britell, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, and Taura Stinson | [17] |
4th | 2023 | "Ciao Papa" | Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio | Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, and Guillermo del Toro | [11] |
5th | 2024 | "What Was I Made For?" | Barbie | Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell | [12] |
# | Year | Production | Music by | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2020 | Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order | Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton | [15] |
2nd | 2021 | Metamorphosis | Garry Schyman and Mikolai Stroinski | [16] |
3rd | 2022 | Battlefield 2042 | Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater | [17] |
4th | 2023 | Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök | Stephanie Economou | [11] |
5th | 2024 | Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton | [12] |
# | Year | Production | Music By | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
3rd | 2022 | Jupiter's Legacy | Stephanie Economou | [17] |
4th | 2023 | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Nami Melumad | [11] |
5th | 2024 | Home Is a Hotel | Catherine Joy | [12] |
In addition, the group presents the non-competitive Spirit of Collaboration Award to a composer and filmmaker team. [18]
# | Year | Composer | Filmmaker | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2020 | Thomas Newman | Sam Mendes | [15] |
2nd | 2021 | Terence Blanchard | Spike Lee | [16] |
3rd | 2022 | Carter Burwell | Joel and Ethan Coen | [17] |
4th | 2023 | Justin Hurwitz | Damien Chazelle | [11] |
5th | 2024 | Robbie Robertson | Martin Scorsese | [12] |
The Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score is one of the Critics' Choice Movie Awards given to people working in the film industry by the Critics Choice Association. It was first given out as a juried award from 1999 to 2001 and then competitively in 2002 onward.
Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and has toured with Animal Collective and Sunn O))). She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Laura Anne Karpman is an American composer, whose work has included music for film, television, video games, theater, and the concert hall. She has won five Emmy Awards for her work. Karpman was trained at the Juilliard School, where she played jazz by day and honed her skills scatting in bars at night.
Kathryn Bostic is an American composer and artist known for her work on award-winning films, TV, and theater. In 2016, she became the first female African American score composer to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was the vice president of the Alliance for Women Film Composers from 2016 to 2018.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am is a 2019 documentary film, directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and produced by Johanna Giebelhaus, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Chad Thompson, and Tommy Walker. The film follows American novelist Toni Morrison who examines her life, her works and the powerful themes throughout her literary career. The film also features Oprah Winfrey, Russell Banks, Angela Davis, and Barack Obama.
"Stand Up" is a song performed by English singer Cynthia Erivo and co-written by Erivo with Joshuah Brian Campbell. It was released on 25 October 2019, as the lead single from the soundtrack to the biographical film Harriet, which also stars Erivo.
Joker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the original soundtrack album to the 2019 film Joker, based on the DC Comics character of the same name, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy. The record consists of seventeen tracks from a film score written and composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir which received critical acclaim from the film industry. Hildur's score was released digitally by WaterTower Music on September 27, 2019, with a vinyl edition later released on December 13.
Chernobyl: Music from the Original TV Series is the soundtrack album to the historical drama miniseries Chernobyl, based on the aftermath of Chernobyl disaster that occurred during 1986. The musical score was composed by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, which was created using sound recordings from an actual nuclear power plant. The score album features thirteen tracks, and was released under Deutsche Grammophon and WaterTower Music labels on May 31, 2019. A vinyl edition of the soundtrack was released by Decca Records on September 6, 2019.
The Batman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the film of the same name composed by Michael Giacchino. The soundtrack was released by WaterTower Music on February 25, 2022, a week ahead of the release of the film.
Women Talking (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir for the 2022 film of the same name, directed by Sarah Polley, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews. The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand, who also serves as the producer. Hildur described the score as one of the optimistic music, she composed for a horrific subject which is relevant in the current period, referring to sexual assault against women. Hildur collaborates with Skúli Sverrisson who provides guitar solos.
The Banshees of Inisherin (Original Score) is the score album consisting of the original score composed by Carter Burwell for the 2022 film of the same name directed by Martin McDonagh. It was released on 21 October 2022 by Hollywood Records. The album was announced with a three-track sampler debuted on the Deadline Hollywood magazine. Burwell experimented the score with approaching Colin Farrell's character through "the child-like" and "Disney character"-based music as well as fiddle-themed compositions for Brendan Gleeson's character, and non-Irish music, despite the setting in 20th century Ireland. The score received a nomination for Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Feature Film, as well as Satellite Award and Golden Globe Award nomination in the "Best Original Score" category.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the score album to the 2019 film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and the third and final installment in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. Recurring DreamWorks composer John Powell, who scored for the previous two installments of the series, returned for the third film. The album features an original song, "Together from Afar" performed by Jónsi, which was released as a single on January 31, 2019. The album was released on February 1 by Back Lot Music, and was met with a positive response from music critics.