Music Is Before Everything: Meet Mike Amoia and Pete Zepina, the Minds Behind MIBE Music
As an ambitious writer and producer, Mike Amoia, back in the `90s, was determined to earn a living from composing music and staying creative in New York City. Diversifying his skill set with an eye for staying within the music industry, Mike branched out into video editing and eventually formed a post-production company. But when he met the similarly driven Pete Zepina, he recognized a kindred entrepreneurial spirit. Pooling their extensive backgrounds, experience and enthusiasm, Amoia and Zepina conceived of a music publishing company that could cover all the bases, from composition and production to licensing, branding, and all points in between. The pair founded MIBE Music (Music Is Before Everything).
Almost a decade later, MIBE Music is a leading global music agency working with advertisers, production companies, film studios, artists, musicians, and networks around the world. Their work has been highlighted in some of the biggest television and commercial events in recent history. MIBE has scored the opening theme to the NBA finals and Monday Night Football, the People’s Choice Awards, NBC’s Olympic coverage, as well as unscripted programming airing on all the major broadcast networks, such as A&E, CBS, Discovery, ESPN, FOX, HBO, MTV, Nat Geo, Nickelodeon, Showtime, and more.
BMI sat down with Mike Amoia and Pete Zepina to find out more about this remarkable venture. Here’s what they had to say.
How did you two get started?
Mike Amoia: When I was in my early twenties, I had a passion for writing music and tried to pay the bills doing so. I was into technology, studying the latest audio samplers, sequencers, DAW etc. But this wasn’t paying the bills, and I was hard up struggling to make ends meet. Then in the early 2000’s, I decided to make a career shift and get into video editing. I figured if I knew how to work an SSL mixer with Pro Tools, I can apply the same techniques to AVID Media composer software and edit television. One of my first editing gigs was at MTV which made the transition even more seamless. I just needed to replace the way I worked with music with visuals. It was music on TV. This was the early 2000’s, when reality TV was starting to take off. From there, I noticed an opportunity to place some of my friend’s music in TV and I started doing it on a show called ODB on Parole for VH1 and MTV Cribs. I started a post-production facility called Vidiots in the West Village in New York City, and the thought of launching a music publishing company wasn’t in the cards. All my time went to Vidiots, until years later when Pete Zepina and I met, and we decided to officially launch MIBE Music. Pete was one of my best friends and had an extensive background in music. Plus, he was trustworthy and is great with clients, he knows a lot of composers; we both thought this would make a great fit. The rest is history.
Pete Zepina: My passion has always been music; from an early age I knew that I wanted a career in music. I was in bands, had a record deal, charted a record in Billboard and then opened Taboonyc recording studios in Chelsea in New York City. It was the late `90s, and our studio became the go-to spot for all of the local tri-state area talent. We had an eclectic blend of vintage gear and all the latest and greatest digital gear as well. We offered two different control rooms off of our live room: one for two-inch tape and one for digital recording. I was engineering and producing across so many different genres of music, meeting incredibly talented people, and forming great relationships. Word of our place spread so quickly that we were always booked 6 months out. It was a fun time for sure. Mike and I were best friends; he was running Vidiots Post, and I was running Taboonyc, we always thought it would be fun to do something together since we were like minded. That opportunity presented itself when Mike was working on MTV Cribs and was looking for music to elevate the sound of the show. I had access and relationships with a lot of musicians and producers and Mike had the TV access, so it was an easy match.
What do your respective roles within the organization involve?
Mike Amoia: At this point we play equal roles as our team runs the day to day and Pete and I oversee our respective projects. Certain creative projects I will manage with the team and Pete will manage other creative projects with the team so there’s no crossover confusion. If Pete and I need a second opinion about a project from there we would share with each other, but we always funnel the communication from whoever is running point on that project. This becomes way less confusing for our team when the message comes from one person in a company with two founders.
Pete Zepina: Mike and I spent a lot of time structuring the team and setting up tight systems where we always know what’s going on but not get in the way of everyone doing their job. We’re so proud of our team and everything runs super well-oiled that a lot of our day to day is strictly focusing on growth.
As founders of MIBE Music, how does your background as songwriters and producers help you in your roles?
Mike Amoia: I ran a post-production/production company for a little over 20 years and edited, produced, and directed a lot of shows, some of which are still on TV. The Monday Night Football open, MTV Cribs, The Chappelle Show, March Madness features, NBA Finals, World Cup, etc. Pete helped produce a bunch of our shows as well; we spent a lot of hours in the edit together discussing story structure and how choosing the right music and music structure supports the narrative. When we discuss creative direction with our clients both Pete and I agree the number one thing to do is put ourselves back in that edit chair. It’s important to understand what the story is all about, but also how music relates to it. At MIBE, our music is the background extra in the storytelling. Sometimes the background extra has a line on camera but most of the time they’re adding texture in the scene to make it feel right and really evoke the emotion from the viewer.
Pete Zepina: Our background is a huge part of it. Mike and I have been writing and producing music for a long time. Our understanding of how the music is written as well as recorded really bridges the communication gap with composers. But even more important to the workflow is our understanding of the production process of the content that our music scores into. Producers and editors may know what they want but they may not be able to verbalize it correctly. Being able to communicate with editors and producers and then translate that information to our composers has made all the difference.
What would you say is the primary function of your company?
Mike Amoia: To elevate storytellers with the most authentic music based on what the genre is. We’re like the sonic set designers for our client’s projects.
Pete Zepina: From original compositions to custom scoring, getting our clients premium sounding music to fulfill their needs quickly and correctly is our main focus. At MIBE, our team of composers are the best in the business; they, eat, breathe, sleep and dream music. It’s an honor to be surrounded by so many talented people.
What tips would you offer a composer trying to place their music in advertising, film, and/or television?
Pete Zepina: There are so many composers trying to break in. It’s a relationship game that is built on a long history of trust, so you need to be buttoned up on all fronts. Building that trust takes time. This business is 24/7, so you need to be available 24/7.
Mike Amoia: As a composer, think about what your best, most authentic genre of music you write in and see what films / shows that music fits with best. Stay true to what comes most naturally. I see a lot of composers chasing placements writing a type of music that they know nothing about. As a composer, you might understand how other genres of music are made, but if you’re not immersed in the culture of that genre of music there’s a chance the authenticity BS meter will go off.
What is the process for completing a project? Does everybody have a hand in the final product or is it up to each composer working on the project to deliver it?
Pete Zepina: Our process relies strongly on not wasting people’s time. We speak TV production, and we speak music so delivering a clear direction to our composers is one of our strong points. Our composers appreciate the fact that nothing gets lost in translation. If the composer submissions match the creative, we are good, but if it’s custom, then we leave it to the client to decide.
Mike Amoia: We try to give all our composers a fair shot at pitching for each project depending on the genre of music needed. If there’s a show that requires Hip-Hop music and our roster of rock composers want to pitch, we don’t allow that. We push to keep everyone focused and dialed in to what genres they do great in and that always returns the best results creatively for our clients.
What business advice would you share?
Mike Amoia: Be kind, pay it forward and work hard. Have a vision with realistic goals and everything will come to place.
Pete Zepina: Surround yourself with people with vision and never be the smartest person in the room. Stay humble, mentor the next generation, help those who are less fortunate.
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