Late to the instrument, Antoine Le Guern first thought he would be a sound engineer. Failing to get into Louis-Lumière, he went through the American School of Modern Music in Paris, where he learned harmony. In the early 2000s, he produced his first maxis with DJ Greg Gauthier on the Kif Records label, right in the middle of the French Touch, then co-founded the group Mani with Mani Hoffman, the voice of Starlight. The group signed with My Major Company and released Bang Bang.
At 38, he changed his daily life without leaving music. He created the Agence Gaspard in 2013, learned publishing and management, and started approaching advertising agencies for composers he found too discreet. Meeting Romain Paillot made him a composers' agent for fiction. Then came executive production, followed by music supervision: for advertising at THE, the company of Raphaël Fruchard and Serge Escande, and for Nouvelle École on Netflix, which he has followed since season 2.
In this episode of Tales, Antoine looks back on a Europe concert at the Zénith that marked him around age 12 or 13, on a path full of detours, and on what the job of supervisor really involves: negotiating the use of a French rap sample, getting tracks from a talent show onto streaming platforms, or guaranteeing the origin of music in the age of AI.
Antoine Le Guern - Music Supervisor and Composers' Agent
The Tales interview
As far back as you can remember, what are your earliest memories of music?
I have two very clear ones. The first is my best friend who played saxophone. I used to go see him rehearse in his basement, and I remember thinking it looked incredibly cool. I was frustrated not to be able to play with them. I wanted to do the same.
And then there’s my first concert: Europe at the Zénith. I don’t really remember why I went, I must have been 12 or 13, I wasn’t especially a fan, but I totally freaked out. The sound, the attitude, the whole package… The Final Countdown. At the time, it was a real shock.
What was the family context around music?
There was a piano at home, my mother played it. The instrument was there, without it necessarily being structuring. I didn’t go to a conservatory. I went to a CHAM class even though I wasn’t really doing music, simply because they needed to fill the numbers.
In hindsight, I’m not sure that’s what planted the seed. But the piano was there, a few vinyls too, and when I wanted to get into it, it was naturally towards that instrument that I went.
When did you realize music would be more than just a hobby?
Quite late. I started piano lessons around 15 or 16. At the end of high school, I was already thinking it was too late to become a professional musician. I then considered becoming a sound engineer, with the idea of getting into Louis-Lumière. I tried a maths-physics path, without success.
Meanwhile, music was taking up more and more space. I had friends who bought vinyl every weekend: American rap, French rap, then later house and electronic music. We listened together, we discovered as a group. The passion also came from this collective dynamic.
When that school project failed, I decided to take music seriously. My mother was able to finance the American School of Modern Music in Paris, and that’s where it all really started.
What did that learning bring you?
Harmony. It’s the cement of many musics. Jazz gives you a language that then allows you to approach pop, electro, disco or reggae. Understanding harmony means being able to navigate between very different aesthetics.
What are the major chapters of your professional career?
Very quickly, I started producing electronic music, notably with Greg Gauthier, in the French Touch ecosystem of the early 2000s. I released my first maxis on Faster Jay’s label - Kif Records, it was an intense period: my first records, my first completed productions.
Then I co-founded the group Mani with Mani Hoffman, the singer of Starlight. We signed with My Major Company. The group didn’t settle in the ecosystem long-term but it was extremely formative.
When did you change course?
The studio was always the place where I took the most pleasure. I liked arranging, composing, producing, being behind a computer, finishing a track. And then, at 38, after the Mani adventure, I felt the need to completely change my daily life.
I never told myself I was quitting music. But I wanted to discover another side of this universe: music for picture.
I created a structure called Agence Gaspard. At first, it wasn’t really a composers’ agency, nor a company whose future form I knew precisely. However, I knew I had to train myself: in publishing, management, legal structuring. I set up the company, learned how to build a publishing structure and understand the workings of this new profession.
I had friends around me who were already working in music for image, like Maxime Lebidois, founder of Beat Assaillant. We crossed paths in the same studios in Montrouge, sometimes with the same teams. I saw their work, their talent, and at the same time I felt they didn’t put themselves forward enough.
I offered to take their demos, put them online on a site, and go pitch to advertising agencies to find projects for them. I started with no network, no established relationships, really from zero. I created the site, structured the company, began to pull on a few contacts. It was tough. No one was expecting me. But the structure moved forward, slowly.
To differentiate myself, I made a simple choice: put the composers forward. At the time, many companies presented themselves as “sound production” without ever showing the people behind the music. I displayed photos and names of the composers who trusted me. I didn’t yet see myself as an agent, but as an intermediary.
The first budgets came in. Then I met Romain Paillot. He was starting to work in fiction and offered me to become his agent. That’s when a new chapter opened. I founded Agence Gaspard in 2013, and this agent activity was structured around 2017-2018, alongside the work in advertising.
Since then, I’ve been developing both networks, advertising and fiction, under the same entity. Agence Gaspard has become both a music production structure and an agency supporting composers of music for image.
How did you then get into music supervision?
Gradually. I had signed a framework contract with the company Audible to handle the original music for the audio fictions they produced. It was in this context that I met Raphaël Fruchard and Serge Escande. I took care of the original music, they produced the content with their company Engle.
We got along very well. Raphaël offered me to join them at THE. At that time, the person in charge of music supervision for advertising was leaving the structure, and that’s how I started handling music supervision for advertising there.
How would you define the job of a music supervisor?
The job of music supervisor isn’t necessarily easy to sum up simply. It’s above all the accumulation of several skills. You need artistic skills, to know how to talk about music, legal skills for negotiating rights, and obviously people skills to manage very different situations.
It’s a job at the crossroads of several worlds, where you have to understand artistic issues, anticipate legal constraints and support the people you work with.
What does Nouvelle École represent for you?
Nouvelle École is an extremely interesting program to supervise, because it concentrates many different musical issues. It’s obviously a musical talent show, so questions related to music are omnipresent.
It’s Sasha White who entrusted me with the supervision of Nouvelle École. We’ve been handling the program since season 2, and we’re currently finalizing season 5. There are several types of music in the show. First, the original music, produced by a team of composers. You have to oversee all the negotiation between the composers and the production, and organize the creation of the music that accompanies the different moments when the talents sing in the show.
Then, there are the so-called “classic” syncs, notably those of the jury members. When SCH was present, these were syncs from his own repertoire, like for SDM. And then there are much more specific types related to the show.
I’m thinking for example of the sample episode, where the concept is to use an iconic French rap sample to create a new track, performed live in the show. There, you have to negotiate the use of the sample, but also its exploitation outside the program.
As in any talent show, the tracks have to be able to leave the show, reach the streaming platforms, and ideally allow the talents to achieve success. The mechanism is close to that of Nouvelle Star or Star Academy, except that those shows are often backed by a record label, which is not the case here.
So there was a big intermediation job to do between the production and the record labels, often majors who hold the rights to the samples, and Netflix, which is both the broadcaster of the program and producer of the content derived from it.
What is your view on AI in music today?
For now, AI does not directly impact music production in advertising, mainly because of the rights issue. You still can't guarantee the intellectual property of AI-generated music.
However, as a transformative tool, it can become interesting, as long as authorship is clear and the composer can guarantee the origin of the material.
The project you're most proud of?
Nouvelle École, for the supervision. And more broadly, every project successfully completed with the composers I work with. My pleasure is helping them work in good conditions and build their career.
If you had complete freedom in music supervision?
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games or Emilia Perez. Two very different projects, but each represents, in their own way, a form of achievement for a music supervisor.
