In this interview, Chris Martini, founder of Australian content production company Ottico Lab, shares his approach to selecting music that truly enhances visual storytelling.

From initial creative themes to licensing and production quality, Chris offers insight into how music can elevate branded content and create deeper audience connection.

When you’re finding the right track for a specific scene or moment, what’s your approach or process for selecting music that truly enhances the story?

To begin the search for music, I think it’s best to establish some of the themes that are in the production and the ideas that are linked to the production and maybe the brand you’re working on. For example, the project might have ideas that are quite natural, or ideas that are linked to the built world or are quite industrious. Grab those ideas and then start to form a keyword list and use that to begin the search.

Obviously, there’s instrumentation, tempo, and all the elements that make up a music track. They play a huge part. But honestly, nine times out of ten, I can really begin to hone that music search by trying to link it back to the brand itself and the project brief.

Can you share an example of how music transformed a piece of content Ottico Lab created for a brand/business?

A great example of a production that Ottico Lab worked on, where music really drove the project and actually transformed the content piece itself, was CyngaFlore’s Vivid 202 launch video. This content piece was built around a product range that was extremely vibrant and colourful – 202 colours to choose from, in fact.

The concept behind the visual included a lot of animation and buzzwords on screen – thought-provoking lines, making a connection between the abundance of colour and the idea of matching that to the individual customer. While the idea was strong and the product range was highly unique, with beautiful imagery, photography, and sets, it wasn’t until we had the music track – titled Madness – that the project was fully realised.

Madness is a pop track with guitar injected throughout. It’s a very unique-sounding track, and it has a vocal line. Funnily enough, the vocal had links back to our brief and product. It talked about whiteness, darkness, colour, and individuality. It was just a perfect fit.

Often when editing video or making animation, you find cue points or make timing changes to match the music. But in this particular project, we did something quite different. In my line of work, this isn’t usually done, but even though we had a script and a plan, we broke the sequence. Once we had the music, we re-sequenced the video to better match the story and flow of the track. In doing that, we re-thought and re-established the video – it completely transformed it. The music track elevated the production.

What advice would you give to other production teams about the value of investing in strong, licensed music?

In production, you get what you pay for. There are always cheaper options and quick wins – whether it’s a camera, voiceover, something AI-generated, or music. In my experience, you really need to be wary of the limitations of what you’re choosing. When it comes to music, you need quality. Ideally, you need options within that music. You definitely need to ensure the music you’re using can be licensed for your intended use and that you, as a producer, are behaving in a compliant way.

I also think it’s super important that content is made by artists – by real people, real collaborators – and that it’s ethical. I honestly believe that, as a viewer or listener, you can tell the difference. You can hear the difference in material made with real intent.

As a long-time Audio Network customer, what makes our music and services stand out above the other options?

I’ve always been a long-time Audio Network customer. It’s a partnership I’ve taken into multiple roles over the last twelve years. When starting Ottico Lab in 2017, of course Audio Network was going to be our music partner.

What really sets Audio Network apart is the quality and range of music – the types and genres, the ability to choose from multiple mixes of a track, different durations, with or without vocals, and often even different instrumentation options.

It gives me confidence that I’m being compliant, that I’m obtaining the right licenses for the intended usage of the work I’m doing. As an extension of that, I get dedicated account managers – real people who know me and understand the work I’m doing. Having an Audio Network team based here in Australia means they’re an extension of my team.

Because of all those reasons, I can confidently offer music and licensing as part of the work we produce for clients.

Lastly, as brand storytelling evolves, how do you see the role of music in video content changing in the future?

As for the future of brand content and storytelling, and how music fits in – I think it’s not too dissimilar to what we’ve been doing for the last hundred years. Styles and ideas constantly change. They come and go and often return again. So much of the work we do can date quickly. But then, ten years later, you might be working on something else and realise it shares some of the same DNA as something you’ve done before.

Then there’s technology. New gear comes out all the time – fancier cameras, lighting, faster computers. But regardless, as creators and passionate collaborators, we can’t be lazy. No matter what tools you have, you still need to go through the motions. You need to give the work the time it deserves.

So, I guess the point I’m trying to make is that things evolve – there’s nothing we can do about that. In our line of work, things do have a tendency of becoming fashionable again. But ultimately, audio and music specifically – plays an enormous part in the success of the visual. Great quality music isn’t going away anytime soon.