Deborah Mannis-Gardner
Sizzle Reel
DMG Sizzle Reel via Citizen Racecar
Recent Press Coverage
- Billboard Women in Music 2024 – Billboard (Deborah featured)
- Can Sampling Survive in the Age of AI? – The Ringer (Deborah quoted)
- Billboard’s 2023 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players Revealed – Billboard (Deborah selected)
- Why nobody got paid for one of the most sampled sounds in hip-hop – The Hustle (Deborah quoted)
- Deborah Mannis-Gardner – Forbes 50 Over 50
- The World Tonight (3/21/2023) – BBC (Deborah interviewed at 26:15)
- Hvilket grimt og grådigt mareridt: Efter 34 år kommer pladen, du ikke måtte høre – Politiken
- How Deborah Mannis-Gardner Helped Clear De La Soul’s Catalog for Streaming – HipHopDX
- De La Soul’s Music Is Finally Back. It’s a Bittersweet Victory. – New York Times (Deborah quoted)
- How do you clear the samples for De La Soul’s “3 Feet High & Rising”? (and for Drake, Wu Tang…) – Music Ally Focus podcast
- Here’s How De La Soul Cleared The Samples For Their Classic Catalog’s Streaming Debut – OkayPlayer.
- EP. 47: Understanding Sample Clearance with the Queen of Sample Clearance Deborah Mannis-Gardner – Music is My Business Podcast
- Music in the Metaverse: Redefining Music Rights in the Web3 World – Music Business Worldwide
- After ‘Roe’: Music’s Leaders on How to Take Action – Billboard (Deborah quoted)
- In the Clear(ance) – Deborah Mannis-Gardner on Licensing Music in the Metaverse – Synchblog
- 4 Points to Hit for a Successful Livestream Concert – Adweek (Deborah quoted)
- For Lil Wayne, Mac Miller & More, Bringing Mixtapes to Streaming Is a Boon — But Clearing Them Is ‘Hell’ – Billboard
- Music’s in the Clear: An interview with music clearance expert Deborah Mannis-Gardner – GameDeveloper.com
To see past press coverage, click here.
Press Releases
- Deborah Mannis-Gardner Selected for Forbes 50 Over 50 and Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players Lists
- Deborah Mannis-Gardner Serves as Music Supervisor of Upcoming Neil Bogart Biopic ‘Spinning Gold’
- Deborah Mannis-Gardner Clears Soundtrack for Illuminarium’s Newest Experience “GEORGIA O’KEEFFE: One Hundred Flowers”
To see past press releases, click here.
Photo credits Gene Smirnov
Bio
Deborah Mannis-Gardner — the “Queen of Sample Clearance” according to Billboard, Forbes, Midem, Music Week, Okayplayer, Variety, and more — is the go-to expert for global music rights clearances. After starting DMG Clearances, Inc. in 1996, Deborah’s sample clearance skills quickly became legendary, and she has cleared releases for artists including Drake, Tyler the Creator, DJ Khaled, Eminem, Pop Smoke, Logic, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, John Legend, Megan Thee Stallion, Big K.R.I.T., Brockhampton, French Montana, Big Sean, J. Cole, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and more. In 2023, she worked with Reservoir to clear samples and prepare the De La Soul catalog for its long-awaited release on streaming services.
Deborah has also handled music clearances for video games such as Rockstar Games franchises “Grand Theft Auto” and “Red Dead Redemption,” as well as Turtle Rock Studios’ “Back 4 Blood”; metaverse platforms such as Meta and Roblox, including a live concert from Post Malone; films by Martin Scorsese, The Coen Brothers, and Richard Linklater; TV series on networks such as HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and Paramount+; ad campaigns for Google, Ciroc, and Kmart; and podcasts such as Rick Rubin and Malcolm Gladwell’s “Broken Record” and Dave Chappelle, Talib Kweli, and yasiin bey’s “The Midnight Miracle.” In addition, Deborah has handled Grand Rights clearance for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway sensation “Hamilton” and music clearances for its release on Disney+, as well as political campaign music clearances for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign.
Deborah was the award-winning music supervisor of HBO’s Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine docu-series “The Defiant Ones,” and recently expanded her music supervision credits with the Neil Bogart biopic “Spinning Gold” and U2 Sarajevo documentary “Kiss the Future.” In 2023, she was selected for the Forbes 50 Over 50 and Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players lists, for which she has continued to earn her status by clearing samples for the Drake album “For All the Dogs” and its single “Slime You Out” featuring SZA, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Deborah has spoken at SXSW, Midem, Music Biz, the A3C Festival & Conference, CMJ, the Nashville Film Festival, and SyncSummit Nashville, as well as at New York University (NYU), Temple University, and Widener College. She currently sits on York College of Pennsylvania’s Music Industry Advisory Board.