Business
Mark Wallace is the Owner of a new innovative start-up company called The Best Place, which was created in 2015
Mark Wallace is the Owner of a new innovative start-up company called The Best Place, which was created in 2015.
The company was originally developed to pitch music for Commercials and Media, and was so highly successful that they later evolved in to one of the largest production music libraries in the UK.
Mark Wallace is a down to earth kind of fellow and does not crave attention or validation for his work in the industry. As a matter of fact, he actively tried to avoid it.
Mark was raised in Bristol by his Korean mother and Scottish Father. He was encouraged by his mother from a very young age to have a strong work ethic and started to gain work experience when he was just fourteen years of age. He would help out, stocking shelves in a shop that belonged to his mother’s friend.
When he was age sixteen he got his first internship at Sky working in the Media Department and later went on to work for the BBC in their Accounts Department, issuing payments for Actors and Suppliers.
Mark later secured a job as an Event Manager working for Hilton Hotels, offering his services for free for a week before they eventually hired him. He had told them he was very passionate about music events and also that he had previously worked for the Students Union at his local University organising their up and coming events.
He then landed his dream job, working for The Glastonbury Festival as one of the main event co-ordinators, helping to book artists such as Tom Jones, Jamiroquai, Beastie Boys, Sinead O’connor and Oasis.
Mark’s pathway in to music then led him to land various jobs at numerous companies, but now instead of booking the artists for tv, radio or media he was now placing their music for tv / media spots. This was for companies such as ITV and Sky Sports, but he said that one of his most favourite roles was working for Playstation, placing the music for video games such as Premier Manager 99, FA P Premier League Manager 2000, LMA Manager 2003/2004, Tony Hawk Pro skater 2, Fifa 2001, Madden NFL 2002, Grand Theft Auto III and Silent Hill 2.
Sometime after this, Mark was offered a similar job in Los Angeles of which he jumped at the chance. He had always wanted to visit the United States and so he then moved and worked there for around five years placing music for TV, Film and Media. However, he did say that when you get bored in one job it is very tough to find another one right away and so sometimes you have to go months without working in this type of field. He stated that the openings and positions for these type of roles in the USA are extremely competitive.
Towards the end of his five years in the USA, Mark came across an advert for a job as A&R Manager working for a Music Agency in South Korea. He had mentioned to them that he could speak a little Korean because his mother was born in Seoul, which he believes helped him get the job, as the ad had stated that the correct person for this role would not necessarily need to speak English, but as they were looking for someone to help work in their international department as an A&R Manager, it would be useful. He believes that this helped him gain the role as he was able to translate between different departments. He did mention that it would have been a struggle without the help of his wife Ji-Min, who he had met whilst living there.
Mark later landed a job working for Mama Dance! Home of Africa’s favourite Production Music Libraries. The Production music was created specifically for use with picture e.g. Film, Advertising, Online Videos, Games, Animation and more.
He took what he had learnt from there as well as all of his experiences from his previous roles, investing and starting his own UK Company called The Best Place which has a similar method of approach, by placing Music in Commercials, Media, Films and TV.
Mark has had placements in Advertising, Movie/TV campaigns such as Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male, To Treasure Now and Forever with Only Natural Diamonds, Stranger Things, Dahmer, House of Gucci, Top Chef and many more.
His company The Best Place has become one of the Largest Production Music Libraries in the United Kingdom, where he is always actively seeking new music to place for Advertising, TV or Film.
