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,” which was produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. She has spoken at SXSW, Midem, Music Biz, and more.
