October 31, 2022
Landing your first sync placement can be tough but not impossible. The more you submit music for sync the greater your chances of getting that coveted placement in film, TV, or advertising.
But sync placement is much more than just a numbers game. It’s also about relationships and building a rapport with music supervisors so that they regard you as a trusted source.
In this Sync Songwriter blog post, we’ll outline the steps you need to take before you even make that first pitch. Follow these guidelines and you will be well on your way to having what it takes to succeed in sync licensing. If you’re new to sync and aren’t sure what it’s all about, start by checking out our guide, “What is Sync Licensing” here.
You’ve spent years honing your craft and you’ve written great songs with catchy melodies, great hooks, and engaging lyrics.
Your songs are strong and you think they would be perfect for placement in TV or film. You feel ready. Perhaps.
Before you can submit music for sync licensing, it is imperative that you make a reality check.
Is the song you are wanting to pitch to music supervisors “broadcast quality?” Would it meet the needs of the project or sync brief? Do you have an instrumental version?
Remember, music supervisors get hundreds of pitches for any given sync placement. Most are from trusted sources including record labels, publishers, sync agents, music libraries, and artists they may have worked with in the past.
Your track must be an excellent recording that has been professionally mixed and mastered.
In other words, if you were to place your song in a playlist of similar artist songs, or even with artists you were influenced by, would your song stand up to the rest? That is your competition.
And since music supervisors generally ask for an instrumental version as well (with no vocals), your instrumental track must also be broadcast quality.
If you are new to sync licensing, you may feel that if your song is radio friendly and ideal for streaming, it should also be perfect for sync placement, but that’s not always the case.
Before you submit music for sync licensing, consider the following.
The four components of broadcast quality music include:
1. Excellent Performances
2. Excellent Quality Recording
3. Professionally Mixed
4. Professionally Mastered
We’ve already covered why your songs and instrumentals need to be broadcast quality. There are the odd times, however, when music supervisors are looking for period-specific songs that were recorded back in the 70s, 80s, or 90s.
These songs may not be broadcast quality but that is what they are looking for at the time. These types of requests are the exception rather than the rule.
Make sure all your newly recorded material including the vocal and instrumental tracks, are broadcast quality before you submit it for music licensing.
Along with TV and film, music supervisors sometimes work across a wide spectrum of projects including indie films, network shows, gaming, and movie trailers, plus advertising. Songs that might work for TV and film may not work for trailers or for advertising and vice versa.
The music supervisor’s job is to find the best song to complement the story that is shown on screen. The song needs to help advance the plot and emulate what the characters are feeling so do your research before you pitch.
Your songs must also fit the mood and subject matter of the project. Songs that have universal themes and can fit many different scenarios are easier to place. That doesn’t mean your lyrics need to be generic, just applicable to different sorts of shows, movies, or ads.
It’s not impossible, but it is difficult to find a general sync placement for songs that are centered around politics, the environment, or other specific causes. They may be better suited to documentaries on the subject.
Songs that are very linear with little dynamics are tougher to place in sync licensing. There are just fewer opportunities for them. Producers and editors tend to favor songs that have some dynamic shape and build to them that will give them more options when editing.
Lyrics that are specific and mention proper names or places tend to be “too-on-the-nose”, making them difficult to use for sync placement. If your song has explicit lyrics, you must always declare this upfront. It’s not a bad idea to also record a clean version of your song so you can submit both versions when pitching.
If the vocal melody is constant throughout the song it can get in the way of dialog. Music editors prefer songs with musical breaks between the lyric lines since this makes it a lot easier when editing.
Songs that end with fade-outs get fewer placements than songs with a definitive ending. Part of your job as a songwriter is to make the music editor’s job as easy as possible so it’s best to avoid fade-outs on the songs you submit for sync placement. This can make it difficult for the music editor to find a quick out point for the song without it sounding cut off.
Try to always have broadcast quality instrumentals (with vocals removed) ready to pitch as well. Though not always necessary, more and more projects are starting to request the stems as well.
Stems don’t mean all the individual tracks. A drum stem will have all the drum parts mixed together. A background vocal stem will have all the background vocals mixed together. So your stems may include drums, background vocals, guitars, keyboards, strings, percussion, etc.
You can read more about what stems are or by watching this quick video:
Hey! Give us a shout about anything really.
Our goal is for you to start getting your music into TV & film.
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