Posted: Jan 14, 2025

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Sync Songwriter. Their mission is to not only help independent artists and songwriters learn and understand the sync licensing world but to also help them build relationships with music supervisors.

 

"Although there are plenty of benefits to recording and releasing a cover song (especially for sync licensing), many artists never do. This is usually due to the concern regarding the legalities of releasing a cover of another person’s composition. However, covering a song legally is not as daunting as one might think. If done properly and ethically, the rewards of such a release can really benefit an artist’s career."

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Posted: Oct 23, 2024

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post originally featured in the Symphonic Distribution Blog.

 

"You may think landing a sync placement in a show is just a matter of sending your music to a music supervisor, getting picked, and getting paid. If only it were that easy! In reality, the life cycle of a sync license can be a very lengthy and complex process. In this post, Symphonic’s own Head of Sync, Jon Mizrachi, breaks it down and gives you a behind the scenes look to help you get a better idea of how it all works. Here’s the rundown..."

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Posted: Aug 13, 2024

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Caleb Murphy for Bandzoogle.com.

 

"In the sync licensing world, any little edge could help you succeed. Most importantly, you want it to be as easy as possible for sync licensing people to listen to and use your music in TV shows and movies. I’ve gotten several placements on TV shows and in indie films as an indie artist, so I want to share what I’ve learned first-hand and through research. I’m not an expert, but this article will be a good introduction to how to optimize your website for sync licensing. Hopefully, doing these things will increase your chances of getting placements."

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Posted: Feb 22, 2021

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post by Keller Medlin, a music producer based in Nashville, TN. He is also the founder of Sounds Sphere - a marketplace platform helping artists and songwriters create great songs faster and with less cost.

 

"There’s a subtle lesser known aspect of music production that has slowly become more popular over the course of the last decade. Probably the culmination of this model’s success was demonstrated with “Old Town Road” which is now the longest running No. 1 song in history...Non-exclusive licensing - and I don’t mean for sync."

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Posted: Sep 28, 2020

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Marty Dodson, a multi-hit songwriter, co-founder of SongTown, and co-author of The Songwriter’s Guide To Mastering Cowriting and Song Building: Mastering Lyric Writing.

 

"One of the most popular questions we get at SongTown is “how many songs should I send to a producer or publisher?” The prevailing myth for aspiring songwriters is that “more shots equals a better chance of something great happening”. I want to dispel that myth and to explain why pitching your songs with a shotgun is NOT the best way to hit your mark."

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Posted: Sep 24, 2018

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post originally featured on Ditto.com.

 

"Getting your music featured in a TV show, movie or even a video game can not only help your music reach the ears of new fans, but also generate a substantial amount of cash, so it's well worth looking into sync licensing. Before we get into the HOW, let me very quickly explain WHAT music sync licensing is and WHY you need to strongly consider licensing your music for synchronization."

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Posted: May 21, 2018

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Scott Aumann, originally featured on The Legit Musician blog.

 

"If you are trying to license your music then you really need to think about alternative versions. Especially, instrumental versions of your songs."

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Posted: May 22, 2017

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Donna Kay of Donna Kay & The Carousers.

 

"After the time and expense of recording, mixing, designing the cover artwork, and launching the CD, I had two tasks: Copyright the CD, and obtain the licenses to release (for sale) and perform our version of “Minor Swing”...I had to obtain two permissions to use the song: One from the owner of the publishing rights, and after submitting their permission in writing, the Easy Song standard licensing fee to record and perform our version of the song. This took a full month of digging, e-mailing, getting responses and finally finding two brothers in NYC who run a publishing company and own the rights the song."

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Posted: Oct 31, 2016

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post by Brian Penick as featured on the SOUNDSTR Blog.

 

"Editor’s Note: This infographic is intended to visualize the world of General Licensing and how proposed changes could affect songwriters and music licensees."

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Posted: Oct 24, 2016

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand, the author of How To Make It in the New Music Business. It originally appeared on Digital Music News.

 

"I’ve been lucky enough to have my songs placed about 30 times over the past 6 years in TV shows, films and commercials. Well, luck really had little to do with it. There’s very little luck involved in the music industry. Lazy people like to say that it’s all luck. That’s just plain ignorant. There’s no such thing as a “lucky break.” There are little victories. There are opportunities. There are people working their asses off behind the scenes..."

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Posted: Mar 21, 2016

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Matt Bacon, originally featured on IndependentMusicPromotions.com.

 

"I’ve spent a lot of time in the last couple of weeks learning about music licensing for a friend I’m helping on a project...It’s been a pretty interesting experience for a variety of reasons – but mostly because before the beginning of the month I didn’t really know what music licensing was. Since then I have learned quite a bit, spent countless hours pouring over articles and have gotten to explore what it means to engage in this potentially highly lucrative segment of the music industry."

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Posted: Dec 14, 2015

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Michael Gallant as featured in the Disc Makers' Echoes Blog.

 

"Think your music is ready for games, TV, and film? Here’s advice on how to pitch your music for video games and how to optimize your chances of getting placed..."

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Posted: Nov 17, 2014

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Jennifer Kes Remington, composer and filmmaker, as featured on Pyragraph.

 

"So in my quest to throw multiple things against the wall and hope that money comes out of it, I’ve been licensing a lot of my music to library companies...I asked a few other composer friends if they knew of any library companies offhand. On their initial recommendations, I started entering my music into a couple music libraries, and waited and watched as the royalties came in..."

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Posted: Aug 4, 2014

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Ari Herstand. It originally appeared on Ari's Take. 

 

"There is no one way to get music placed on TV (or in film). In addition to how I've gone about it, I've spoken with many of my musician friends who make livings on song placements about this." So what is their advice?...

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Posted: May 5, 2014

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Mallory Zumbach, Sr. Director of Creative at Round Hill Music.

 

"You might be wondering what exactly a company like RHM looks for when they’re signing a songwriter, artist, or band with the goal of having significant synch success with them. First and foremost, of course, we want to work with tremendously talented people. The music has to make us sit up and take notice the first time we hear it—if it does, we know that people in the synch world will take note, too..."

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Posted: Jan 20, 2014

Category: Licensing

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**Guest post written by Chris "Seth" Jackson, a bass guitarist and composer and founder of HowToRunABand.com.

 

"My band is recording a cover song, Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Since it’s a cover song, I need to get the rights to use it. I found a really easy and affordable way to license the music! But, I also found a giant and annoying snag in regards to YouTube. A snag so big it makes me a bit resentful of the music industry’s antiquated ways."

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