IOTM Blog
Posted: May 6, 2025
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Xander Rushie of School of Sync.
"If you're an indie artist writing, recording, or producing your own music and you’re even thinking about getting into sync licensing, there’s one tool you need to know about: DISCO...[It] is the professional standard for sharing music with music supervisors, ad agencies, and sync reps. If you’re still using Dropbox or SoundCloud to send your tracks, it might be time to level up...Unlike Google Drive or WeTransfer, DISCO was built by music supervisors for music supervisors to solve common challenges in the music industry and simplify the process of sharing and managing files. It loads quickly, preserves your metadata, and presents your music in a polished, professional way."
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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Dec 3, 2024
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post written by Xander Rushie of School of Sync.
"1. The Best Song Wins 2. Don’t write in the first person 3. Don’t Bore Us - Get To The Chorus! 4. Treat Each Section As a New Scene 5. Don’t Be Explicit..."
Posted: Nov 27, 2024
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Kristen Ford, LA based indie rock act with a passion for music business.
"Happy Thanksgiving! A time for awkward chats around the dinner table, carbs with a side of carbs, sweater weather, and Black Friday Sales! This is that unique time of the year when all the retailers, life coaches, and memberships flex their marketing muscles and slash prices. For annual memberships, this can be the BEST time to purchase."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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..."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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."
View Full ArticlePosted: Mar 21, 2023
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Kristen Ford, Nashville based indie rock act with a passion for music business and a book on DIY touring in the works.
1. Live Performances 2. Online Sales/Consignment/Out the trunk sales 3. Sync/Licensing placements 4. Private Events/Colleges 5. Streaming income...
View Full ArticlePosted: Aug 23, 2022
Category: Managers
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**Guest post written by Yona Marie, originally featured in her blog.
"Have you reached the point where you need someone else to manage many of your business aspects in order to you to be able to focus more on the creative side of things? Are you unsure of the process for getting a manager that fits your style, location, budget, and interests? You are not at all alone...Not everyone that can manage should manage you. Also, more importantly, not everyone that is looking for management is ready for it."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 18, 2022
Category: Publishing
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**Guest post written by Vampr Publishing, originally featured in their blog.
"In the digital age of being a DIY artist, many songwriters are asking how to publish a song. This is a valid question. The purpose of a music publisher is continually evolving. It needs to in an ever-changing technological landscape! To some extent, artists and songwriters can publish their own music. But – they may find it gets harder as their catalogue and network grows...Whether you’re looking to cover it alone, with your team, or looking to work with (or get signed by) a bigger publisher, this post will help you understand the ins and outs of music publishing."
Posted: Aug 10, 2020
Category: Songwriting
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**Guest post written by Kristen Ford, Nashville based indie rock act with a passion for music business and a book on DIY touring in the works.
"Hearing how the audience responds can be hugely helpful in deciding to cut that verse or extend that outro, bands often "road test" songs before committing to record them. Now that many venues are closed for Covid-19 and open mics are on hold for the foreseeable future, it can be easy to feel stuck, isolated or missing the community feel. The more collaborators you have on a project, the more possible doors could open."
View Full ArticlePosted: Jan 27, 2020
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest post by Jeff Lysyczyn, music industry veteran, educator, and creator of Music Business After Dark.
"The fifth episode of Music Business After Dark, a series of informative vlogs by music industry veteran and educator Jeff Lysyczyn."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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." View Full Article
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..." View Full Article
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." View Full Article
Posted: Jan 25, 2016
Category: The Musician Business
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**Guest Post written by Jay Rutherford of Los Colognes.
"Like millions of other morons out there, I'm attempting to make music both the primary joy and primary financial security in my life. My band Los Colognes has achieved marginal success, just enough to get mom and dad off our backs, so to speak. Without further adieu, here’s me convincing myself I have achieved some wisdom, when in reality I have no psychological control over any of it yet. Pretend this is the Old Ben Kenobi version of me, from somewhere in the future..."
View Full ArticlePosted: 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..." View Full Article
Posted: Aug 4, 2015
Category: Publishing
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**Guest post from the DIY Musician Blog.
"One of the other topics of consistent confusion for our members is the differentiation between what a publishing administrator does and what a performing rights society does. Many members of ASCAP, BMI or SESAC that I’ve heard from think their performing rights society IS their publisher and that they are getting all of the income they’re entitled to directly from that P.R.O. (performing rights organization). In this article, I relay a couple of actual questions we’ve received on the topic and try to give some clear, concise answers."
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