Question 1

How do I License my Music for TV and film?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

The first step is to educate yourself as much as you can about what’s involved with publishing and licensing music, by reading online blogs such as this one, watching YouTube videos on the subject, and reading some books on the subject.
You might consider taking a college course on music industry, music publishing, or music licensing if one is available to you. There are some good online courses from reputable colleges, often taught be experts in the field.
There are many high-quality educational resources and arming yourself with some specialized knowledge will help you to succeed. Do some homework before taking concrete steps so you won’t make avoidable mistakes.
Some steps you might take are as follows. (These steps do not need to be taken in the exact order as presented here.)

Have your music professionally recorded
Have your music copyrighted
Register with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO)
Self-publish your music or sign with a music publisher
Get your tracks ready in different formats, including instrumental stems
Embed metadata in all tracks
Research music libraries and music supervisors to pitch to
Catalogue your songs with descriptions and keywords so they will be discoverable in music libraries, and allow you to track payments and placements
Build your professional network, online image and reputation

Read the rest of this article to get a more complete idea of the steps involved.

Question 2

What does a Music Publisher do?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Music publishers are companies or individuals who have two basic tasks, to generate income from music through commercial placement, and to get the artist paid for the use of their works. This involves navigating the complex legal landscape of licensing and transferring copyrights, marketing and distributing music to artists, films, TV, video games, and other media sources, (I removed this hyperlink because unrelated to topic.) plus monitoring the use, and tracking the payments, or royalties paid.
Music publishers seek out new talent to sign at various levels, make sure their music is properly registered with performing arts rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC (In the US), protected by copyright, and they also handle promotion and many other purely administrative tasks. They might be heavily involved in the creative process, or they may just manage the licensing paperwork for songwriters and composers.

Question 3

What’s the difference between Publishing and Licensing?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Music publishing refers to the management and administration of agreements and methods for transferring the rights to musical works (i.e., recorded tracks, printed music, or scores) for commercial use, in other words, to earn money. A musician can publish their work themselves, but certain parts of the administrative process take a lot of work and can be fairly complicated to handle for an individual.
Publishing companies will sign an artist to a publishing deal which spells out the terms of how their music is placed into films, TV, or other media, how the agreements work, and how much of the revenue (money earned) they will take as their fee or commission when a work is licensed commercially. Publishers will often actively market music from their clients for placement, since this is how they earn their money.
Licensing refers to the specific contract and terms of how a track is used commercially, for how long, and where it can be used. Therefore, licensing is much more specific than publishing and refers only to a certain use or placement of a song as defined by an agreement, called a contract or a license. Payments to the copyright owner are called royalties, or sometimes called “rights” which means the same thing as payments.
To summarize, publishing is the management of the agreements, placements, and payments for a song, while licensing is the actual agreement allowing for the placement of an individual work. Publishing and licensing deals allow musicians, composers, and artists to earn passive income from their music.
To get a better idea, watch this video with a brief introduction to music licensing from delicatebeats.com:

Question 4

Can I sell a song I wrote?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Most artists and professional songwriters earn money from their songs through publishing and licensing deals, not by selling their songs outright. There used to be “staff songwriters” at publishing companies but that is extremely rare today.
When a song is written expressly for another person, a production, or a company it might be considered “work for hire” meaning the writer gives up ownership in return for an agreed-upon fee in paid advance. This is more common with written arrangements or orchestrations where the writer is paid by the page or by the minute (of music).
In today’s competitive world of music publishing and licensing, songs are almost never bought and sold. Instead, the writer negotiates a licensing fee for the use of the song, usually through a publishing company, and for a specific setting, like a film, show, videogame, advertisement, or at an event.
(There is an exception to this: established, usually older “legacy” artists selling the rights &#8211; future royalties &#8211; to their songs for 9-figure sums to investment groups. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, and Katy Perry are a few examples of writers who have done this.

Question 5

How do I sell my music to an artist?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

Songwriters and composers “pitch” their music to artists, publishers, record labels, recording artists, music supervisors, and music libraries, in the hope that someone will be interested in licensing it for a specific purpose, for example, in a movie. They don’t usually relinquish ownership of their music, as the word “sell” might imply.
If you want to do this, it helps to have the music recorded properly in a professional arrangement, and it’s crucial to have your music protected and copyrighted as described in this article. Because the market is so competitive, you will be up against some daunting odds, but that’s not a reason to shy away.
Instead, make certain you are as prepared as possible. You need to be ready.
That means following the steps as laid out here, and networking, networking, and networking. Become a master networker to increase your odds of having your music heard by the right people. That means cultivating relationships with people in the music industry.
Let’s face it, what are the odds of someone hearing your song and wanting to license it? Not very high, especially if you are a “no-name,” meaning people haven’t heard of you before. Being talented and accomplished isn’t enough. People need to find out about you.
There really are no big breaks, instead, there’s a series of small opportunities that lead up to what seems like the big break. It’s true that sometimes one chance meeting, or one individual can open many doors for you. But you had to be in the right place with the right materials to make that happen.
Build up a credible web presence. People will want to look you up on the web. Only put your best work out, because whatever they listen to, they will assume it’s the best you have. Build a following, and let others toot your horn for you.
Don’t be afraid to approach people but do so with care and kindness. Always be polite and give people the information they need to make their own decisions about you and your music.

Question 6

How do I submit my music for Sync Licensing?

Tom Stein · Accepted Answer

There’s no mystery about what sync licensing companies do, how to approach them, and what they are looking for. There are several different strategies for getting your music licensed for visual media (usually for films, television, or advertisements). You will need to figure out what works for you.
Some suggestions include:

Find a music sync library seeking new writers and producers
Cowrite with others who already write for the sync libraries
Have your publishing and copyrights in order
Write a lot of songs so you have plenty of choices available for sync, but start by making five songs in your strongest genre available
Be unspecific in your songs about topics or stories that could limit their appropriateness for use
Don’t use profanity in your lyrics
Have catchy hooks or melodies
Write music to convey a variety of emotions
Write some instrumentals, or include stems of songs without the vocals
Write great descriptions of each track to make them discoverable in searched databases
Add metadata to your tracks
Have versions of 30 and 60 seconds
Upload your music to sync companies
Pitch your music directly to sources looking for music
Do unsolicited pitches using email
Find a sync agent

The truth is that every time you watch a video, movie, advertisement, or play a video game, the music you hear was licensed for that specific use. This is one of the ways songwriters, composers, and producers make a living from their music.
Having your publishing in order, working with others in the industry, approaching music libraries, film producers and advertising companies, producers of visual media, and music supervisors, while building a strong network in the music business combined with the above tips are the path to finding out what works best for you and your music.

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