SPEED Matters in Sync (How to produce faster)

Summary

The video script emphasizes the importance of speed and availability in the music licensing industry, particularly for sync licensing. It highlights the contrast between the slow process of receiving royalties and the fast-paced nature of meeting tight deadlines, often due to music being the last element added to a production. The speaker advises new composers to focus on improving their speed and efficiency before pitching to libraries, as the ability to deliver high-quality work quickly can significantly impact their success in the industry.

Takeaways

• 🏃‍♂️ Speed is crucial in the sync licensing business; it's a fast-paced industry with tight deadlines.
• 🕒 The process can be slow, with a long wait for royalties and placements, but also fast with urgent requests for custom work.
• 🎵 Music is often the last element to be added in production, leading to last-minute demands and high-pressure situations.
• 📈 High-quality work and quick turnaround can alleviate anxiety for clients and music library representatives.
• 🔄 The ability to deliver on time and exceed expectations can significantly impact a composer's reputation and opportunities.
• 💡 It's advisable for newcomers to focus on improving their speed and efficiency before pitching to production music libraries.
• 🚫 Overcoming perfectionism is key to meeting tight deadlines and can lead to more creative and focused work.
• 📈 As a composer, being available and responsive can help secure more custom opportunities and establish trust with clients.
• 💼 Professionalism, quality, and speed are the three pillars that can catapult a composer into the inner circle of the music industry.
• 💡 For those new to the industry, it's better to work on improving speed and quality before approaching music libraries to pitch.

Q & A

What is the nature of the sync licensing business?

The sync licensing business is characterized by both slow and fast-paced elements. It can be slow in terms of waiting for royalties and seeing placements, but it's fast in terms of quick turnaround times for custom opportunities and tight deadlines.

Why do music licensing projects often have tight deadlines?

Music licensing projects have tight deadlines because music is usually the last item to be included in production schedules for TV shows, movies, commercials, and trailers. Everyone else has been paid, and the music is needed to put the final stamp on the project before it can be promoted and released.

How does speed in delivering music affect the relationship with clients and music libraries?

Speed in delivering music is crucial as it can alleviate the anxiety and tension of clients and music library representatives who are under pressure to complete projects. Meeting or beating deadlines with quality work can make a composer stand out and be remembered as reliable.

What is the 'suck phase' mentioned in the script, and why is it important to go through it?

The 'suck phase' refers to the initial period when a composer is learning and not yet proficient in production music. It's important to go through this phase to improve and increase speed before pitching to music libraries, ensuring that the composer is ready to meet industry standards and deadlines.

Why is it advised to work on speed before pitching to production music libraries?

It's advised to work on speed before pitching to production music libraries because it helps composers to become more efficient and better prepared for the fast-paced nature of the industry. This allows them to meet tight deadlines and deliver quality work, which is essential for success in sync licensing.

How can a composer improve their speed in music production?

A composer can improve their speed in music production by setting time constraints, focusing on creative decisions quickly, and forgoing perfectionism to meet deadlines. This involves creating music that has good energy and stays within a specific genre or emotional focus without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.

What is the significance of being able to deliver music ahead of schedule?

Delivering music ahead of schedule demonstrates a composer's professionalism, reliability, and ability to meet tight deadlines. It can significantly impact the relationship with clients and music libraries, potentially leading to more opportunities and a stronger reputation in the industry.

Why is it important for composers to be available and responsive in the sync licensing business?

Being available and responsive is important because it shows that a composer is committed and ready to take on projects as they come. This is particularly crucial in the sync licensing business, where opportunities can arise suddenly and require immediate attention.

What are the potential consequences of not meeting deadlines in sync licensing?

Not meeting deadlines in sync licensing can lead to loss of trust from clients and music libraries, potentially resulting in fewer opportunities and a damaged reputation. It can also cause stress and disappointment for the production team waiting on the music.

How can a composer stand out in the production music industry?

A composer can stand out in the production music industry by consistently delivering high-quality, professional work on time or ahead of schedule, being easy to work with, and demonstrating a strong understanding of the brief and the needs of the project.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 The Pace of Sync Licensing: Balancing Speed and Patience

The script discusses the dual nature of the sync licensing business, highlighting that while it can be slow, with long waits for royalties and placements, it can also demand rapid response times for custom opportunities. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being fast and available, especially when working with high-quality libraries that may present tight deadlines. These deadlines can be as short as a day or a weekend, requiring composers to be ready to work on short notice, even if it interferes with personal plans. The reason behind these quick turnarounds is that music is typically the last element to be added in production schedules, and there's often high anxiety to complete the project. The speaker advises that speed and reliability are crucial in this industry, as they can alleviate the stress of clients and library representatives, leading to a positive reputation and more opportunities.

05:01

⏰ Prioritizing Speed in Music Production

The speaker advises new entrants in the production music industry to focus on improving their speed before pitching to libraries. This is important for two main reasons: first, beginners are unlikely to produce their best work initially, and second, the ability to produce music quickly under pressure can significantly impact success in the industry. The speaker suggests that composers should challenge themselves to increase their productivity, for example, by aiming to produce multiple tracks per week. This not only improves creativity but also prepares composers for the fast-paced nature of the industry. Once a composer has developed proficiency and speed, they can approach libraries with a portfolio that demonstrates their ability to meet tight deadlines and deliver quality work, which can propel them into the inner circle of trusted composers.

10:01

🎶 Embracing Speed Over Perfection in Music Creation

In the final paragraph, the speaker addresses the potential resistance some composers might have towards prioritizing speed over perfection. They acknowledge that there are times when speed is not as critical, but in many aspects of the business, the ability to complete work in a timely manner is essential. The speaker encourages composers to let go of perfectionism and focus on delivering work that meets the brief and deadline. They invite feedback from those who have experienced the impact of speed on their work with libraries, suggesting that speed can make a significant difference in the industry.

Keywords

💡sync licensing

Sync licensing refers to the process of licensing a copyrighted musical composition or sound recording to be used in various media, such as films, television shows, commercials, or video games. In the context of the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of speed in sync licensing, as it is a fast-paced business where quick turnarounds are often required to meet tight deadlines for media projects.

💡royalties

Royalties are the payments made to the creators of intellectual property, such as musicians or composers, for the use of their work. The video script mentions that royalties in sync licensing can take a long time to come in, highlighting the slow aspect of the business where the financial rewards may not be immediate.

💡custom opportunities

Custom opportunities in sync licensing involve creating music specifically tailored to the needs of a particular project, such as a TV show or a commercial. The speaker in the video describes how these opportunities can come with tight deadlines, requiring composers to be fast and responsive to meet the demands of the production.

💡deadlines

Deadlines are the specified dates or times by which work must be completed. In the video, the speaker stresses the importance of meeting deadlines in sync licensing, as delays can impact the entire production schedule and the promotional efforts for media projects.

💡production music library

A production music library is a collection of pre-made music tracks that are available for licensing in various media projects. The video discusses how composers can work with these libraries to provide music for different productions, and the significance of being able to deliver high-quality work quickly to meet the library's and client's needs.

💡turnaround time

Turnaround time refers to the duration it takes to complete a task or project. The script mentions the quick turnaround times expected in sync licensing, where composers may be asked to produce music within a short period, sometimes just a day or over a weekend.

💡availability

Availability in the context of the video refers to the composer's ability to be on-call and ready to work on projects as they come in. The speaker emphasizes that being available to take on jobs and complete them promptly is crucial for success in sync licensing.

💡quality control

Quality control involves ensuring that the work produced meets a certain standard of quality. The video script mentions the importance of quality control in sync licensing, where composers must ensure their music is not only delivered on time but also meets the professional standards expected by clients and production music libraries.

💡perfectionism

Perfectionism is the pursuit of flawlessness in one's work. The speaker in the video advises composers to sometimes forego perfectionism in favor of speed, as the fast-paced nature of sync licensing often requires quick decisions and timely delivery of work.

💡pitching to libraries

Pitching to libraries in the context of the video means presenting one's music to production music libraries for consideration and potential inclusion in their catalog. The speaker suggests that before doing so, composers should focus on improving their speed and efficiency to better meet the demands of the industry.

💡inner circle

The 'inner circle' in sync licensing refers to the group of composers or artists who are highly sought after by production music libraries and media clients due to their reliability, quality of work, and ability to meet tight deadlines. The video suggests that speed, along with quality and professionalism, can help composers gain entry into this exclusive group.

Highlights

Speed is crucial in the sync licensing business, as it can be both a fast-paced and slow industry.

Royalties can take a long time to come in, which can be psychologically taxing.

Custom opportunities can come with tight deadlines, sometimes requiring quick turnarounds within hours.

Music is often the last item on the production schedule, leading to high-pressure situations.

The ability to deliver music quickly can alleviate anxiety for clients and production teams.

Being available and fast can make a composer stand out and be remembered for their reliability.

Composers should aim to exceed expectations by delivering more and faster than requested.

Quality and professionalism are important, but speed is a key differentiator in the industry.

New composers should focus on improving their speed before pitching to production music libraries.

There's a 'suck phase' for new composers where their music may not be up to industry standards initially.

Putting oneself under time pressure can help improve speed and force quicker creative decisions.

Short deadlines can help composers overcome perfectionism and focus on creating good energy in their music.

Being able to quickly produce multiple tracks can impress music libraries and lead to more opportunities.

Speed can propel a composer into the 'inner circle' of a production music library faster than other factors.

For some, speed may not align with their creative process, but it's often required in the industry.

Composers should be prepared to drop perfectionism and focus on timely delivery in certain situations.

Transcripts

if you're fairly new to the sync

licensing you need to know that speed

does matter okay this is a fast moving

business it's both fast and slow let me

explain it's slow and that it takes

forever to finally see your royalties

come in you guys know that it takes

forever sometimes for libraries to

register tracks it takes forever to

start seeing some of your placements

rolling especially if you're sitting

there waiting for them uh

psychologically it's a it's a torture

session but it's also fast in that if

you are working with a highquality

library and you start getting some

custom opportunities and custom briefs

uh you'll have very tight deadlines and

we're talking end of the day you get a

brief at 6:00 a.m. I've had a few of

these hey 6:00 a.m. this is what we need

can you get it to us by 5:00

p.m. or 24 hours 48 hours sometimes you

know you get a brief where it's like

Friday morning uh you know they're going

to come back and have a meeting at uh

Monday at 11:00 a.m. so you basically

have the weekend meanwhile you had some

plans to go do something fun for the

weekend and it's basically going to eat

up your whole weekend are you game are

you not speed and availability are very

very important in this business now why

is it that these massive deadlines and

these massive projects have these just

extremely ridiculously quick turnarounds

the obvious answer is that music is the

last item in the production schedule for

everything if it's a TV show if it's a

movie if it's a commercial if it's a

trailer it doesn't really matter what it

is everybody else has been paid already

everybody else has been hired everybody

else has done their little thing and

then it's oh yeah we need music right at

the very end music is usually the last

it item that needs to be included in a

show or in a trailer in a movie or

whatever it is to basically put the

final stamp of like okay we are now good

to go let's start promoting this and

putting it out online so we are

basically the last item that needs to

get done and usually that means also

that um expectation to get the project

done is at its highest right at the

beginning you know the ball's rolling

for somebody creating let's say a TV

show or a movie by the time the music

needs to be selected like the

expectation from the director or from

the producer or whoever's in charge of

it

they're like itching to get this thing

out there because they've probably been

sitting on it already for probably years

if not at least multiple months and

they're so close to the finish line and

this music is this just last thing so

obviously it's like all this anxiety and

tension and expectation to just all

right let's just get this music done

real quick and let's go right because

people some people value and understand

how important music is but most people

probably don't and they just know you

got to have some music in there and they

just want to throw it in there and get

it done right not speaking for everybody

but it's definitely been the case in a

lot of the TV uh opportunities I've seen

they just know they got to have

something in there it's not that picky

in terms of but they just know they got

to get it now so your ability to be

there on call from a production music

library to say absolutely boss I'm on it

I'm here I'm going to be here all

weekend I'm going to get it to not only

buy this deadline but I'm going to get

it to you ahead of schedule and let's

say they want two tracks well you say

you can count on me for three or maybe

you don't even tell them that you say

sure I'm going to get you two tracks by

Monday at 11: and Monday at 9:00 a.m. or

Sunday night even better at 5:00 p.m.

you give them three tracks right your

quality of course matters your

professionalism of course matters but

that speed that ability to deliver on

time is going to be so so important

because what it can do is of course if

your quality is there take that for

granted what that speed can do is it

puts everybody's emotional anxiety at

Bay right it calms down everybody who's

a little bit worried are we going to get

this done are you going to give us the

music we need etc etc not only with the

client who's going to license your music

but with your production music library

CEO representative they're also sitting

there biting their nails going like man

are you guys going to get this done

thinking about their composers making

sure hoping um and and hopefully they

have some confidence that they will but

there's got to always be a piece of

their brain of like what if something

happens to Joe and Joe's my best

producer if he gets in a car accident

this weekend like he's not going to get

it to me and then we're not going to

blah blah blah right all those kind of

things start going through people's

heads so if you're one of the few

composers that's like absolutely got you

boss here you go and it's professional

and you've quality

controled checked everything you've

listened to everything you've made sure

you given them all the assets you've

labeled things properly you bounced it

at the correct uh you know wave uh file

format or aif format or whatever they

want at the correct bit rate at the a

correct sample rate details right you

you always make sure that you're the one

delivering things without giving any

headaches any homework any extra

assignments for them to have to fix for

you and you're doing it within the

deadline or before the deadline you're

calming them down and when people feel

anxious or worried and you're the

solution to that you better believe they

remember that you better believe that

that becomes something that they

go Joe's the guy or Jane's the girl

they're the ones that really can get

this done I can count on them no matter

what they're the person

so it's just something I've noticed in

my career that the few times that these

custom opportunities have popped up um

I've always made a rule for myself to

basically just try to say yes to every

single one there have been the

occasional exception where I'm out of

town don't have my laptop whatever I

can't do do it it's funny I always had

this interesting thing where every time

I plan to go out of town is when massive

opportunities would always pop up it's

like as I'm getting on the plane I

always I learned very quickly bring your

laptop bring something that you can make

some music with if something pops up cuz

literally it happened more than a few

times to be a coincidence where I'm on

the plane getting ready to go for a trip

or vacation and it's like text hey we

need something by tomorrow by 5 you down

like of course of course you're going to

give me this now while I'm sitting on

the plan getting done but um again I

decided that I did want to go for those

kind of things so you're basically

solving problems for people when they

know they can count on you you're

solving their mental stress and they're

going to remember you so one other thing

I want to bring up in this as well for

those of you that are uh newbies fairly

new into the industry or maybe not new

to making music but you are new into

production music and Definitely Maybe

new into trying to get into um uh TV

Film Production music libraries I would

say if you're you know kind of learning

the ropes and learning how music

production music works and all the kind

of golden rules that we teach you guys I

would say before you start pitching to

libraries it's better to work on your

speed first before you actually pitch to

a production music library and I'll

explain why two very very important

reasons number one if you are learning

about production music in the beginning

phases you're probably not great at it

yet not to be insulting but I wasn't

great at it either nobody who first gets

started with production music is going

to be great so we all have to go through

what I call the suck phase you're going

to suck at it for a little while right

it might be 10 tracks it might be 20

tracks it might be 50 tracks or maybe

even more but for a while as you get to

learn the stuff as you listen to more

production music you kind of ab compare

your music maybe get some feedback uh

whatever you're going to do to try to

get yourself better at this you're going

to have a suck face it's going to last

probably a couple of months at least uh

it could be longer but whatever you do

probably the first couple of tracks that

you put together are not going to be the

best ones that you want to lead yourself

into this industry with right you're

going to want to probably get that suck

phase out of the way well it's better to

do that before you're pitching the

library so what you can do as you are um

you know learning and getting better at

producing production music is try to

improve and increase your speed as you

do it so right now maybe you're at one

track a week one track you can get done

with your full-time ja job and

everything else you're doing I would

strongly encourage you to try to get up

to two tracks as soon as possible okay

right now that sounds impossible you

don't got time to do it no no no way

everything sounds impossible until you

put yourself under the pressure I can

guarantee you if you do well under

pressure I am somebody that that does I

think people probably that thrive in

single licensing generally are people

that can and even do better under

pressure put yourself under a little bit

more time constraint you know make sure

that whatever you got done in an hour

see if you can get that done in 30

minutes or 45 minutes what you'll find

is you start to focus on your speed is

it'll force your brain to start making

creative decisions much quicker uh right

now many of you are probably stuck in

perfectionism where it's like well

that's not the best Melody I've ever

made that's not the best drum beat

that's ever been created so I'm not

going to move forward with it those kind

of are why your or those thoughts are

probably why you're taking so long um I

find with the very short timelines where

I have to put something together uh I

love that I have to Forfeit the

perfectionism because I don't have time

to be a perfectionist at this point I've

got to create something that grooves

that's got good energy that builds

that's focused that's staying in one

lane one emotional Focus one genre if

it's got all that and I'm bobbing my

head to it great and that's all I think

about I'm not worried about all the

other extra extra extra stuff um so

putting yourself under a little bit of

pressure trying to increase your speed

is not only going to be better for your

creativity and for your output but

obviously once you're in and used to

making let's say two to three tracks per

week you've gotten it out of your you

got you out of your suck phase your

music is probably getting a lot better

now after a couple of months of doing

this you can then approach libraries and

for those of you that want to get into

that inner circle as soon as possible I

can tell you quality professionalism

being a cool person for sure very very

important but speed speed will be that

magical third thing that will jet boost

and Propel you directly into the Inner

Circle faster than anything else right

because in the beginning you're going to

pitch them probably five tracks 10

tracks an album something like that if

you can turn around ask them what do you

need next oh we want more of that we

could actually use tons of this music

our clients are eating it up like crazy

you come back to them and three weeks or

a month here's another one boom boom

boom boom that gets their attention wow

this is a hungry producer this is a

producer that's ready to go okay hey

we've got this custom opportunity can

can you get this done by you know next

Tuesday at 3:00 you get it to them by

Monday at 10: that speaks volumes you

immediately jump past all the other

producers and composers that are not

nailing deadlines that are not available

or even answering those emails and of

course following directions and getting

getting them the assets and the

deliveries and following the brief

reading the brief all that kind of good

stuff right um and doing it in a very

professional and friendly way you're

doing these things but doing it with

speed you're unstoppable I I'll just be

honest you are going to be an

Unstoppable person so for some of you

that's a turnoff you're like ah

creativity shouldn't be done with speed

in mind it should be done with these

other considerations in mind I'm not

going to prioritize for Speed I'm going

to Prior prioritize for blah blah blah

blah blah there are going to be times

where you don't need to be worried so

much about speed absolutely but a lot of

this business is going to require that

you drop the perfectionism and you just

get the damn thing done in a very very

timely manner so I wanted to give you

guys that tip and those insights and I'm

curious if you guys have noticed that as

well for some of you that have been

working with libraries if speed has made

a big difference for you so please do

comment below we love to hear from you