3 Ways To Get Your Music Ready For Sync (Don't use the 'Dumb Way')
Summary
TLDRThis video script advises musicians on how to maximize the marketability of their music for sync licensing in TV and film. It outlines three approaches: the 'dumb way' of relying solely on personal preferences, the 'better way' of conducting market research and studying production music libraries' catalogs, and the 'optimal way' of directly communicating with library representatives for current demands. The script emphasizes the importance of aligning music production with industry needs rather than just personal taste, and introduces services like Sync Edge and Sync Connect to facilitate this process.
Takeaways
- 🚫 Avoid relying solely on personal preferences when creating music for sync licensing; it's crucial to consider market demand.
- 🔍 Conduct market research by listening to production music libraries' current catalogs to understand what's licensable.
- 📊 Analyze track lengths, structures, and sounds of existing library music to align your production with industry standards.
- 🎧 Pay attention to the sonic quality, instrument usage, and track progression to match the professional standards.
- 🏆 Use reference tracks to emulate length and structure, but avoid copying chord progressions or melodies to prevent copyright issues.
- 📝 Maintain direct communication with library representatives to understand current demands and trends in the industry.
- 🗣️ Engage in conversations with library CEOs to get insights into what's hot and what's not, to align your music with market needs.
- 🔗 Join services like Sync Edge and Sync Connect to get direct access to library CEOs and improve your chances of placements.
- 📈 Use services that provide historical data and recordings of library CEO interactions to understand industry dynamics.
- 📢 Prioritize and personalize your pitches to libraries rather than spamming multiple libraries at once.
Q & A
What are the three ways mentioned to ensure high-quality tracks for sync licensing?
-The three ways are: the dumb way (relying solely on personal instincts without market research), the better way (doing your own market research and analyzing production music libraries' catalogs), and the optimal way (directly communicating with a library representative to understand current demands and trends).
What is the 'dumb way' of creating music for sync licensing?
-The 'dumb way' is creating music based solely on personal preferences without any market research or communication, which can lead to tracks that are not suitable for the current market needs and result in low placement rates.
Why is it important to avoid relying only on personal preferences when creating music for sync licensing?
-Rely solely on personal preferences can lead to creating music that is not aligned with current market demands, resulting in low placement rates and wasted time and resources.
What can one learn from analyzing a production music library's catalog?
-By analyzing a library's catalog, one can learn about the track lengths, structures, styles, and sonic qualities that are currently being licensed, which can guide the creation of more marketable tracks.
What is a 'reference track' in the context of sync licensing?
-A 'reference track' is a track from a production music library's catalog that serves as a guide for emulating the length, structure, and quality of tracks that are currently being licensed, without copying chord progressions or melodies.
Why is direct communication with a library representative considered the optimal way?
-Direct communication provides real-time insights into current market demands, client preferences, and trends, which can significantly increase the chances of creating licensable tracks that meet current needs.
What is the benefit of using a service like 'Sync Connect' for musicians?
-Sync Connect offers monthly Zoom calls with library CEOs, allowing composers and producers to ask crucial questions about market demands, get track reviews, and potentially have their music accepted, which can greatly improve their chances of success in sync licensing.
How can the information from 'Sync Connect' help musicians avoid costly mistakes?
-Sync Connect provides insights into what styles of music are currently oversaturated or not in demand, helping musicians avoid spending time and resources on creating tracks that are unlikely to be licensed.
What is the advice for pitching music to multiple libraries at once?
-It is advised to prioritize and pitch to libraries one at a time, focusing on the music that is most relevant to each library, rather than spamming multiple libraries simultaneously.
How can analyzing the waveform of tracks in a library's catalog provide insights for creating marketable music?
-Analyzing waveforms can reveal how tracks start, finish, and their overall structure, including any crescendos or fades, which can guide the creation of tracks that match the style and format preferred by the library.
What is the importance of having a consistent line of communication with a library when working on sync licensing?
-Maintaining consistent communication allows composers and producers to stay updated on current trends and demands, ensuring that their music remains relevant and increases the likelihood of securing placements.
Outlines
🎧 The Pitfalls of Creating Music Without Market Research
The speaker begins by outlining three methods to produce high-quality, marketable music for sync licensing: the 'dumb way', the 'better way', and the 'optimal way'. The 'dumb way' involves relying solely on personal preferences without any market research or communication with industry professionals. The speaker shares personal anecdotes, such as producing a trip-hop album without considering market demand, resulting in limited success. Another example includes creating complex Electro EDM tracks that were rejected for being too noisy and distracting. The speaker advises against this approach, emphasizing the need to create music that serves the industry's needs rather than just personal satisfaction.
🔍 The Better Way: Conducting Market Research
The 'better way' involves conducting market research by investigating production music libraries and their current catalogs. The speaker suggests listening to the music that libraries have already accepted and distributed to TV and film clients. This approach allows creators to understand what is currently being placed and distributed. The speaker demonstrates how to find and analyze these catalogs, focusing on aspects such as track length, structure, and sound quality. The goal is to compare one's music to the reference tracks to ensure it aligns with what libraries are looking for in terms of style, length, and production quality.
📞 The Optimal Way: Direct Communication with Library Representatives
The 'optimal way' to ensure music is marketable and licensable is through direct communication with library representatives, ideally CEOs, to understand current demands and trends. The speaker emphasizes the importance of human interaction and obtaining insider information on what is flying off the shelves and what clients are requesting. This approach helps composers and producers create music that is not only relevant but also in high demand. The speaker also introduces a service called 'Sync Connect', which facilitates monthly Zoom calls with library CEOs, allowing composers to ask crucial questions, get their tracks reviewed, and potentially secure contracts. The service provides access to previous recordings and recommendations for companies that align with one's music style.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sync Licensing
💡Market Research
💡Production Music Libraries
💡Reference Track
💡Licensable
💡TV and Film Clients
💡Rejection
💡Service Industry
💡Optimal Way
💡Sync Connect
💡Royalty Statements
Highlights
There are three ways to ensure high-quality tracks for sync licensing: the dumb way, the better way, and the optimal way.
The dumb way is relying solely on your own instincts without market research or communication.
The better way involves doing your own market research and listening to production music libraries' current catalogs.
You can find public catalogs of many companies online by searching for 'TV Film Production music library'.
Pay attention to the length, structure, and sound quality of tracks in the catalogs to understand what's marketable.
Use reference tracks to emulate length and structure but avoid copying chord progressions or melodies to prevent copyright infringement.
The optimal way is to directly communicate with a library representative to understand current demands and trends.
Sync Connect is a service that connects composers with library CEOs for direct communication and feedback.
Sync Edge is a premium service that provides recommendations and analysis of 60 music libraries.
Direct communication with library CEOs can provide insights into current trends and what's in demand.
Sync Connect offers monthly Zoom calls with new library CEOs and the opportunity for track reviews.
Previous Sync Connect calls are available for members to listen to and learn from.
When pitching to libraries, prioritize and personalize your approach instead of spamming multiple libraries at once.
Sync Edge and Sync Connect are month-to-month services with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Having a clear direction and knowing exactly where to pitch can boost motivation and focus in the sync licensing business.
The video offers advice on how to approach sync licensing and make your tracks more licensable and marketable.
The presenter encourages questions and comments about the process and services discussed.
Transcripts
okay so there are three ways that you
can try to ensure that the next album
the next set of tracks you create for
sync licensing are the highest quality
meaning the most marketable the most
licensable have the highest odds of
securing you placements with TV and film
clients okay there's the dumb way
there's the better way and then there's
the optimal way let's start with the
dumb way this is definitely something I
did far too many times in my career and
something that maybe some of you have
been doing and Hope after this video
stop doing it please stop doing it okay
the dumb way is as you're thinking about
the next set of tracks or album you're
going to produce you just rely on your
own instincts right I've done this so
many times in my career especially early
on where I said I'm kind of into trip
hop right now I want to make a trip hop
album Zero Market Research zero
communication just something that I was
into at the moment was some cool music
that I was excited about went and
partner with the vocalist we made some
great
music produced it sent it to a library
that did accept it but ended up securing
us very little over the lifespan of that
album probably not a good use of our
time should have done something else
also another example from my career went
in and got into some very complex
Electro EDM complex music back in 2013
2014 when that was kind of all the rage
in the clubs I was living in Vegas at
the time I was hearing this kind of
crazy glitchy very experimental EDM
music I'm into that I wanted do that for
sync put a bunch of tracks together send
it to the library I was working with
rejected cool music guy but nothing we
can use too complex too noisy too
distracting sorry we just don't have any
any use for this so if that's what
you've been doing or that's what you
think that's what you've been thinking
about doing for the next album you're
putting together please save yourself
the time the headache and the Heartbreak
in the future uh from rejections or no
placements and don't just rely on your
own preferences or instincts okay we got
to remember this is a service industry
we're not here just to make music for
ourselves but to make music that is
useful for production okay so let's move
into the better way okay you can do your
own market research and find production
music libraries and listen to their
current catalog meaning all of the music
that that library has already said yes
to has already put under contract and
feels confident enough about it that
they've been Distributing it to TV and
film clients also many companies will
feature many of their placements you can
actually literally go see for yourselves
and hear for yourself what actually is
being placed what's being distributed by
current companies so I'm going to show
you how to do this in just a second but
you can do this 100% for free on your
own you just go to Google type in TV
Film Production music library you can
find many of these companies and I'd say
90 to 95% of them have a catalog that is
just open to the general public meaning
you can go type in and find your
particular style of music and that's
when you really want to start AB
comparing what your music is is doing
versus what their music is doing so let
me just go ahead and show you very
quickly an example um how to do
this okay so here we are at reliable
source music's website this is actually
one of the syn edge libraries that we
recommend to our members and this is a
company out of the UK but the vast
majority of the companies that we
recommend are based in the states
however we do occasionally dip our toes
across the pond and show you guys some
great highquality reputable companies
with track records um all over the world
essentially in sink Edge but let's say
you're potentially wanting to work with
a company like this well they have a
website it's reliable hyphens source.
co.uk you can go right to it um and you
can like I said for most of these
companies go searching right through
their entire catalog and check out what
they have um distributed and actually
categorized already uh in their catalog
so let's say that you are making minimal
tension music which some of you might
want to do that's great for a lot of um
documentaries that's great for reality
TV shows um and dramas as well it's
actually very versatile style of music
so if you don't know what minimal
tension is you'll find a little bit more
about that in this uh video but this is
the kind of analysis that you want to
sort of do with your particular style of
music your particular genre whatever it
is first notice the length of most of
their tracks what do you notice about
these lengths you know 230 228 215 204
158 they hover around 2 minutes so if
you were to come to this company you
wouldn't want to give them a 4 minute
long minimal tension queue that's
doesn't seem like it'd be useful for
them so that's the first cheat sheet
guide code you you get from just looking
at directly what this library has
already collected and is Distributing to
its clients you can learn a lot by just
looking at the wave form how the track
starts how do they finish are there any
fade outs in any of these for the
waveforms can you see that I don't see
any fade outs I see this one but I'm
sure there's a hit right there where it
just has a noise fading out but most of
these as you can tell they have a
definite hit at the very end we'll play
some of those so you can hear it it's
kind of a golden rule with production
music you always want to have that hit
but most importantly what you want to do
is pay attention to the Sonic quality of
the instruments how the track is
structured how much it builds how large
does it get you can notice with some of
these that they kind of save uh the end
of the track for where they have a
little bit of a bigger Crescendo others
they're just kind of slowly pulsing
along the entire time through doesn't
seem like they have major crescendos or
any sort of builds so there's a variety
of different um styles of music and or
different styles of um structures that
you can do but whatever you do and in
whatever genre you produce these tracks
you find in the particular library that
you want to pitch to should be your
reference track reference track is
basically one that you follow in terms
of emulating its length you don't copy
its chord progressions or its Melody
that would be copyright infringement you
can use its same BPM that's not
copyright protected and you can use its
very similar or identical structure in
terms of you know this track has four
bars intro two bar rise you know big
Crescendo that kind of a thing you can
definitely follow uh the skeleton of the
reference track and obviously you want
to make sure that your music is sounding
on quality on par quality wise loudness
wise all that kind of stuff with what
you're hearing here so so we'll just
take a listen to a couple so this is the
first one contradictions you can hear
how this uh minimal tension uh CU sort
of
works very minimal
intro little lift there with a little
percussion lots of Reverb
kind of reverse
sounds here's a
lift little more
lowend with minimal tension it's all
about staying in the background you
don't want to be get in the foreground
and you can do this for all of these
tracks and listen to all the different
types and approaches that these
composers are doing so I won't go
through all of that in this video if you
want more company recommendations and
you want more analysis like this that's
what you want to go get in sync Edge it
is our premium service that gives you
actually 60 companies like reliable
source but like I said most of them
based in the US if you're interested in
something like that now let's get back
into the third and the most I think the
best the smartest way the most optimal
way to ensure that the music you're
going to create next is going to have
the highest odds of flying off the shelf
and getting placements ASAP the most
most optimal way to ensure your tracks
are going to do the best in this
business at least have the highest odds
of su of success is to directly
communicate with a library
representative most you know likely
hopefully a CEO so if you don't work
with library yet you haven't been
accepted yet I have a very very powerful
useful service for you but for those of
you that are already working with a
library you should not be doing number
one or number two no way not at all you
should be doing number three which is is
email call get on the phone get on the
zoom call have a consistent line of
communication with your library that
you're working with and ask them what
are you working on right now what are
your clients looking for what are you
noticing that's flying off the shelf
what's more in demand what kind of
requests are you seeing Insight direct
human to human communication is the best
and most profitable path in this
industry I know many of us can be a
little bit shy we want to work behind
the scenes we don't want to really too
involved socially with a lot of the you
know ins and outs of the business I'm
sorry but there's really no excuse for
you as a composer producer initiating
these kind of conversations with your
library owner do not expect them to come
to you and say this is what I want you
to work on next you should take it upon
yourself to insert yourself into that
conversation so that they know that
you're hungry that you're ready and that
you want to make sure that the tracks
that you're producing are not relevant
in maybe 6 months or a year or two years
but this month this quarter for the
clients that they have okay if you're
not working with a library and you're
like Jesse sounds great but I can't get
one of these Library CEOs to email me if
I'm not working with them and I've sent
DMS and nobody's replying this is
basically impossible you're right
because these are very busy people and
they are probably not going to reply to
you if you don't already have a track
record with them and you're already
under contract giving them music this is
why I've created a service called sync
connect it's actually over a year old at
this point if you haven't heard of it
syn connect is the only service that you
can find online where you a composer
producer musician get to jump on a zoom
call every single month with a new
library CEO and we get to ask them these
very very crucial and important
questions first one being what I ask
every CEO and representative that comes
on is what do you guys need right now
what is hot what are the demands out
there what are your library um what are
your clients looking for what are the TV
clients asking for more of what are you
seeing jump off in your royalty
statements what kind of sync fee
opportunities are you guys seeing more
lately so right off the bat when you
jump on our Zoom calls you're going to
hear directly from people who are having
these interactions with the TV film
clients what exactly is high in demand I
also ask ask them what is not in demand
what style of music are you guys good on
you don't need anymore we shouldn't
waste our time trying to pitch you on
what is it that you feel is just not
relevant oversaturated just kind of not
interesting to you that's kind of useful
for you right before you go spend you
know a month or two putting together the
next hip-hop Rock album if they're like
you know what we're good on hip-hop Rock
we got plenty and that was the library
you wanted to work with you can avoid
that huge costly mistake of time and
energy and resources right then you also
get to if you want to be one of the five
the first five that pitch for each one
of our library CEOs you get to have a
track reviewed by the representative and
potentially accepted by them right there
on the call and I make sure afterwards
if they say thumbs up to you I make sure
to connect you guys via email so I make
direct connections for you guys happen
with sync connect also you get to ask
your own questions via the chat feature
and I think one of the most powerful
Parts about sync connect is not so much
that every single month we have new Zoom
calls that you can look forward to uh in
the membership area but also you have
all of the previous recording
calls ready for you right now like
literally if you sign up right now there
are essentially 15 Library CEOs with
calls asking them you know these very
very important questions very recently
on what's going on in their catalog
what's going on with their clients and
what potentially they need not only did
you get to have that front row access
information that you just cannot get
from a library uh a website search but
you also get to listen to how they
reviewed the tracks that were on the
call so if your tracks are similar to a
track that they reviewed you'll kind of
get a preview and insight as to how they
would respond or react to your
particular track how valuable is that
you know I can't tell you had I had a
service like this when I was first
getting started in sync and was thinking
about starting to Branch out to other
companies but was definitely shy and
anxious and worried like what if I
partner with the wrong company I know a
lot of you guys are worried about that
as you probably should be to have this
kind of look behind the curtain service
to really get to know these people
before I pitch understand and know
directly what they're looking for for
get a preview for how they respond to
music and maybe even have my tracks
reviewed directly from them before I
even have a contract with them I mean
the value that you guys get with this
service is unmatched it's unparalleled
anywhere else online so I highly
encourage you guys to consider joining
us I'll put the link in the description
box for sync Edge which is the library
recommendation service that's where I
give you the companies the URLs and the
analysis of their catalog and with sync
connect both are month-to-month cancel
anytime and both with a money back
guaranteed
uh 30-day money back guarantee so you
got nothing to risk nothing to lose by
coming and trying it out see what we got
to offer seeing for yourself if these
calls if these Library recommendations
are going to help make a difference for
you not only just finding your next home
potentially for your next albums but
also boosting up your motivation I can
tell you that a lot of Library uh
composers and producers uh who have been
struggling having some writers Brock
last lack of AO motivation are just a
little bit overwhelmed with okay I want
to get into this business but I don't
know exactly where I should go having a
particular set of companies like maybe
three to five companies that you get
from either one of those services will
absolutely jump and boost your
motivation and your focus because now
you know exactly where you're going to
go you know exactly what kind of music
they've already accepted and now you've
got those reference tracks so you can ab
compare your way into making sure that
your tracks are the most licensable and
marketable for whichever companies that
you want to pitch to now I do still
recommend you go one at a time through
these companies even though you're going
to get a access to a lot of companies
all at once please do not BCC or CC all
six0 of them at once or all the syn
connect CEOs and just Spam it out there
and see what sticks please please please
don't do that find three to five and
prioritize them have a number one two
three four and five and Pitch to each
one of them one at a time the music that
you feel is the most relevant uh for
each one okay maybe one album is going
to be relevant for five different
companies we actually break down our
libraries based by the genre that we
think would be the most relevant for
them but please do p them professionally
Su and um and with a personalized touch
not as a Spam composer producer the the
the the amateurs the people that are
just whatever maybe I'll throw my music
over here that's what they're doing
libraries can see right through that you
don't want to be mixed in with that
Bunch you want to be one of the few
three to Five Percenters that really do
take this very seriously and start to
really thrive in this business so if you
guys have any questions about this video
or my services or this process this
would be the video for you to comment on
and I'd be happy to help thank you so
much for watching I hope you found this
useful
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