7 Actionable Steps To Launch Your Sync Licensing Career

in this video I'm going to break down the seven actionable steps to launch your sync licensing career to the point where you'll be able to gain the confidence to land consistent sync licensing placement I'm excalibur0 and music library owner with over nine years of sync last experience and we're going to jump into step one which is building your digital resume from here on out I want you to adapt the mindset of a professional and treat your music as a catalog you've heard the term dress to impress so a few actionable steps that you can take today to leave a memorable first impression is create a custom domain email this is relatively cheap it can be done within a few minutes using sites like Google domain and MailChimp just send them a few options when you're pitching your music for sync licensing placements you're entering the domain of business so setting up a custom email that shows at excaliburzero.com instead of excalibur0 gmail.com isolate you from the rest of the submissions that come off as spammy but let's take this to the next level and use sites like HubSpot to quickly make a custom custom email footer so companies can easily browse your catalog and get in contact with you now when we make this email footer we want to make sure that we have a clean website that showcases our music I recommend using options like disco.ac real crafter or off top we don't want to direct them to a landing page where there's tons of other music and ads distracted them from our music so definitely avoid using sites like SoundCloud Spotify or any beat store that shows other options now next to having your sync licensing resume set up and ready to flex let's make sure that our music is at its best of its quality which leads me into step two which is getting feedback from industry professionals if you're a musician the fastest way for you to improve is getting feedback from people who have the ear for sync there's tons of different live critique feedback sessions that you can go to some free ones on the top of my head are mine Anthony Jr XJ well and there's also some pay to submit ones where there's actually music supervisors listening to your music there's actually one channel that has been standing out to me though it's a Facebook group called under the sink and it's held by a five-time multi-platinum musician called Adam McKinnis I just think he has a really good ear and a unique approach with his feedback and his sessions are called Golden ear gym that I've been following a lot lately from just watching his free replays that he shares on that Facebook group receiving a song critique to give you an outside look of what you can improve on is your express pass to standing out even buying a 10 Starbucks gift card to an industry professional for some feedback can go a long way for your music career but you may be wondering what kind of music works for sync and which songs should I be submitting for feedback this guides us into step three which is context leaves Clues if you can understand the context of your music you are light years ahead of the competition in the first two weeks of our six-week mentorship that we hold for our community our main objective is studying music using visual media you'll start to notice a pattern on how music is used for certain ads or TV shows context leaves Clues so studying more content will give you a great indicator on what type of music or projects your music can stand out on in the description I've actually included a free cheat sheet for you on how I actually study music in a TV show which includes the notes like comedy vocals are used on the show what's the common BPM what are the lyrical themes what kind of genres do they have all of these play a factor and help me understand how I can assure that my music gets to the right people and honestly right now if you need an excuse to watch reality TV without feeling guilty here's your safe space to do so now let's move on to step four which is how to provide value let's face it nothing is more frustrating than sending a professional email to a company that you think your music can fit great with and never getting a response back now sometimes they're just busy and other times they're looking at your pitch and they're judging you are you the type of person that's going to save them time and effort or cost them time and effort becoming a person of high value to a music company sets you apart from the rest what skill sets or assets do you have that can provide a music licensing company value for example I used to work at a major music library as a music supervisor for seven years one thing we always lacked on was a go-to person to mix all of our vocal tracks that were created in-house that's not until we had one of our composers step up to the plate and offer to use their studio and expertise to provide that service to the company for no charge so the library will give them a percentage of their split in exchange for their mixing services on any tracks they mixed this is one example of providing value which reflects my point earlier on how you can make their life easier now that we're ready to make their life easier how do we properly approach these companies we're going to research like a professional first things first is showing up prepared is your music properly arranged for sync because tracks that have intros that are 30 seconds or longer don't typically get placed also do your tracks have metadata included like contact info keywords your pro info BPM Etc depending on who you're pitching your music to all of these different factors can make or break a placement we want to come off well equipped When approaching these sink licensing companies take the time to research music library websites see what type of music they lack in and learn more about their projects take the time to see who even runs the company and what their story is we want to stand out when pitching to these companies so we're just going to take the time to research because if I'm being honest most people aren't going to do this I mentioned earlier that I'm a music library owner and I cannot tell you how many submissions I received so far from people who did not do their research they either called our company the wrong name and properly submitted or just plain ignored simple directions your ability to research and connect with these companies is the difference between another email that lands in the spam folder or building a long lasting relationship that benefits you and the company now this step is everything and it may seem so simple that it almost sounds dumb to say but patience patience patience patience is the key sync licensing is the long game this this is the game where persistence meets patience the formula is not to quit or just dabble in this field I've seen so many people test sink for a little bit stop submitting for nine months then come back once they finally see that it works and actually pays you need to get comfortable without seeing instant results and this does not mean you need to be complacent you can still be proactive and make moves but you're most likely not going to see the fruits of your labor for several months when you're first starting out and I know this is not the sexiest step but it's one of the most important but don't worry I saved the best for last which is joining sync communities more and more sync industry professionals are creating Facebook groups Discord servers or LinkedIn post not only are they dropping valuable information but they're also posting sync licensing opportunities there's constantly briefs being sent out for certain projects and this can be a great way to land your first team placement sync is strongly supported by who you know so getting comfortable with building relationships and networking and communities will help build that trust with your peers we actually have our own Discord sync Community server that is dedicated to help out aspiring musicians that are looking to tap into this Lane the beautiful thing about sync licensing is that most people in this industry find great joy in helping out other Indie musicians even music supervisors who are placing the music are finding fulfillment helping out us aspiring creatives like you and me now I want to wrap this up saying that this Lane is accessible and these are my most seven actionable steps that you can take that will truly help you on this path hey if you found this video valuable I welcome you to drop a comment and let me know which Step was your favorite thank you so much for watching we'll see you in next week's video

Channel: XcaliberZero

Views: 11,777

Keywords: sync licensing, music licensing, sync licensing music, music career tips, indie music tips, music business tips, sync licensing music libraries, music supervisor, getting your music on tv, getting music on netflix, how to get tv placements

Id: f8GWOIMD3T4

Length: 7min 43sec (463 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 07 2023