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vidsyn: old norse for broad vision of creative thinking and forward-looking perspective. How will you unlock your creativity today?
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
- Sync Music Licensing Masterclass: From connecting with music supervisors to knowing how to make your music syncable, this comprehensive course will teach you how to go from undiscovered to sync success.
- Anti Journal: Free mobile app that helps you access your creativity. A brain dump combined with a fire ritual. What are you going to let go of today?
Since most of you only know me as a music supervisor, I wanted to share my personal sync songwriting journey. Here is the framework I’ve used to get syncs for so much of my music.
There are many different avenues you can take to get to sync success.
Unfortunately, most people go about it all wrong.
Work smarter, not harder.
Most people start here:
- Writing in a vacuum
- Releasing their music into the ether
- Cold DMing music supervisors
- Paying $400 to go to a conference
Instead, I decided to create a simple framework for my own sync success to fast track my way past the gatekeepers.
Get a sync co-sign
I’m sure you’ve heard of a co-sign in the hip hop world, where a bigger artist will feature an unknown artist essentially vouching for them. This is huge because the new artist will get a huge boost in exposure and if done right the known artist gets the credit for discovering the new talent.
With this same idea in mind, I decided to seek out known artists in the sync space that I could write with and produce. Instead of sending out my music under a brand new moniker with zero credit, I now had something to piggyback on that got me through the door that much quicker.
One of the artists with the most sync success at the time was Tim Myers. I had met his manager in my many networking attempts and we ended up writing a few songs together. Long story short, this led to my first national TV commercial for Target.
This may seem daunting, but sync artists aren’t necessarily celebrities that are impossible to reach. Be a fan first and engage with their content and the opportunity to share your music will present itself. Don’t be afraid to ask, if you feel your music is ready to be on TV, then you should feel confident asking to collaborate.
Backdoor into a sync deal
Most producers and artists think it’s hard to get the attention of a sync agency. And it can be, if you’re going about it wrong.
The other perk of working with an established sync artist is the songs you produce will automatically be repped by the other artists sync agent. Not only will they represent these specific songs but you can parlay this into your own deal with the same company or use it as leverage to get your own deal with a different company.
This is even a way to get more exposure to opportunities by different portions of your song being repped around town. As a supervisor I can tell you this can hurt certain opportunities but the bigger opps will still work with you.
Outside of sync artists, you can use this same idea to get your music published by major publishers as well. When I started doing pop sessions I focused on working with songwriters that were signed to majors and used those credentials to get to write with even bigger writers.
So, as you can see, there are many ways to find sync success without being “discovered” or cold calling hundreds of music supervisors. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and collaborate with others. It can bring so much more opportunities than just the one song.