Hey bud, James here.
What kind of impact would it make on your career if you landed a network TV or film placement for one of your songs?
For a major network TV show, you could make $5,000-$10,000 for a background placement (ie - music in a bar scene), or $10,000-$20,000 for a featured spot (ie - your song playing over an emotional montage), or even more for an end credits placement.
Fuck.
Besides the funding, think about the momentum it would create when you share the news on your platforms. You’d probably sell extra tickets to your shows. Shit, a great placement could help you fill rooms across the country.
It’d be a game changer.
If sync (the act of synchronizing your music with a moving picture) is something you’re looking to pursuit, I want to share a tool with you that may help your chances of landing that golden unicorn.
I’ve been on a bunch of pitch sessions with network TV and major film studio music supervisors (the job title of people who are in charge of choosing music for shows and films) recently and all of them have raved about a tool called Disco.
Disco is a platform where you can upload your catalogue, one of its express purposes is for sharing with music supervisors.
What makes Disco different from say, Soundcloud, is its ability to add metadata (tags, writer/publisher splits) in a way that serves the needs of the film and TV industries. You can create playlists and upload multiple versions of songs (original and instrumental, which supervisors love).
The downside is that it costs about $10 per month for their basic subscription plan. You’ll also need to dedicate some time to upload your catalogue and learn how to tag your music for search optimization (#retro, #emotionalmontageballad, #fightscene). And to be clear, Disco doesn’t offer promotional benefits on its own. In order for supervisors to hear your music, you’ll have to arrange those connections on your own (A good subject for a future email? Leave me a message below and let me know).
The upside, besides being a great way to organize and share your music, is that you are demonstrating to the gatekeepers that you are in the know about their industry and you are willing to step up and use a tool that makes their jobs much easier.
Reading between the lines: making their job easier increases your chances for placement.
I’m not affiliated with Disco in any way, this writing is just my review of how this tool can positively impact your chances of securing sync placements. There are an almost infinite amount of opportunities out there and I hope you get your share!
And just a side tip, it’s always a good idea to optimize your branding before you start sending outreach emails to any industry people, including supervisors. People will look at your online properties to see how legit you look. Branding is the best way to stand out.
Think about it, if someone is looking to eat at restaurant, they won’t even notice the places that look dumpy and quiet, but they’ll be drawn to the spots that look sharp and busy.
Yeah, I’m just about to launch a course on artist branding, so it’s on my mind ;)
All in all, a tool like Disco may help your chances of landing syncs if you are an artist who is actively in pursuit. Otherwise, it may just be an extra bill you don’t need.
I wish you much success. You and I are kindred spirits - we’re fighting for our dreams and making the world a better place with our art. I support you. Leave me a message below with any thoughts, questions. I reply to every one personally.
// James
