I've seen people ask this question a lot and wanted to address it. "Can you license your music if you publish it through CD Baby or a similar service?" CD Baby has a few different options for ways to publish your music through their platform. I personally have been using CD Baby for my "artist" releases for the past 7 years. Below are some of their options and add-ons, and what they mean for sync licensing abilities. I've included my opinions and experiences with these consid

Something about this time of year gives me inspiration to get "back to work" after a busy summer. I did record over the summer, but a lot of my time was spent playing gigs, going on a few vacations, getting married(!) and working on some other personal projects (not related to licensing). I probably recorded 35ish licensing tracks over the summer, which is decent, but I usually do more during every other season. This fall is off to a great start, I'm working on 2 full albums

From the PRS website: What is Soundmouse? "Soundmouse is a company that provides music reporting services to the broadcasting industry. They develop and provide software that reports music usage directly to broadcasters and collecting societies for them to identify the use of the rights owners' copyright material on radio, TV, online and across other media." __________________________________________________________________________________ Many performing rights organizations

Today I'd like to share the process that occurs when you have tracks accepted to an exclusive library. The timeline can vary greatly depending on the library and their backlog. Timeline 1. Submit tracks - Submit the tracks (or album) to different libraries until one of them accepts the material. This is usually done by sending a streaming link (Soundcloud, Disco) and writing a personalized email to the appropriate library contact. 2. Discuss Contract Details - Find out the le

Hey guys, I just wanted to share a success story to hopefully give some inspiration for newcomers to the sync world. I've been at it for about 3 and a half years, and my highest earning track was actually created in the first year. It was also a non-exclusive placement on a Royalty Free site (see they do pay royalties)! The benefit of such a placement was that I got to keep the writer's share and the publisher's share. Here's what I know about the placement(s). - It was for a

For those of you who are new to the world of production music and music licensing, I have prepared a list of some basic terms and definitions. Most of these terms are necessary for your understanding of the industry, and will help you to be knowledgeable about the field. Please let me know if you come across any more terms that you are unsure of, and I will gladly add them to this post! Performing Rights Organizations (PRO's) - These are organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, SESA

I don't know who needs to hear this, but there are some hard-to-swallow truths about the sync licensing world and current state of music licensing. This isn't meant to be negative, or to steer you away from the sync world, because there are plenty of opportunities out there for all of us. Once you understand some of these things, you can do your best to avoid getting into bad situations, wasting time and effort or getting involved with shady players. Enjoy! No one is going to

If you've jumped into the field of production music, you likely will eventually be asked to write music for briefs. Briefs are specific types of tracks that you are asked to write, also known as bespoke music. Usually they will give you details about what they want, and also example tracks. If you write music for briefs pay attention to the following aspects of each track. Tempo (aim for a similar speed) Time signature Instrumentation (try to be close to their instrumentation

If you are just starting out as a production music composer, you'll want to familiarize yourself with alternate edits. Aside from the full track that you create, you should learn to create shorter versions of the track, less intrusive versions, instrumental version, stems, etc. Below is a list of the different edits you can make, and an explanation of what they are and how to create them. Full Length Edits When creating these, don't change the starting point of the song, mere

I see a lot of questions from new composers asking things like "What is the best library for hip hop music"? Hopefully this post will clear things up a bit. While some libraries have a specific niche, most of them deal with all types of music. Clients come to a library looking for a variety of music, and most libraries will have something to show them in every style. If they can sell music to them, they will. Think of it like a grocery store, you would hope they have everythi

I'd like to share some experiences I've had and strategies I've used shopping sync albums to exclusive libraries. First off, here is some progress I've made this year! I've completed roughly 12 albums so far this year, 9 of which have been accepted into libraries. The rest I am still trying to find homes for. Out of those 9, I've done: - 2 to one of my go-to libraries (major label) - 2 to another go-to library (major label) - 2 to a library that I haven't worked with yet (maj

Are you venturing into the Sync Licensing world? Do you need help getting started? I am a professional composer for sync and would like to help you on your journey! Over the past few months I've given out some free information to aspiring and beginning composers and have gotten a lot of specific questions from individuals. Since it would be a bit overwhelming to respond to everyone for free (I spend a lot of time composing after all), I've decided to offer one-on-one classes