I can remember a time, when I was still pretty new to music licensing and I had a few placements under my belt, there was a long period of time when nothing seemed to be happening and I was starting to get frustrated with my perceived lack of success.
Even though I had a few placements under my belt already, they were very slow coming, and the initial excitement I had about licensing was starting to wear off.
Due to my lack of excitement, I stopped pursuing licensing as aggressively and went through a period where I focused on
other things. Then, one day I received my quarterly ascap check and I received a payment for close to three thousand dollars, for several tracks I had composed and recorded the previous year. This payment was completely unexpected and it rejuvenated my passion for music licensing. After that I got back to recording music and pursuing licensing with a vengeance, which over time led to more and more
placements, the creation of my online resource to help other musicians license their own music and an entire career I never dreamed was possible.
I can recall thinking at the time though, what if I had never slowed down and simply kept cranking out tracks during this period where I was feeling frustrated and like I wasn’t moving
forward. How many more tracks could I have placed during this period and how much more money could I have generated had I not slowed down?
Sync licensing is a strange business in that there is this lag time between when you write and record a track and when you get paid for it. It can be months or in some cases, even years. You simply have to play the long game with licensing. It takes time to place your music with libraries, publishers and sync agencies and have them pitch your tracks and then, if and when your tracks get picked up, it can take months and months to ultimately get paid. This is
simply the nature of sync licensing. I think in the future, with things like blockchain technology, this whole process will be greatly expedited, but until that happens, it’s simply the nature of the business.
When you’re pursuing a career in sync, or even a part time side income, you
have to trust the process. You have to trust that if you consistently put in the work, eventually it will pay off. You have to consistently record music, pitch music and wait for your tracks to get synced and then wait yet again to get paid. This can be particularly frustrating in the beginning, when you’re first starting out.
A good analogy is that of going to the gym. Depending on how out of shape you are when you start, getting in good shape can be a very gradual, slow process. It takes time and it’s something that can unfold over months or years.
But if you keep showing up and putting in the work, eventually you’ll start to see results. I just started hitting the gym a few months ago after not working out, apart from walking and swimming, for most of this year. It took a while, but now that I’m seeing results and I’m starting to get positive comments and feedback from my friends, it’s becoming somewhat addictive. I’m starting to look forward to going to the gym again, whereas before I would make up excuses about why I didn’t want to go.
Sometimes when you lose your way with music licensing, all it takes is one or two decent size payments or a couple placements to get you back on track and pursuing
your passion again with a renewed sense of purpose. But what if instead of waiting for moments like this you simply never stopped in the first place? What if you just kept going, knowing and trusting that eventually all your hard work is going to pay off?
As a full-time guitarist and songwriter, I know firsthand the struggle is real and I know the music business can be daunting and frustrating at times. But I also know that ultimately, there’s only one way to succeed and that is to simply keep showing up and putting in the work. There is no other way. Do the work
and trust the process.
-Aaron
