Are you doing everything you can to successfully license your music in TV and Films? Are you achieving the sort of success you've always dreamed of or are you still struggling to get your music heard by the right people and ultimately
sold to the right people?
Today let's look at four areas you can focus on that, together, will exponentially increase your odds of licensing more of your music in more places.
Improve The Quality Of Your Music - It all starts with the music. So,
before you worry about anything else make sure that your music meets the sort of standards that are required to be successfully licensed in the first place. Just what sort of standards must your music meet? If you've been following me for long, you'll know that I've already written extensively about this topic. But the short answer is that you need to write great, well produced songs.
What constitutes a "great song" is somewhat subjective, but "well produced" is much more objective. Compare your songs to other songs that have been successfully licensed. How do your songs stand up? Have a few different people listen. Music publishers and supervisors listen to lots of music, every single day. They can distinguish very quickly between great and mediocre production. Make sure that
you are able to as well so that you are only submitting music that is "broadcast quality" and ready to be used as is.
Grow Your Catalog - The more tracks you have in your catalog, the more potential licensing opportunities you'll have tracks that are a good fit for. Makes sense right? Part of a long term strategy for making money via music licensing is to work towards growing a large
catalog. With a few exceptions, most writers I know and work with that make substantial money in music licensing have large catalogs, of hundreds or even thousands of tracks. It takes time to get there, but part of the plan for becoming successful should involve regularly creating and recording new tracks that you can add to libraries that you work with and also pitch to new contacts. You should ideally be making new music every week. I know some writers who create a
track a day. Everyone is different and your schedule and overall goals will dictate how many tracks you're able to record. I aim to record at least one new track a week.
Submit Your Music To More Places - Success in the music business is a numbers game. The more places and people you submit your music to the better the chances that you'll connect with someone who really
appreciates your music and who will be eager to help you promote it. We've all heard stories about famous musicians who were rejected repeatedly before they got their "big break".
Rejection happens a lot in the music licensing business and much of it has nothing to do with the music you make. Sometimes your music simply won't be a good fit for the person
you are submitting to. The needs of those you are pitching to are constantly changing so don't get discouraged if you're being turned down simply because your music isn't a good fit.
On the other hand, if you’re getting feedback about things you need to do to improve about your music, take it for what it's worth. Try not to take constructive criticism too personally. In my experience
people in this business tend to not be gentle with their critiques. They're not usually as bad as Simon Cowell, but it's hard to sugarcoat some criticism. If something needs worked on, it needs worked on. If you're getting the same sort of advice repeatedly it's probably worth investigating.
Research Projects - In order to
increase your chances of success even more, take the extra step of researching projects that need music so that you can more accurately pitch your music to the right people at the right time. Reach out to supervisors and publishers and ask them what they're working on currently. Some will tell you and some won't. Forget about the ones that won't and focus on the ones that will.
Demonstrate that you're sensitive to the needs of those you are working with and that you're not just out to further your own career. Sometimes as musicians we can get very focused on our own goals and have a tendency to become overly self-absorbed. The music business, like any business, is a vast network of people, who each have their own individual needs, desires and frustrations. Try to help other people meet their needs and realize their goals
and you'll find it becomes much easier to meet your own needs and realize your own goals.
One of the complaints I’ve heard over and over again from guests on my podcast is that musicians rarely take the time to research who they’re pitching music to. They just sort of randomly send their music to anyone who will listen. This is a really inefficient approach to
getting your music licensed. Before you send your music to anyone, really think about why you’re pitching your music to any particular person. Are the kind of projects they work on a good fit for you and your music? Are you familiar with the types of projects they work on? Is your music relevant? Try to figure out the answers to these questions before just blindly pitching your tracks.
