One of the most powerful things you can do, to start increasing the odds of getting your music placed exponentially, is to think about HOW your music will be used in the context of licensing, before you write it. Of
course, it's impossible to know exactly how your music is going to end up being used, but by thinking about a few general parameters that apply to licensing at large, you can make sure you're writing music that will work for a wide variety of situations.
The Three Elements
There are three main elements that you need to think about and take into consideration when you’re writing songs with the goal of licensing them. Each element will affect how and where your songs can potentially be used within the context of licensing opportunities. A change in any of the three elements will affect what type of scenes you’re song can and will potentially be used
in.
It’s very important that you factor in how each element will change the nature of how your songs will be used when you’re writing songs with the goal of pitching them to licensing opportunities. By being aware of each element, and how it will affect potential licensing opportunities, you’ll get a better sense of what themes and styles to focus
on.
The three elements are:
Lyrics
Style
Mood
I break down each element in greater detail in the courses and content in my member site,
HTLYM Premium, but for now let’s go over briefly how each element affects a songs "license-ability". Style – The style of your music will affect what types of scenes your songs are a good candidate for.
For example, if a music supervisor is working on a film set in the 1960s then they’ll most likely be looking for music that has a 60s sound and feel to it. Conversely, if a television show is set in the present day and there’s a scene about a teenage character they need to place music to, then most likely the music supervisor will be looking for music with more of a modern and current sound.
The style of your tracks can either increase or decrease your chances of getting your music licensed, depending on how in demand that style of music is in the context of music licensing. In general, songs that are more current sounding, stylistically, will be more in demand. Music supervisors tend to be looking for songs that sound like other artists, and it’s fair to say that more current sounding music tends to get licensed more
frequently.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you should try to write music that sounds like current hit songs, you can if you want, but you just need to be aware of how the style of music you write affects the license-ability of your tracks. If you’re writing music that sounds very dated and retro, then by default, you’ll be limiting the number of
opportunities your music is a good fit for. There’s a market for pretty much everything, but some styles are more in demand than others.
For example, right now, modern rock, singer/songwriter, indie rock and hip hop are in demand for a lot of projects. But there are still projects that are looking for classic rock, folk music, classical music, and so
on. There are a wide variety of projects looking for a wide variety of music at any given time, but more current sounding music will usually be more in demand.
Lyrics – In the context of licensing, the subject matter and lyrics of songs are used to enhance and strengthen the plot-line. Lyrically, themes that are universal in nature
tend to work better for licensing. For example, songs about falling in love or falling out of love, or songs about friendship or starting over are good candidate for music licensing opportunities, since these themes show up so frequently in TV shows and films.
In the same way that writing music in a very obscure style or dated style will limit your chances of licensing your music, writing songs
with obscure lyrics about obscure subject matter will limit the number of scenes your music will work for. It’s a good idea to really pay attention to TV and films to see how music is generally used in the context of licensing. Music is almost always used as a means to support the plotline of whatever scene music is being used in. This is why themes that are universal in nature work better for licensing. Try to write lyrics that are broad enough that they could be used in
conjunction with a wide range of projects. If you lyric is about your pet dog named spot that’s great if there just happens to be a TV show with a character who has a pet dog named spot, but the chances of that happening are slim. If you write lyrics that are more universal and general you’ll have a much wider range of possibilities that you can pitch your tracks to.
Mood – Just like your lyrics and the style of music you write affects your licensing opportunities, so does the mood of your songs. If a scene calls for a happy, upbeat song, but all you write are despondent, melancholic songs, than obviously your music won’t be a good fit.
There’s a need for both upbeat and sad songs in the context of licensing, so
this element isn’t quite as important to think about while you’re writing and recording songs, but be aware that the mood of your tracks will affect the types of projects your music will be a potential candidate for. If you write all happy or all sad songs, you’ll be missing out on a lot of potential licensing opportunities.
It’s important that when you’re writing songs with the goal of licensing
them, that you take into account how these three elements, style, lyrics and mood will affect how your music will work within the context of licensing. Chances are that you’re already writing music that will work for some licensing opportunities by default, but if you start to really pay attention to how these three elements work together in the context of licensing, you can write songs that will work even better, in a wider range or licensing projects.
If you’re serious about licensing, it’s important to develop a broad catalog of music that takes into account the wide range of possibilities for licensing opportunities.
