I recently found out that one of my songs was used in a made for tv movie called “English Estate”, not once, but twice. Once in its entirety and once for 31 seconds. I’ve now had songs in dozens of tv shows, video games, commercials and now a film. I’ve
had the goal of placing music in films for a long time, but for some reason this goal has eluded me until now.
I’ve recently been back in the studio working on a new EP, after a bit of a hiatus from writing and recording last year, and my creative juices are flowing again. Now that I’m back in songwriting mode, I’ve been reflecting on what a long and winding road pursuing songwriting and music licensing has been.
As others and I have said, “sync licensing is a marathon and
not a sprint”. I think the same can be said for pursuing music in general. It takes time to get good at an instrument. It takes time to learn how to write songs well. It takes time learn how to produce music well. It takes time to create a catalog of marketable music. It takes time to build connections. It takes time to get things placed. And so on.
At this point, I don’t really worry that much about any specific song, or specific music library,
or specific placement. My main focus is to continue to get better at songwriting and continuing to create the best music I’m capable of and let the chips fall where they may.
When I finish a batch of new tunes, I shop them to the different libraries and publishers I work with and then I sort of forget about them, until they end up getting used, which can take anywhere from a few months to several years, or even more. I’ve had songs get placed as many as ten years after I
signed them! Like I said, it’s a marathon.
The funny thing about the song I placed in the film, is that I wrote that particular song, “You’ll Be On My Mind”, over five years ago and when I listen to it now, I cringe a little. I feel like I’ve become a much better songwriter since then and I’m not chasing placements the way I was back then. As a result, my music, at least to me, sounds a lot better. It’s more authentic at least. I’m creating the kind of music I want
to create, as opposed to creating music specifically with the goal of licensing my tracks.
Focus on what you can control: Creating Music
If your goal is to create a catalog of music that will ultimately create a full-time revenue stream, or even a solid part time income stream, the most important thing you can do is simply continue writing and composing new music. Since the sync licensing business is such an unpredictable business, and since you
ultimately don’t really have control over how or when your music is used, it makes the most sense to just keep creating tracks.
Let’s imagine two scenarios:
Scenario 1) You write a catalog of 15 tracks, and you sign them to two different music libraries. A year goes by and nothing at all has happened, you start to get discouraged and decide to take a break from songwriting for a year and then the following year, all of a sudden you get three
tracks placed. This motivates you and you decide to return to songwriting and write another ten tracks, that you then have to shop around and wait to get placed, which could take another year, or more.
Scenario 2) Now imagine the exact same scenario as above, but instead of getting discouraged and taking a break, you had kept going the whole time and during the year it took to get your initial songs placed, you had another 20 tracks you were able to sign to your
existing libraries. Maybe you also made a few new connections during that time as well and signed to a few other places. Obviously, this is the best-case scenario of the two scenarios, which is why I don’t really even worry about placements anymore. It’s out of my hands.
If you’re getting discouraged about pursuing licensing but not getting placements, or as many as you’d like, the only thing you can really do is to simply keep going. Keep improving as a
songwriter/composer. Keep refining your craft. Keep creating new music. Conversely, if you are getting placements and want to continue getting more, the only thing you can really do is focus on continuing to create more tracks. No matter the circumstances, the only thing you can really do is continue to improve your craft. If you make that your focus, eventually doors will start to open and things will start to happen.
Check out my track, You’ll Be On My
Mind, as featured in the movie English Estate and heard on The Young & The Restless.
