There are essentially two different paths you can take to get your music licensed.  In today's newsletter I will discuss both paths as well as their pros and cons.  I've touched upon this topic in previous newsletters but today I'll take a slightly different slant.

 

1)  Getting Your Music Placed In Libraries Or With Publishers - There are an abundace of libraries and publishers who will help you get your music in tv and films by shopping your music on your behalf.  Some are exclusive and some are non exclusive.  Some will keep all of your publishing and others just a percentage.  There are large companies such as Pump Audio and others that are much smaller and boutique. 

 

I suggest that you pursue as many different non exclusive libraries as you can.  The more seeds you can plant the better.  With respect to non exclusive libraries/publishers, as I've stated before, you really have to evaluate these opportunities on a case by case basis.  If a publisher has a great track record of placing lots of music then it might make sense to place a few of your songs with them.  

 

I have placed more of my songs with exclusive publishers than non exclusive publishers.  Just make sure if you place your music with someone exclusively that they have a strong track record and a history of placing music in a lot of different places.

 

2) Be Your Own Publisher - A more time consuming, yet potentially more lucrative approach, is to be your own publisher.  

 

This path involves going directly to supervisors, television producers, etc and pitching your music yourself.  This approach is more time consuming as it requires researching what projects supervisors are working on, but it's more lucrative in that you keep both the writer's and publisher's royalty if you place your music this way.