How To Optimize Your Music For Film & Television
How do I get my music on (insert favorite movie or TV show here)? This question has probably crossed your mind more than once. Some of your favorite movies or shows may even be heavily influenced by the music, or how the music made you feel. Learning how to optimize your music for film & television is a creative way to earn income in the music industry as an artist.
Placing your music into an audio-visual medium such as a film, TV show or video game is a creative way to earn income in the music industry as a songwriter, artist, or band. Networking, acquiring knowledge of the film industry, and understanding the role and process of music supervisors is the key to building a platform for your music to be showcased in visual mediums.
Unlike performing at a major league sports event or auditioning for a part in a musical, underscoring music in an audio-visual work is specific, yet elastic. “If It works, it works,” says Music Supervisor, Holly Hung. Music placement is about finding the missing piece to the puzzle; an articulate, constructible work of art built from passion, character, and compatibility.
Sync Optimization
Before diving into the business of film scoring, it’s important to first recognize the groundwork of sync music and sync licensing. What’s the point of pitching your music to supervisors if you’re not even sure if your music is optimized for it? In the ever-evolving industry of music and film, it’s important to learn the techniques of songwriting and sync optimization from not only reliable sources but from relevant sources.
One critical point to note is that music industry professionals, especially A&R Representatives and Music Supervisors are constantly looking for new, or unique ways to capture or tell a story. Even if the story has been told once or multiple times before. In the media industry, staying relevant, creative, and inventive is a serious priority! Keep this in mind without overcomplicating your self-evaluation or music adaptations.
DIY Music Biz shares some tips you can utilize today to better prepare yourself for music and sync licensing
Make sure your music sounds good
Know who owns the right to the music
Affiliate with a PRO: SESAC, ASCAP, or BMI
Have Alternate versions of your music
Educate yourself on the business of music licensing
Make Sure You Have Good, Quality Music
Believe it or not, some music supervisors are not completely opposed to voice memos or phone recording, but usually only in situations where you already have a connection and a fully developed idea of what they are looking for in the context of the project. Or, if your song is the one in a million.
Regardless, your music must be adapted into sonic-quality sound recordings. Prioritize the quality of your mix, properly adjusting the Balance, Frequency Range, Panorama, Dimension, Dynamics, and Interest of your song in the DAW before mastering. Leave no room for clipping, unwanted feedback, or unbalanced noise.
Professional Recording Engineer, Paul Douglas suggests,
“A good mix is one where all the instruments can be heard clearly, without any one part overpowering the song. The full frequency spectrum should be present, and it should sound good on multiple different playback systems. Above all, a good mix should sound like a coherent musical performance.”
Make Sure Your Music Is Cleared
Getting proper clearance on your music is critical to accomplish before submitting it to supervisors for use in their projects. This makes your music much more attractive when pitching to tastemakers, supervisors, and talent agents because it spares them the hassle of heavy research and metadata confirmation to make sure that your music belongs to you and that you are who you say you are! Clearance is generally required for any commercial use of your music.
First, establish who owns the rights to your music. For example, who are all of the songwriters involved? Who owns the composition? Who owns the master recording? Even if they contributed one word, they legally are owed credit. The best way to sort this out is to create or download a songwriter’s Split Sheet and have all of your co-writers and song contributors record their names and contribution to the song. Decide with your contributors on the percentage split you’d like to share. Between you and one additional writer, it’s easiest to share 50% of the song each; Therefore, splitting the share evenly with all of your contributors.
Next, create a Music Metadata Spreadsheet. Make a list of the songs you have written and record all their metadata, such as the song title, the date it was written, the writer’s credits, their percentages, etc. This is another way to win their consideration. Organizing all of the details of your song will make the process easier for music supervisors to consider you and even discover you if you optimize your metadata streaming platforms, such as Spotify and SoundCloud. This method also allows you to earn ALL of your royalties accurately.
Finally, pair yourself up with a Performing Rights Organization, such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, so you can collect royalty payments for your music.
DIY Music Biz states, “If your music is used in a TV commercial and it airs several times a day, that’s money in the bank and without being signed up with a PRO, it’s money you’re missing out on.”
Make Different Versions of Your Music
When your music is finally in the hands of a music supervisor for a film, commercial, video game, TV show, etc., you don’t want them to ask for an instrumental version of your song without having one prepared and ready to go! Consider creating a vast catalog of music diversifying in moods, genres, topics, and themes. Always have an instrumental version of your music and play around with new ideas. Industry professionals recommend sitting down and flipping on your favorite TV show or film. Turn the dialogue down and play around with chord progressions on your instrument of choice. If you can come up with a musical line that matches the feel or storyline, consider preparing it for music supervisors!
Connecting & Pitching To Music Supervisors
Scoring your music into an audio-visual medium is a competitive business. Due to the high volume of submissions, music supervisors can become picky about the formatting and the approach in which you send your music. Ari’s Take discusses two ways to begin the process of finding sync opportunities and how to approach them! The advice originates from a panel of admired music supervisors in the music and film industry.
DO NOT ATTACH MP3s
There’s no correct way to get music placed, but there are a few incorrect ways. All supes on the panel said do not attach mp3s to an email. It clutters up their inbox and will go directly to the trash (and your email will probably get blocked).
How To Get Your Email Opened
Hung said to put who you sound like in the subject line. Like “Sounds like Coldplay.” Keep the body short and to the point and only send the songs that make sense for the project that supe is working on. So, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Do not send your tear-jerker ballad to Rienks who needs upbeat, fun, exciting music for her E! Spots.
AWESOME. So how do we find these music supervisors and opportunities to pitch to? Stay tuned for more content to come! In the meantime, prep your music for sync with these tools and tips. Then you’ll be ready to pitch!
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