Writing songs for sync

[mister_c]

Does anyone have experience writing songs for sync, i.e. being used in media, tv, films, commercials etc.? I am new to production music and have been learning over the last 12 months about the industry, structure of tracks etc. and have 2 albums worth of instrumental music ready to submit to libraries. I have always been a songwriter at heart and am keen to get my songs out there as well.

1. Do songs place well in tv shows etc? I know instrumentals do well in reality shows but do songs get much use?
2. I have heard songs pay more but get lesser placements? Is this the case?
3. Given that producing songs takes longer than instrumentals (especially tension tracks for example) is it worth it?

Thanks

 

[Nekujak]

Many libraries offer songs in their catalogs, but songs are a bit of a special case.

Unlike most library music, songs are generally not suitable as background tracks because the vocals can interfere with dialog. In terms of background usage, probably the most common use of songs is for diegetic music.

Thus, when songs are placed, they're typically featured quite prominently and during passages without dialog. You see this in a lot of TV shows (This Is Us and Resident Alien are two examples that immediately come to mind). In these situations, the lyrics and tone of the song are used to reinforce whatever is going on in the narrative, so the requirements can be very specific.

Songs are often featured quite prominently in commercials and trailers. Although trailers in particular, tend to lean on "trailerized" versions of well known pop hits, which is a whole other animal and requires its own dedicated production effort.

Whether a song is suitable for placement really depends on the specific need. I have a friend who produces rap/hip hop songs for a library, and his songs get placed all the time on sports broadcasts and reality TV. Those shows eat hip hop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

All my songwriting efforts for sync have been in response to briefs from music supervisors. These are passed along to me by one of the libraries I write for, and are very specific about what's required, including musical genre, mood, lyric content, instrumentation, male/female singer, etc.

If a library already has songs that might fit a brief, they'll of course pitch them. But very often, the requests are so specific, that it's necessary to write something new and appropriately targeted.

In terms of payment, songs placed through libraries are subject to the same terms as other library music for typical TV placements. But songs placed in commercials and trailers typically earn a substantial up-front fee (it can range anywhere from $500 to $400,000+ depending on the project), but they seldom generate any back-end royalties.

A few considerations to keep in mind in terms of library music:

- Libraries will need a mix without vocals, which means the song could still get placed as a regular instrumental.

- You typically give up copyright and publishing rights to your music when it becomes part of a library. With instrumental music that tradeoff is generally acceptable, but with songs, which can be more personal and require additional effort to produce, a lot of folks are understandably reluctant to give up rights ownership.

- When writing songs for briefs, the placements are usually for film, commercials, and trailers. In those situations, you typically retain full copyright and publishing, because it's a specific one-time license, and the library makes it's money by splitting the up front sync fee with you.

All of the above is based on my own experiences. Other folks will probably have more to add based on their own knowledge and experience.

Good luck!

 

[mister_c]

Wow - thank you for the detailed response and the useful insights. If i understand correctly:

- Songs used in TV shows (dramas) are usually requested by music sups to fit a context within the show and thus bespoke

- Reality shows and sports tv use mostly hip hop/rap tracks (I am more indie-folk and indie-rock for my songs)

- Trailers tend to go for existing known pop songs that are trailerized to fit the mood

- Commercials do use songs, I guess in all genres


Is it worth submitting songs to libraries or is it better to go it alone? For example, respond to briefs on taxi.com. Or perhaps a hybrid of joining a library publishing instrumentals but keeping an eye on briefs for songs both from the libraries and on Taxi?

Thanks

 

[Nekujak]

- Songs used in TV shows (dramas) are usually requested by music sups to fit a context within the show and thus bespoke

- Reality shows and sports tv use mostly hip hop/rap tracks (I am more indie-folk and indie-rock for my songs)

- Trailers tend to go for existing known pop songs that are trailerized to fit the mood

- Commercials do use songs, I guess in all genres

There are always exceptions, of course, but this has been my general experience.

Is it worth submitting songs to libraries or is it better to go it alone? For example, respond to briefs on taxi.com. Or perhaps a hybrid of joining a library publishing instrumentals but keeping an eye on briefs for songs both from the libraries and on Taxi?

It can't hurt to submit your songs to libraries. Even if they should want to take them, you can always decide to back out and not sign with them.

Before submitting to a library, definitely check out what kind of music they carry. Many libraries specialize in only certain genres.

BTW, I don't have any personal experience with Taxi, but I've heard mixed reports from other folks. The problem with Taxi is they require you to pay money up front to sign with them, which is typically not a good deal for the composer or songwriter. By paying up front to any service or library to help sync your music, you've removed any incentive for them to work on your behalf - they already have your money and didn't need to do anything to get it. So as a business model, it can be easier, and potentially more lucrative for them, to simply sign up more songwriters than to put in the work to get music placed.

I'm not necessarily saying Taxi is bad, I'm just saying be very wary of any library asks for money up front. It's generally considered a predatory practice.

I know several people who've had success with Crucial Music. They accept submissions, have a good track record for landing placements, and let you retain the rights to your music. They do limit submissions to 3 tracks at a time and it takes them a while to review your music, but unlike a lot of licensors, they are reputable and are known to get results.

 

[Mike Greene]

2. I have heard songs pay more but get lesser placements? Is this the case?

For the licensing fee, I imagine songs pay more than instrumentals, since it's probably a more important placement, where they really want your song, possibly because the lyric matches the scene or whatever. There are also supply-side differences, since instrumental tracks are easuer to make, so more plentiful. Plus more interchangeable. (Need a heavy metal headbanger track? Take your pick.)

For the performance royalties (ASCAP, BMI, etc.), the rate is the same if it's classified as "Background." But it can often get bumped up to "Visual Vocal" if the song is used in a featured sort iof way. Usually this means it's actually being performed, but it can also apply if it's being danced to, or even if it's used in a scene where it gets played on the radio.

There are also situations where a song is being played in such a way where the lyric is part of the story. For instance, someone catches their lover in bed with someone else and a song starts playing with the lyric, "How can I ever trust you again." If I were me filling out the cue sheet for that scene, I'd definitely take a chance and call that visual vocal.

There's obviously lots of leeway in all that, and composers obviously push the cue sheet filler-outers to classify every cue as VV (Visual Vocal) instead of BV (background vocal). ASCAP/BMI are aware of this, so they look out for productions where there seem to be a lot of VV cues. But if the cue sheet person is a little more discreet, they can get away with a few, since ASCAP/BMI aren't going to go into full CSI-detective mode for every cue sheet.

It's all a sort of game, also influenced by whether the producers own the publishing, in which case they'll try to influence the cue sheet as well. Less so if the cue is licensed from an outside music library. (All my shows were internal, where the studio owned all the publishing, so they were in full-on greed mode. )

 

[Mike Greene]

3. Given that producing songs takes longer than instrumentals (especially tension tracks for example) is it worth it?

"Worth it" is tough to say, but I will say that as a songwriter, I get much less satisfaction from writing production music instruments than I do from writing "songs." So for me personally, I would lean towards vocal songs. Not just for the personal satisfaction, but also because I think the product would be better, where I "care" more when I'm doing a real song. So in that regard, speaking just for myself, it's "worth it."

Since we're talking about songs for music libraries, I have some thoughts on how to increase the chances of success, since like so many things about this business, it's like a game in many ways.

At one time, I wanted to start my own music library specializing in vocal songs. I started writing a number of songs, but since I knew I wanted these to get placed in films or TV shows, I focused the lyrics on certain types of scenes that occur a lot.

For instance, the "How can I ever trust you again?" example I gave earlier. Lovers getting caught cheating is pretty much a film/TV staple, so I might as well try to cash in on that. (So is falling in love, but everybody else is already writing a zillion love songs, so that's an uphill battle to compete with those. I want to zig while everybody else is zagging.)

Or where I wrote a song called "I'm Not Gonna Go to School Today," since I figured that's a scene that happens a lot. I also did a version "I'm Not Gonna Go to Work Today," since that's a similarly common scene. (Singer's already here, so might as well, right?)

I never completed the library, so those songs have been forever wasting away on a shelf, so I can't say whether that's an idea that pays off. But if I were still in the game, I think I'd sneak in at least a few like that, that are blatantly aimed at common scenes that don't already have a zillion songs about them.

Hmmm ... now that I think about it, in that same vein, I would make sure to title songs in such a way that a music editor immediately knows what the song is about. No enigmatic titles, since these people don't have infinite amounts of time. They have a scene where Stacy decides to ditch school so she can go see Trevor, and ... look! Here's a song called "I'm Not Gonna Go to School Today!" That will immediately catch their eye and they're gonna at least listen to it. Not so much if I had titled it "Choices."

In that same vein, even if you're doing instrumentals, don't underestimate the value of catchy titles. I've had titles like "Grandma's a Looker" or "Blowing Chunks" or other provocative titles, purely so that as the music editor is scanning hundreds, if not thousands, of titles, they'll be more likely to notice mine.

Hmmm Part 2. "Grandma's a Looker" got me thinking even more about it, so if I were still doing my song library idea, I'd definitely do some MILF songs. And DILF songs, too. You don't want to be too "on the nose," mind you, so I wouldn't go straight up Stacy's Mom. But maybe make the lyric about a teenage boy who just wonders why he finds himself attracted to more mature curves, or something else about a mature woman that turns him on. Just a thought. I'm just spitballing.

 

[mister_c]

Thank you both for your replies, lots to think about and consider. My way forward is a little clearer now.

I know several people who've had success with Crucial Music. They accept submissions, have a good track record for landing placements, and let you retain the rights to your music. They do limit submissions to 3 tracks at a time and it takes them a while to review your music, but unlike a lot of licensors, they are reputable and are known to get results.

I have come across Crucial Music and they have been held in high regard. They even say on their website that the submission process takes a long time. I may very well submit 3 tracks.

@Mike Greene Great song suggestions there MILF and DILF songs Perhaps GILF as well if they ever remake Harold and Maude !! I'm already on it!!

I totally get what you are saying though about writing songs that fit with what the story is saying. I haven't thought about common themes in dramas before and how I could use that to direct my songwriting - will definitely be thinking more about that.

 

[HCMarkus]

Crucial is a very good company. Non-exclusive, too.

 

[Cedricm]

Are there any stats on vocal songs VS instrumentals?
There's a guy on social media who says it's songs exclusively, but in France, I can think of lots of instrumental placements for advertising.

 

[mister_c]

It would be interesting to see some stats on vocal songs vs instrumentals. IMO instrumentals would still win but I can't help thinking that for some genres of instrumentals the market is very saturated. For example, tension music there is an abundance of and I can't imagine libraries getting very excited when a composer pitches an album of true crime drama tension cues vs a composer pitching an album of upbeat feel good songs. I may be wrong as I am a newbie to this industry, these are just my early observations and why I am thinking songs and not instrumentals.

 

[Nekujak]

Are there any stats on vocal songs VS instrumentals?

t would be interesting to see some stats on vocal songs vs instrumentals.

Just watch TV for a few hours and count the number of background instrumentals versus songs you hear, including commercials, to get an idea of the ratio. Reality TV and sports programming use licensed music almost exclusively, so that would be where to watch, as opposed to scripted shows that have dedicated composers - although even those shows use library music in varying degrees.

Instrumentals can fit in a lot more situations than songs. A show's director usually includes a song to make a statement or emphasize the narrative, so there needs to be a very close match between the song's content and what the director is trying to accomplish.

Instrumentals typically serve a more broad purpose as background music, so the requirements are not as stringent. Most of my instrumental library tracks have appeared multiple times on multiple shows, while my songs, when they do get placed, are usually only used once or twice. I'm sure there are exceptions out there, but that's been my experience.