How to Get Your Music in TV, Film, and Ads

Sync licensing is placing your music in visual media: TV shows, films, commercials, video games, trailers, and online content. A single placement can generate more income than a year of streaming. A placement in a popular show can introduce your music to millions of new listeners overnight. And unlike most revenue in music, sync pays twice: an upfront licensing fee negotiated per deal, plus ongoing performance royalties every time the content airs or streams.

The fee ranges are wide. An indie web series or podcast might pay $500-$2,000. A TV placement in a streaming series typically pays $5,000-$25,000. A major network drama can pay $10,000-$50,000+. A national commercial can pay $50,000-$500,000+ depending on the brand, duration, and media buy. See Music Royalties Explained for the full royalty breakdown.

Sync is not a lottery. It is a market with specific buyers, specific requirements, and specific channels for getting your music in front of those buyers. This guide covers how the market works and how to participate in it.

How the Sync Ecosystem Works

Several players are involved in getting music placed. Understanding who does what tells you where to focus your effort.

Music Supervisors

Music supervisors select songs for visual media. They work for productions (TV shows, films, ad agencies, game studios) and are responsible for finding music that fits the creative vision of a scene. A supervisor on a TV drama might place 10-30 songs per episode across background, featured, and end-credit slots.

Supervisors receive a brief from the director, showrunner, or creative director describing the mood, energy, lyrical themes, and function of the music needed. They then pull from their personal libraries, receive pitches from publishers, agents, and sync platforms, and present options to the creative team for approval.

What supervisors care about: Does the song fit the scene emotionally? Is it licensable quickly and cleanly (no uncleared samples, no disputed splits, masters available)? Does it fit the budget? Supervisors work under time pressure and tight budgets. Music that is easy to license gets placed more often than music that requires complicated negotiations.

Sync Agents

A sync agent represents your catalog and actively pitches it to supervisors. They receive briefs, match songs to opportunities, and negotiate deals on your behalf. In return, they take a commission, typically 20-35% of the sync fee.

Good sync agents have direct relationships with supervisors and receive briefs that are not publicly available. They know what shows are in production, what ad campaigns are being developed, and what supervisors are looking for before anyone else does.

How to find a sync agent. Research agents who represent music similar to yours. Many are small boutique operations. Reach out with a professional pitch: who you are, links to your best sync-ready songs, and why your catalog fits their roster. Sync agents are selective because their reputation depends on sending supervisors relevant, licensable music.

Music Libraries and Sync Platforms

Sync platforms aggregate music from thousands of artists and make it searchable for supervisors, editors, and content creators. They are the most accessible entry point for artists pursuing sync.

Production music libraries (Musicbed, Artlist, Epidemic Sound, Marmoset) license music for a fee or through subscription models. Some are exclusive (your music is only available through them), others are non-exclusive. These libraries serve a wide range of clients from YouTube creators to major productions.

Sync marketplaces (Songtradr, Music Gateway, Syncfloor) connect artists with licensing opportunities. You upload your catalog, supervisors browse and license. Some actively pitch on your behalf for a commission.

The tradeoff. Libraries and platforms provide access and volume: your music is available to a large pool of potential licensees. But most placements through platforms are lower-fee (web content, corporate videos, small productions). Higher-value placements (major TV, national commercials) more often come through direct relationships between agents/publishers and supervisors.

Publishers

Publishers with sync divisions pitch your compositions to supervisors as part of their broader services. If you have a publishing deal, your publisher's sync team is one of your primary channels for placement. See Music Publishing: How It Works and When You Need a Publisher for how this fits into a publishing relationship.

You do not need a publisher to get sync placements. But a publisher with strong sync relationships provides access to briefs and supervisors that are difficult to reach independently.

Making Your Catalog Sync-Ready

Before you pitch anything, your music needs to meet the technical and legal requirements that supervisors and licensees expect. Music that is not sync-ready gets passed over regardless of quality.

Legal Requirements

Own or control your masters. To license a sound recording for sync, you need to control the master rights. If a label owns your masters, they control the master side of any sync deal. If you recorded and funded the music yourself, you own the masters. See Music Copyright Basics for the ownership framework.

Clear splits with all collaborators. If you co-wrote a song, every co-writer must agree to the sync license. A song with disputed or undocumented splits cannot be licensed. Have signed split sheets for every collaborative song before you pitch it. One co-writer who is unreachable or uncooperative can kill a placement.

No uncleared samples. If your song contains a sample from another recording that has not been formally cleared (licensed from the original master and composition owners), it cannot be sync licensed. Supervisors will ask whether your song is sample-free. If it is not, and the samples are not cleared, the song is unusable. This is one of the most common reasons placements fall through.

Technical Requirements

High-quality masters. Your recordings should be professionally mixed and mastered. The technical quality needs to hold up when paired with professional visual content. A rough demo or poorly mixed track will not get placed regardless of the songwriting.

Instrumental versions. Many sync placements use the instrumental version of a song, either entirely or in sections where dialogue needs to be audible. Having a clean instrumental for every song in your catalog significantly increases your placement opportunities. If you do not have instrumentals, go back to your session files and export vocal-free mixes.

Stems. Some placements require stems (individual tracks: vocals, drums, bass, keys, etc.) so the music editor can adjust the mix for the scene. Having stems available is not required for every opportunity but makes your music more flexible and attractive for higher-value placements.

Clean metadata. Every song should have accurate metadata: title, artist name, co-writers, publisher information, PRO affiliation, BPM, key, genre tags, mood tags, and ISRC code. Supervisors and platforms use metadata to search and filter. Missing or inaccurate metadata means your song does not appear in searches.

How to Pitch for Sync

There are multiple channels for getting your music to supervisors and licensees. Most artists use a combination.

Sync Platforms and Libraries

The most accessible starting point. Upload your catalog to one or more platforms, ensuring your metadata, descriptions, and tags are thorough. Platforms like Songtradr, Musicbed, and Music Gateway let supervisors search by mood, tempo, genre, instrumentation, and lyrical theme.

Exclusivity matters. Some platforms require exclusivity (your music can only be licensed through them). Others are non-exclusive. Non-exclusive agreements let you list on multiple platforms and retain the ability to license directly. Exclusive agreements may offer better placement rates or advance payments but limit your options. Read the terms carefully before committing.

Direct Pitching

You can pitch supervisors directly, though this requires research, professionalism, and patience.

How to find supervisors. Watch credits on TV shows and films in your genre. The music supervisor is credited. Look them up. Many are on LinkedIn and Instagram. Organizations like the Guild of Music Supervisors maintain directories. Some supervisors accept unsolicited submissions; many prefer to receive pitches through agents or publishers.

What a pitch looks like. Keep it short. State who you are in one sentence. Link to 2-3 of your most sync-ready songs (not your entire catalog). Explain briefly why your music might fit what they work on. Include a note that your masters are clear and instrumentals are available. Do not attach audio files to emails. Use streaming links or private SoundCloud/Dropbox links.

What NOT to do. Do not send mass emails to every supervisor you can find. Do not pitch 20 songs at once. Do not follow up aggressively. Do not claim your music is "perfect for" a specific show unless you genuinely understand the show's sonic palette. Supervisors receive hundreds of pitches. A targeted, professional, brief pitch stands out. A generic blast gets deleted.

Working With a Sync Agent

If you want someone actively pitching on your behalf, a sync agent is the most direct path. Agents receive briefs from supervisors, match songs to opportunities, and handle the negotiation.

Commission structure. Most sync agents take 20-35% of the sync fee. Some also take a percentage of backend performance royalties. Clarify the commission structure before signing.

Exclusive vs. non-exclusive representation. Some agents require exclusive representation of your catalog for sync. Others work non-exclusively, meaning you can have multiple agents and also pitch yourself. Non-exclusive is generally better for artists starting out because it keeps your options open.

What to look for in an agent. A track record of placements in the type of media you are targeting. A roster that complements yours without being identical. Responsiveness and communication. Ask for recent placement examples and talk to other artists they represent if possible.

Deal Terms

When a sync opportunity arrives, understanding the deal terms ensures you negotiate fairly.

The Sync Fee

The upfront payment for the license. This is negotiated per placement based on the production's budget, the prominence of the placement (featured vs. background), the media type (TV vs. web vs. commercial), the territory (US only vs. worldwide), and the duration (how long the license is valid).

Typical ranges:

These ranges are approximate and vary widely based on the specific production, your negotiating position, and market conditions.

Two Licenses Required

Every sync placement requires two separate licenses: one for the composition (from the songwriter or publisher) and one for the sound recording (from the master owner). If you wrote and recorded the song and have not signed either to a label or publisher, you control both sides and can negotiate the full deal. If a label owns your masters, they negotiate the master license and keep their share.

The fees for each license are typically equal (if the total placement fee is $10,000, the master side gets $5,000 and the composition side gets $5,000), though this is not always the case.

Backend Performance Royalties

In addition to the upfront sync fee, you earn performance royalties every time the content airs or streams. These are collected through your PRO (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) and can accumulate significantly over time, especially for TV shows that run in syndication or stream on multiple platforms for years.

Register your songs with your PRO and ensure the cue sheets (logs of music used in a production) are filed. The production is responsible for filing cue sheets, but it is worth confirming.

Term and Territory

Term is how long the licensee can use your music. Some licenses are perpetual (forever). Others are limited (2 years, 5 years). Limited terms mean the licensee must re-negotiate or stop using your music when the term expires.

Territory is where the content can use your music. A worldwide license costs more than a US-only license. For most TV and film placements, worldwide and perpetual is standard. For commercials, limited terms and territories are more common and give you the ability to re-license to other brands in different markets.

Exclusivity

Some licenses are exclusive, meaning no one else can use that song in the same type of media during the license term. A brand licensing your song for a national commercial may want exclusivity so a competitor cannot use the same song. Exclusive licenses cost more and should come with higher fees.

What Makes a Song Sync-Friendly

Not every good song is a good sync song. Supervisors look for specific qualities beyond general musical quality.

Clear emotional tone. A song that communicates a specific emotion quickly (joy, tension, melancholy, triumph) is easier to place than a song with ambiguous or complex emotional shifts. Supervisors match songs to scenes, and scenes have specific emotional functions.

Strong instrumentals. Songs where the instrumental stands on its own are more versatile. Many placements use instrumentals or reduce vocals to background level. If your song falls apart without the vocal, its sync potential is limited.

Lyrics without specific proper nouns or dated references. A song about heartbreak is evergreen. A song that references a specific celebrity or event from 2019 has a shelf life. Supervisors avoid songs that will feel dated or confusing in the context of their project.

Clean production. Professional mixing and mastering. No clipping, no excessive noise, no production artifacts. The song will be played through professional monitoring systems and alongside other professionally produced content.

Appropriate length and structure. Songs with clear intros, builds, and climaxes give editors natural cut points. A 30-second intro with no energy gives an editor nothing to work with for a scene that needs immediate impact.

Common Mistakes

Waiting to be discovered. Sync placements do not happen passively. Supervisors do not browse Spotify looking for songs to place. You need to actively put your music into the channels where supervisors look: platforms, agents, publishers, or direct pitches.

Pitching music that is not sync-ready. Sending songs with uncleared samples, missing instrumentals, no split sheets, or rough mixes wastes the supervisor's time and damages your reputation. Prepare your catalog before you pitch.

Being inflexible on fees. Your first few sync placements are career building, not cash grabs. A $1,000 placement in a well-known show has more career value than holding out for $10,000 and getting nothing. Build your sync resume, then negotiate from strength.

Granting exclusivity too cheaply. If a licensee wants exclusive use of your song, the fee should reflect that exclusivity. An exclusive license means you cannot license that song to anyone else for the duration. Do not grant exclusivity at non-exclusive prices.

Ignoring backend royalties. The upfront sync fee is one payment. The performance royalties from broadcast can exceed the sync fee over time, especially for TV placements that rerun or stream for years. Make sure your PRO registrations are current so you collect every dollar on the backend.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a certain number of streams or followers to get sync placements?

No. Supervisors do not evaluate music based on streaming numbers. They evaluate it based on whether it fits the scene, the mood, and the budget. An artist with 500 monthly listeners and a perfectly fitting song will get placed over an artist with 5 million streams whose music does not match.

Can I get sync placements without an agent or publisher?

Yes. Sync platforms (Songtradr, Musicbed, Music Gateway) are open to independent artists. Direct pitching to supervisors is possible with research and professionalism. An agent or publisher provides access to higher-value opportunities and active pitching, but they are not prerequisites.

How long does it take to get a placement?

There is no standard timeline. Some artists get a placement within months of submitting to platforms. Others pitch for years before landing their first one. Consistency matters: maintain an active, growing, sync-ready catalog and pitch regularly. Most successful sync artists describe it as a long game that compounds over time.

Should I write music specifically for sync?

Some artists do, particularly in genres like indie folk, cinematic pop, and electronic ambient where sync demand is high. Writing with sync in mind (clear emotional tone, strong instrumentals, versatile lyrics) can increase your placement rate. But do not abandon your artistic identity to chase sync. The best sync catalogs come from artists making distinctive music that happens to have sync-friendly qualities.

Read Next:

• Music Publishing: How It Works and When You Need a Publisher

• Music Copyright Basics

Plan Your Strategy:

Orphiq helps you coordinate your releases and marketing so your catalog is positioned for every opportunity, including sync.