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There are a few tricks of the trade that artists can benefit from when looking to create sync-friendly songs.  Angry Mob’s creative licensing aficionado, Elyse Schiller, shared her insight on what an artist can do to generate more opportunities for placements in the sync world.

Lyric content is a big factor in securing a license.  Words and themes that have more of a universal tone with interesting metaphors will have more opportunities than those that focus on one aspect of a personal relationship.  Some accessible themes are self-empowerment, freedom, the beauty of life, overcoming challenges, and new beginnings.  Two examples of very accessible songs are “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons and “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers.  However, one thing to watch out for when creating the lyrics is writing a song that becomes too wordy, as this may fight against the dialog when used in a film or TV show.

https://soundcloud.com/interscope/imagine-dragons-radioactive

Production quality in an artist’s song is as equally important to a well-crafted lyric.  Songs should sound like they are at their highest quality and ready for broadcast in a show, film, or advertising spot.  Production quality is something that should not be rushed.

The finished song and recording should evoke a very strong feeling or mood and the vocal performance should convey a “soulful” connection, regardless of genre, melody, or tempo.  There are a lot of great songs that come across just ok because the vocal performance is not connecting with us hard enough.

Finally, be ready to come into any situation absolutely prepared when pitching songs.  Artists should always have instrumental tracks for every song.  Not only can the instrumental have a life of its own when pitching to an ad that only uses instrumental music but also a placement in a scripted show can keep the song playing when dialogue starts if the editor can cut to the instrumental mix.  A longer use like this means more back-end performance royalties!  And do consider having alternate versions of your song.  For example, if there is chanting in a particular song, also have a version without it.  Lastly, and sometimes most importantly, always have high-res AIFF or WAV files for every song and not just MP3s since MP3s, which are sonically compressed, are unacceptable by broadcast standards.

For more information on music synchronization check out the article, “8 Things Music Supervisors DO NOT Want

– Elyse Schiller

angrymobmusic.com

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