by Maria Kaganis
SYNC ROYALTIES AND PUBLISHERS
Considering the royalties generated from a sync placement, whether you are the sole owner of your music or not makes a difference in the royalty payout. In the case of an independent artist that retains all the rights to their composition, they have authority over what to do with their music and do not have to give a percentage to a publisher since they are their own publisher in this scenario. If you share ownership on certain songs, it’s very important to know exactly who shares that ownership so you can agree on royalty splits before licensing them. While sync royalties do go through Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) that take a percentage for themselves, the difference goes to the rightholders. On the other hand, going through a publisher can be helpful for a few reasons: they can take care of the tedious procedure of issuing the licenses, manage the rights of a client’s music, and ensure just collection for the use of the client’s music in sync placements. If you are considering this option as an independent artist, there are some things to look out for.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
As an independent artist, it can be daunting to commit yourself to a company to help you with sync licensing, especially depending on the exclusivity of a license. Some companies may offer higher royalty rates if you contractually commit to them for an exclusive license, which means you cannot submit your music to other companies while the contract is in effect. While a higher royalty rate sounds great, it could be at the cost of not only limiting your outreach, but also limiting things like what territory the license can be used in or the duration of the licensed song (Source: Music Business 101). On the contrary, non-exclusive licenses give the licensor the freedom to license the music to whoever they want, but there may still be limitations on territory or period of use. At Brain Candy, we can offer you just what you need without the exclusivity.
THIS IS WHERE WE STEP IN!
Here at Brain Candy we like to go beyond the traditional, trading out royally screwing over artists for the chance to justly compensate them for their creative works. If you are interested in having your music pitched for sync placements, you can add it to our sync catalog non-exclusively to do just that! We strive to be the company that offers opportunities to small and up-and-coming artists alike in this field to generate revenue. Overall, sync licensing is a great source of passive income as an artist builds their catalog and career, and that in turn opens up a window of exposure for them. It’s a promising opportunity for your music, and you can begin your sync licensing journey right here with us!
Cover Image Source: Gemtracks