Sync licensing: how music gets into films, series, ads and games
A sync is your music used together with images: a scene in a series, an ad, a trailer, a game, a brand video. It can pay well and bring new listeners — but only if the person who wants the song can clear it fast. Here is how it works and how to get ready.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules and rates change by country and by type of use; for a real deal, read the contract with someone who knows your market.
What sync licensing is
Sync (short for synchronization) is the use of music in time with moving images: films, series, ads, trailers, video games, documentaries, online videos for brands. To use your song that way, the production needs permission — a license — and pays for it.
Music licensing is the wider term for any permission to use a song: streaming, radio, live performance, covers and sync. For an independent artist, sync is the part of music licensing you can pitch for directly, which is what this guide covers.
The two licenses every sync needs
A recorded song has two copyrights, and a sync needs permission for both:
| License | Covers | Who grants it |
|---|---|---|
| Master use license | The recording | Whoever owns the master: the label, or the artist if independent |
| Synchronization license | The composition (melody and lyrics) | The publisher or publishers, or the writers if they have none |
If a song has four writers with three publishers, the production needs all of them to agree. That is why music supervisors love one-stop songs: one person or company can sign for the master and the whole composition, and answer in a day.
How a sync pays
- The sync fee: a one-off payment agreed for each use, usually split between the master side and the publishing side. It depends on the use (a background scene or the main song of an ad), the duration, the media, the territory and the term.
- Performance royalties: when the film, series or ad is broadcast, the writers and publishers can collect performance royalties through their collecting society. For that the production files a cue sheet listing the music used, and your works have to be registered.
- New listeners: a scene can send people to the song. Make sure the song is easy to find on streaming with the same title and artist name the production credits.
There are no standard rates. Be wary of anyone who quotes a “typical” fee without knowing the use.
Who places music
- Music supervisors choose and clear the music for a production. They get far more songs than they can hear, so they work with people they trust.
- Sync agencies represent catalogs and pitch them to supervisors and agencies, usually in exchange for a percentage of the fee.
- Music libraries license tracks to many productions with ready-made terms. Read whether they ask for exclusivity and whether they retitle your songs.
- Publishers and labels with a sync team pitch the catalog they control.
- Brands and agencies sometimes look for music directly, mostly for online campaigns.
Getting your catalog sync-ready
- Know who owns what. For each song: who owns the master, who wrote it and with what percentages — a signed split sheet — and who publishes each writer.
- Register the works with your collecting society, so performance royalties can reach you.
- Have the files ready: high-quality WAV, an instrumental version, and if possible a clean version (without explicit lyrics) and stems.
- Metadata in the file: title, artist, writers, publishers, contact, ISRC and ISWC. A file that arrives without a contact is a file nobody can license.
- Clear the samples. An uncleared sample stops a sync, even a small one.
- Tag the music the way supervisors search: mood, tempo, genre, vocal or instrumental, lyrical theme.
How to pitch for sync
- Pitch to a brief when you get one: send what was asked for, not your favourite song.
- Short and with links: a streaming link or a private link, never heavy attachments, and a line that says you can clear both sides quickly if that is true.
- Research before writing: look at what the supervisor or agency placed before and send only what fits.
- Keep a record of which song you sent to whom, for which project and when. It avoids sending the same song twice and helps you follow up.
What to read in a sync deal
- Media and use: where the music appears (TV, cinema, online, social media, in-store) and how (background, featured, opening titles).
- Territory and term: which countries and for how long.
- Exclusivity: whether you can license the same song to others during the term — an ad often asks for exclusivity in its category.
- Fee and split: how much, when it is paid, and how it is split between master and publishing.
- Credit and cue sheet: how you will be credited and who files the cue sheet.
- Agency or library deals: commission, exclusivity, duration and how you get your songs back.
Common mistakes
- Saying yes to a sync without the agreement of every co-writer.
- Having no instrumental version when the supervisor asks for one the same day.
- Signing an exclusive deal with a library or agency for the whole catalog without reading how to get out.
- Not registering the works, and losing the performance royalties of a broadcast.
- Different song titles in the contract, the cue sheet and the streaming platforms.
Publishers and catalog owners can keep their works, writers, splits and sync pitches — which song went to which film, series, ad or game — in TONTRIA for Publishers. To share unreleased songs and instrumentals with a private link, TONTRIA Studio is built for that. And to understand the rest of the money a song makes, read how music royalties work.