Nick Fitzsimons founded Penny Distribution in 2007 and launched sister company Penny Black in 2010. Originally a physical and digital distributor, Penny Distribution and marketing services for its artists and labels.  Penny Black is a boutique music licensing and consultancy service representing independent Irish & UK labels catalogue to the media industries for sync and brand partnerships.  Nick also helped organize UnConvention Belfast and the NI Music Industry Meetup series, as well as the informal Open Music Media Belfast meetups

It’s something that anyone involved in music in 2010 will tell you is big business, and maybe the answer to dwindling (if not non-existent) recorded music sales.

The sync, or “synchronization” of your music with a moving image.

Indeed, the pursuit of that perfect sync (or even an imperfect sync) has been a focus of recording artists for years – closely coinciding in the past decades meteoric slide music sales.

Prior to 2002, it’s safe to say that most label’s sync strategy was “passive” – there’d be little to no active outreach, with content creators such as ad agencies and TV producers instead, upon hearing a record on the radio or through other promotion, would call the label directly and negotiate a deal. 

The tables have well and truly turned.

The sheer amount of pro-active music producers (labels, artists and music clearance houses) now pitching to music supervisors, creative directors at ad agencies and games companies is so huge that it’s having the natural market economy effect when supply greatly  outstrips demand i.e. less and less money is being made available to pay for music licenses. 

Whereas 10 years ago, a Hollywood picture would have about 10% for a music budget, that margin has slimmed to 6%, even as low as 3% in some cases.

That said, independent music has a significant advantages over music from other more “established” artists.  Stressing the “indie advantage” – that you can be more flexible, clear the license more quickly and allow for wider uses of the music – can be an attractive proposition for folks seeking that killer track that connects with their audience.

First things first:  before you can even think of a sync strategy, you need to get your tracks sync-ready.

1)     Register your songs with performing rights organization in your country.  Sounds obvious but I’ve heard some horror stories.  Some TV companies actually ask for a detailed songwriter split BEFORE a deal is signed, for no other reason but to make sure there’re no hiccups in clearance later.  Be sure to be explicit about song-writing splits during registration and keep a clear record of all communications.

2)     Instrumentals:  When you’re in recording the new release, think seriously about paying up for vocal-less versions of your mixes.  It’s the #1 most asked for variant of any commercial recording and could well be the difference in getting a sync or not.  Getting instrumentals after you’ve finished recording and mastering can be considerably more expensive – it’s worth keeping in mind.

3)     Metadata:  Ensure ALL of your digital music files are correctly tagged.  You can use iTunes (“Get Info”) to edit meta-tags, but I find an audio editing software (like Audacity, which is free) is more suitable for editing tags. Including genre, bpm and songwriter information as well as contact information in the file will help people track back to you if they hear something they like.

Once your tracks are as sync-friendly as possible, the next step is to look at where to aim and who to contact:

1)     Film:  IMDBPro is a great resource here – most music supervisors will list their previous work and upcoming projects - a great way to start a conversation with them.

2)     Advertising:  Resources like FileFX (in the UK) list many key advertising agencies and their respective key players. The biggest problem can be getting your music to the right person at the right time – there are literally tens of people involved in the creative process of making an ad.  Developing a few relationships, rather than trying to contact everyone who might be involved, is usually a safer bet, but a good place to start might be the company’s Head of TV.

3)     Games:  A more difficult bet for commercial music – many games use a custom composed scores.  Certain game genres do use commercial music, and the major publishers (Sony, EA, Konami, Xbox etc) usually have a music supervisor who you can target.  The key, as always, is being relevant to their current projects.

4)     TV:  IMDB is a great resource here also.  Most TV studios have folks in charge of a series.  As these folks often move from show to show, establishing a good relationship can be advantageous here also.

There are many other routes to market for your music – coupling with a consumer brand or corporate communications being two that spring to mind – that are also worth considering as your sync strategy develops.

When you’re ready to reach out, keep a few things in mind:  as with any communication with folks you’re trying to get interested in your music, remaining personal in your communications, as well as persistent is important. 

1)     Be a real person: Rule of thumb – forgo any language in an email that you think sounds “professional”.  That doesn’t mean write emails in LOLspeak, but passion about your music and more importantly, passion about the project you’re hoping to get involved in, will take you much further.  Anyone today can be slick.  Be authentic.

2)     Be relevant:  NEVER pitch a song or album just because it’s something you’re working on at the moment – only pitch music that’s relevant to the individual you’re targeting and they project they’re working on.  The temptation can be to “carpet-bomb” supervisors with your new release – bad idea.  Quality, not quantity, of conversation will take you much further.

3)     Do it together: Consider forming a collective of artists or labels and pooling sync resources.  A wider range of genres will make it easier to match briefs .

Peers, Friends & Fans

It’s one of the most memorable scenes from “This Is Spinal Tap” and marvelously summed up the prima donna cock-rock superstar.  Tap’s guitar player, Nigel Tuffnell, draws his managers attention to the buffet plate back stage, complaining about the size of the bread, and that he can’t make a sandwich with tiny bread – “It’s a disaster!” he squeals like a 5-year-old.

Rightly or wrongly, the mythos exists that being in a “successful” band means being waited on hand and foot, being lord over all you survey (labels, partners, peers and fans) and that hissy-fits and difficult behavior can be excused because you’re an “artist” – some would even say that being difficult is a pre-requisite of being a true artist.
 
The truth is that working in music is essential working with people.  Despite the appearance that a musician has single-handedly conquered his particular domain, there is a subtle and intricate network, usually numbering into the hundreds of people, who’ve all played their part in propping up this particular house of cards.  

If you operate under the assumption that success in this industry can be achieved by you alone, you’ll probably last as long as one of Spinal Tap’s drummers.

And this applies to music businesses, too.  Working as a label or promoter is such intensive work that it can be far too easy to become absorbed with your work, never looking up or taking time to see if there’re other businesses or individuals involved in similar or possibly complimentary activities.

With that in mind, I think we can divide the types of people that really matter into 3 groups.

Peers:  

These include artists, songwriters and other music businesses.  The myth exists most strongly here – other businesses are the “competition”. (for the sake of this piece I’ll call all artists & music enterprises “businesses”).  They might steal your ideas.

In today’s music business, I think we need to blow this thought out of the water.  Ideas are so numerous people are giving them away.  Whatever the idea, it’s the execution, not the idea , that matters most.

Not only that but interaction with other businesses is begun in the spirit of co-operation with the goal of mutual benefit or the achievement of common goals.  

Of course you need to work with people you trust, with companies who share your outlook and ethos – but pulling down your shutters to the outside world because the chance exists that things may not turn out well is a sure path to failure.

Get out to networking events or start your own.  Anything that gets your peers into a room together, talking to as many people as possible is of benefit.  That was a main motivating factor behind UnConvention Belfast (and, I believe, Un-Convention in general) as well as the now-monthly Northern Ireland Music Industry Meetups in Belfast that followed on from UnConvention.

It’s not a question of competition or stealing ideas.  It’s simply a question of optimism (think of what we could achieve together!) versus pessimism (they’ll abuse my trust and betray me somehow).  Where do you stand?

Friends:  

These include bloggers, interviewers or radio – anyone who, for whatever reason, is interested in your music and is taking the time to talk to you about it.

Research the company behind the interview, find out who listens or comments on the content but above all else be enthusiastic.

I’ve heard so many stories from people in radio where the rock ‘n’roll ethos is so prevalent (among established and emerging acts alike) that the band or songwriter treats the interviewer with indifference, or worse, with “don’t-you-know-who-I-am?”-style contempt.  

The truth is, no matter how successful you are, every person you interact with as a business has the potential to change the game for you and your endeavors.  The problem is that there’s no way to tell who that’ll be – by acting like a Rockstar you’re basically destroying any chance that one of these people will help you in the future.

Fans:  

I’ve talked quite a bit about how to treat your fans, but the basic tenet to understand is that they have as much control over your success as any writer from Pitchfork or WOXY.

The amount of times I’ve seen bands treat their audiences with contempt is beyond count and, although disasters like Wavve’s recent meltdown in front of an audience of potential fans at Primavera are rare, there’re plenty of other missed opportunities.

Most bands will say “thanks for listening” after a show, but are they really thankful?  If they are, how are they showing it?  How about writing an email the day AFTER the show to thank attendees, including a demo of the new track you just wrote?  Or making sure fans leave with some music as a tangible “thank you”?

The goal in all of this is that the next time you’re working on a new business idea / have a tour to promote / playing a show in someone’s town, you’ve earned the loyalty of people you interacted with the last time you were there.
 
Do you think you’ll have that loyalty if you run step-by-step through the Rockstar playbook?   

I’d say if you toss aside the Rockstar shit, if you act with genuine enthusiasm, humility and with a sincere recognition that it’s a privilege to work in music, you’re much more likely to have that loyalty.