I’m often asked how to get music into film and TV. I owe my only success to a music supervisor from Bunim-Murray who found me on thesixtyone and placed four of my songs in MTV shows. For a more helpful answer, I turned to my good friend Helen Austin, whose focus and dedication I’ve admired for years. -Brian

Since getting my music licensed on TV, films and ads, I often get asked for advice on how I did it. The first thing I will say is that there is no
“easy button” and no magic publisher. It requires a lot of hard work and
single-mindedness.

Still reading?… ok

Step 1: Lay the Groundwork

After being a songwriter for a many years (while being a comedian for a living!) it was only two years ago that I decided that my next “job” was
going to be getting my music licensed. I was already a prolific writer
and had learned how to record my own songs in my own style at home (and
still learning everyday). If it was to be my job, then I was going to
work hard and do whatever it took, all day everyday (around kid’s
pick-ups, housework, etc).

So I started writing and producing more, listening to critiques and honing my craft (which turned into a song a week for a year). The learning curve was huge, especially on the
technical side. I signed up on various music sites and submitted my
songs to every opportunity that I thought would fit. These are the sites
that I uploaded music to and monitored the listings that came into my
inbox on a regular basis:

Sonicbids
Taxi
Broadjam
YouLicense

I also uploaded my music to every other music site I could find: Last.fm, ReverbNation, OurStage, thesixtyone… It’s all very time consuming but
you want people to be able to find you easily.

Step 2: Build Your Team

I found a publisher through Sonicbids that I spent time forging a relationship with, and signed many songs with them exclusively. They
have found me placements that have really upped my fan base. It also
connected me with a music supervisor who wanted my music for an indie
movie and also with a producer who flew me to Sacramento to record
Beatles songs. It has gotten me two music business conference showcases
and many internet radio play spots and features. So Sonicbids has been
the best money spent so far.

Through Taxi I found another publisher who I have also signed many songs with, but non-exclusively, which means I can also pitch these songs to other people when the
opportunity arises. Taxi costs the most but that publisher has made me
the most money, plus Taxi has a free music conference for its members
every year.

I got one of my songs on an ad through Broadjam but submitted to MANY listings to get it. But they are good at showing off the artists that they do get placements for.

I had pretty much ignored YouLicense until I got an email from a Korean Record Label through them, who are now working on releasing a CD of my music in
Korea.

All these sites cost money either to join, submit or both. Each has it plusses and minuses but I figured it would cost a whole lot more to go back to school. I have been relentless and found success with
all and will continue to submit because you never know where the next
placement will come from.

Step 3: Produce Targeted Content

Consistently writing and producing a lot is so important because I can’t be too precious about my songs if I want to make money. If I do make a mistake
and sign a contract that I regret then I like having a lot more songs
where that one came from. Also, instead of just having songs that I
think I can submit, I have started writing with placements in mind. Taxi
had a listing that was looking for a song with the word “happy” in it,
so I wrote a song called Happy, which was picked up and is one of my
most successful songs… and it’s only 1:40 mins long!

Step 4: Make Connections

After reading an article by a music supervisor on how they are okay about getting polite emails with links to music, I then sent out hundreds of
individual (no block) emails out to any music supervisor I could find an
email for. I was very polite and sent links only (they hate
attachments!) and follow-ups when I had new music. I got nice replies
from about 10 of them but some have lead to placements and at least a
direct contact who knows my music.

And then there’s the social networking. Yup, you have to do Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, because you never know who you will meet there. I read an article on “Be Interesting
and Interested” and that has served me well in my interactions. But you
have to be genuine. If I can spot fake from a mile off then so can
everyone else. There are several supervisors who use Twitter to find
music and I have had a few placements just by reading my Twitter feed at
the right time.

So that is how I have managed to get my music on TV, movies and ads. In case you are wondering, here are my placements. It all started with the “Insight” ad in September 2009.

MTV – Plain Jane (3 placements)
MTV – Real World (3 placements)
MTV – 16 & Pregnant
90210
Ghost Whisperer
Mayor Cupcake (movie) – 3 songs including opening credits
Seeking Happily Ever After (documentary) – closing titles song
Royal Caribbean (ad)
Insight Communications (ad)

I am sure there are many ways to skin a cat (unlucky cat) and this is just my story of how I am getting my music placed. I love what I do,
from the writing to the recording and mixing, and even the social
networking and emailing. More importantly is that I am grateful for
getting to do what I do every day, and this makes the days that I get an
email telling me of a placement even better. Those are the happy dance
days!