9 Easy Steps to Submit Music for Movies + TV Shows in 2023 - Gemtracks Beats (2023)

By Gemtracks StaffJan 18th, 2023

Getting your music featured in movies can not only help your music reach the ears of new fans and followers, but it can also help you to generate profits through music creation. Most musicians know how to create music. But, most of them don't know how to generate revenue out of their music. In this article, we will provide you with ways that can help you in the submission of your beautiful music for movies.

One of the most important things that you need to keep in mind when submitting music is to take care of the licensing part. Licensing your music is an effective way to make money. This way, you will not only receive a licensing fee, but you will also get a steady stream of royalties in the back end. If you have not been through these paths, you don't need to worry. We have come up with a step-by-step approach that will help you in the submission of your music for movies.

So, get ready to follow these steps for submission of music

Research first

Different movies have different music needs. They look for a particular style of music that depends upon the plot as well as the vibe of the movie production. Thus, before you move towards submission of the music, it is important to make sure if the movie has the place for the music you produce. You can try to track down the show or the upcoming movie and then try to create music accordingly.

The next step is to find out who is doing the music supervision for the production. You can get in touch with them and send your music samples so that they can know about the type of music you create.

Research-first step may sound too difficult for you. But, by using the right online tools, you can know which type of music is suited for a particular movie. If you have just started your career, you can also type the name of the artists you sound familiar to. This way, you will know where their music is synced before. If they had success in particular music or shows, there might be a probability that you will also get success.

The other best place where you can research is YouTube. On the YouTube platform, you can find all sorts of songs that are suited to a particular music director and movie maker. Try to research patiently, and you will certainly get clues for making music.

While it may be a tricky task to find out the kind of movie an upcoming movie is looking for, you can get deals from different TV shows and web series.

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Targeting

The next step after researching is targeting. At the step of targeting, you will try to find details about the music supervisor of the upcoming view. To get details about the music supervisor, you can visit the platform IMDB.com to know about the show and the type of music. You can scroll down the page until you get information about the music supervisor. You can also try to know about other productions in which the music supervisor is working. Once you know whom to contact, you are halfway there.

Music production

No matter if you are an artist who is pitching for the existing song, or you have curated music especially for production, it is important to make sure that your music is top-notch. This point is especially important for the purpose of licensing. You should know that your recording will be the final version of the soundtrack. Thus, it has to be of good quality if you want to submit your music for movies. This is one of the easiest steps, but it is mostly overlooked by musicians.

A music supervisor checks the value of your music and then decides later on if the music is suited to the movie or not. If the music doesn't sound good, they will reject you right away. Thus, make sure to submit the best quality music.

If you haven't prepared music as per the need of the show, you can also send a few samples to the music supervisor.

Make sure that everything from recording to mixing and mastering is of stellar quality. The true test of your song will be when the other songs compete against your song. If the production quality of your music will stand up to other music, you are good to go.

Organization

Like all other activities, organization skills are also needed for the submission of music. Once the music is created, and you are ready to pitch to the music supervisor, make sure that you've tied all loose ends.

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If you are singing the song, the music supervisor may sometimes want to use the recording of your song without using any vocals. Thus, make sure that you have included all metadata in your file before sending it. This way, the music supervisor will be able to file your song correctly, and the production team will be able to contact you.

The next step is to sign up with a performance right organization. These organizations collect royalties for you whenever the song is aired. Thus, don't miss this point if you want to submit music for movies. Lastly, if you have a co-music producer, make sure to have a contract with them that he/she has given you the permission to shop the music for the film.

Pitching

The next step in the submission of music for movies is pitching. The biggest hurdle that you may face is to find the right connection. You should know that music supervisors receive hundreds of music and songs every week from artists like you.

The trick for getting your music heard is to develop a good relationship with the supervisor. You can also look out for connections who can help you to get in touch with the music supervisor. You can try to contact a licensing agent who believes in your music. You may have to get a small amount of the licensing fee. But, a reputable licensing agent will definitely help you to get in touch with music supervisors. Getting in touch with a good licensing agency can help you in getting placements for your song. Once you have a reputation with some of the sync placements, it can be a piece of cake to reach out to the music supervisors all by yourself.

When you have got in touch with a music supervisor, it's time to send your music. Try to keep the email short and friendly. You need to include a link that can download the music you have created. Never include MP3 as the email will end nowhere other than the trash. These steps are tried and tested by many singers, musicians, and writers. Thus, you can surely rely on the tops.

Music sync licensing

If you want to submit your music for movies, you can't forget to use the music sync licensing. This is basically the process of placing your music and song in a movie, TV show, or YouTube. In exchange for the song and music placement, you will get a synchronization fee. The amount of fee can depend on factors like how often the track is played in public or on TV. To license your music, you can also use other processes too.

Why is licensing important if you want to submit your music for movies?

Following are some of the benefits of licensing:

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• It can be financially rewarding than any other revenue streams available to musicians
• You can get the license from the comfort of your home
• It won't impact your day job or your family as you can work as per the time available.

Just money is not enough; licensing also offers you other benefits.

Having the music track that you have produced featured in a movie can blow up your songs on other streaming platforms, and it can be a promotional tool.

Sync licensing also helps you in working from home, at your own speed, and without any big financial outlay.

How to license your music?

Since you have made the decision to license your music, it's time to understand how you can complete the process. In this article, you will get different ways and methods to license your music:

Get in touch with a publisher

Working with a publisher can be a good option to license your music as the publisher will take care of all boring admin tasks, and they will leverage the relationship. But, the negative point of working with a publisher is that the publishing deals are costly, and sometimes they are also exclusive. This means, if the deal with the publisher doesn't go well, you may get stuck. But, you don't need to worry because there are ways to mitigate the risk. Try to make sure not to sign a lifetime exclusivity deal with any publisher. Keep the agreement period reasonable. Try to negotiate a deal that is beneficial for you as well as the publisher. All you need to make sure is to not get into trouble in the future.

Place the catalogue in the music library

Placing the catalogue in the music library will enable you to get benefit from the traffic on the platform. Once you have set up your track in the music library, you can upload the catalogue to different libraries. The income that you will receive from these platforms is passive, and you don't have to do any extra work. The issue with this process is that there are lots of music libraries that belong to different quality. Thus, as a newcomer, it may be difficult to know where to start and how to do the analysis of the best platform.

To get started with the platform, try to follow a slow and steady process. For example, you can try to submit three tracks to three different libraries every week. You don't need to start big all at once. Try to have a huge catalogue of your tracks ready. A slow and steady process will enable you to win the race.

Bottomline

You will definitely waste some time on libraries that won't give you the needed result. But that's just the part of the game. Just make sure to stick to the non-exclusive libraries and stay with them for short-term and exclusive deals. Bottomline way, you can ensure that your career isn't stalled. When it comes to choosing the best library, no one can tell you which library is the best. A library that is best for me may not be good for you. Thus, you will need to spray and pray when you are starting as a beginner.

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If you have come this far and you make some fantastic music, you will definitely get success by getting a chance to submit your music for movies. No matter if you are an independent artist or you work with a group of people, all these points that we have mentioned above will help you in getting ahead of the curve. Getting a first project may be a daunting task. But, once you get ahead, you won't have a dearth of opportunities.

As long as you haven't signed a non-exclusive deal, you will be in control of your craft and your music career. You can keep on pitching music to different people, and little-by-little you will inch towards your big success.

Before you follow all these processes, make sure to have a clear goal in mind. Try to have the flexibility that mistakes may happen in the path, but you will continue your journey no matter what.

Some of us like to create music anonymously, while some of us want to get a name by making music for movies. If your goal is to submit music for music, all you need to do is follow the steps. It may take time, but you will certainly reach your goal. Let us know if you want any other detail about music submission.

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