Film and TV placements are a great way to find a home for your original music- but how do you get started??? Here are three easy steps to get started!1- Get the Right Songs- I love country music and specific story lines (i.e. goodbye was painted on the wall). The problem, though, is that these types of tunes do not work for film because they compete with the pictures on the screen. You need to be thinking in terms of songs with general emotions that are not connected to specific images.
2- Have Your Music Ready- You will need mp3's and Lyric Sheets, as well as high-resolution audio of either .Wav or .Aiff files of both your vocal and track versions. This is because music needs to be high-quality for film and also because sound editors may need to use portions of your audio without words. And speaking of quality, it needs to be professionally recorded and sound really good- even if it was done in a home studio.
2.5- Get Agreement- This is a sub-step of getting ready. If you've written songs with artists or other writers, make sure you have agreement to pitch songs from everyone (including publishers) before you get out there. The worst thing ever would be to find a placement and then all of a sudden find out that your co-writer's publisher was not on-board.
3- Find a Place to Start- I started by doing research and going to a film festival to meet filmmakers. Like anything in the music business, it's about relationships. I stayed in touch and eventually got my first placement with one of the companies. This has led to referrals and other placements. You can also research companies online and find films that use similar music and follow up from there. There are also companies that broker music (RipTide, Crucial, etc). Do your homework about the reputation of the company you are working with and make sure you educate yourself on the terms of the deals.
As a final thought, make good on every opportunity you're given and for heaven's sake be easy to work with! Don't send 15 emails when one will do. Don't send a hip-hop song if they are looking for singer/songwriter tunes. And, if you do have co-writers, pick one person to be the liaison for the film so you can collectively be effective in communication with the filmmakers. Again, this is about being easy to work with!
Any thoughts or tips? I'd love to hear your opinions and ideas!
Rock well and often friends!