Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

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What Can A Song Placement On MTV Mean For Your Career In Music?

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Do You Want Your MTV?

In my last newsletter I outlined some ideas about the value of placement exposure vs. the actual monetary compensation. We went over some things to consider when talking with music supervisors directly, publishers, and generally anyone involved in the process of licensing your music. At the end of that newsletter I asked for some feedback from anyone on the list who had success getting a placement on MTV. The response was really amazing and I wanted to share with you my favorite 4 throughout this week! Yes, I’ll be emailing you more often than usual this week, but it’s really important you read each and every story. The cool thing you’ll see is that there are so many different ways to get your music placed, and there are also varying degrees of success related to those methods. Let’s start the week off with Lauren.

Case Study No. 1: Lauren F.
Lauren wrote to tell me her story about her song “3 AM” which played during the MTV Movie Awards in 2012. The crazy part? She didn’t even KNOW about it until almost a full year later when she received a royalty statement from BMI! Now a lot of you may be thinking something along the lines of “Wow, that’s rough!” (only with more swear words), the great part about Lauren’s story is how she still took advantage of the opportunity to tell a story.

Lauren Says…
“While it would have been amazing to have known about it in advance and told people to tune in, I was still able to make the most of the situation by posting a very ridiculous picture of myself reacting to my BMI statement.  I posted it online for fans and friends and also sent it in some thank you emails to people who had helped me along the way.  It got a lot of responses including a very encouraging email from a VIP that is currently pinned to my wall.  I also updated my website to reflect the important placement.”

Lauren's Photo Touting Her BMI Statement

Tremendous right? She was able to leverage her successful placement into a great story she could share with fans. Out of something that happened a year before, she managed to get up a relevant photo, directly communicate her success to fans, put some great PR on her website, and even got feedback from a key business contact.

Method of Placement: Through A Music Library Cold Call

Value Gained: Lauren said the BMI statement wasn’t a bank-buster by any means, but she was happy for the win and excited to be able to have non-musical content to tide her fans over while they awaited her new album.

The Doc Brown Advantage: I asked Lauren what she might do if she had the opportunity to hop in the DeLorean with Doc and Marty and inform 2012 Lauren about the upcoming placement before it happened. She had a great idea (I left out the hover board antics for brevity’s sake):

Doc Brown + Music Licensing = Success!

“If I had known about the placement in advance, I would have promoted it on social media and frankly told my Mom to watch! I would have tried to make it a “virtual event” that fans could join, regardless of their location.”

IMHO: First, always embrace your wins just like Lauren did. Totally rad that she took an opportunity that most people would consider ‘old news’ and still turned it into a meaningful story for her present day communications. And remember, just because you don’t make a million dollars immediately is no reason to downplay your success. Get excited! You work REALLY hard to get your music out there so when it pays off, it’s time to f’in party!

I’d also suggest that anyone in a similar situation reach out to their publisher or whoever is placing their music and request that any news about new placements be delivered in a timely manner. Remember, your publisher works for YOU. They take a good chunk of your money and I believe that most publishers are obligated to do a lot more than they currently do in order to earn it. You may need to follow up once a month to check-in, but it’s good to put that pressure on your representative. That way your music stays top of mind and you can capitalize on wins like this one. I also like her idea about a live event. That’s a fairly simple thing to achieve with Google Hangouts or Goto Meeting, and really engages fans on a high level.

Check out Lauren’s website and music here.

Do you have other ideas about what you might do if you get a placement? How else can you capitalize on this exposure? I’d love to hear your ideas so email me or leave a comment below!

How I Got A Cover On The Top 200 iTunes Download Chart.

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Getting a song in a commercial or on TV is a great way to earn some money. But the other thing artists often consider is the tremendous exposure! We hear a lot about exposure and it’s often used as a negotiating tactic when it comes to licensing. I think exposure value can be all over the map, but this is a case where the original song and the brand’s efforts combined to boost this great cover of “All Shook Up” onto the iTunes Top 200 downloads.

Here’s a quick synopsis of my latest efforts…

The Project: One of my clients emailed me with a description of a new series of commercials he was working on and attached a storyboard (or simply, ‘board’). They wanted a sensual, sexy song for a new Trojan ad but also wanted something that people would recognize.

What I Did: After reviewing the creative material, I immediately recollected a new version of “All Shook Up” – Elvis Presley’s classic – that we had been sent by an independent artist. I pitched the song for the spot and they loved it.

There were some bumps and bruises along the way, but eventually we got it ironed out and I even got the track featured on the brand website with a link to download it in iTunes. Take a look, I think they turned out great! We just found out it entered the iTunes Top 200 at no. 152 and are expecting it to climb higher over the next couple weeks.

Listen to the Track

Music Licensed: "All Shook Up" by Avila

Watch the Commercials

Ask These 9 Questions To Ensure A Great Music Licensing Partnership

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When evaluating the decision of choosing between a non-exclusive or exclusive deal to represent your songs for placement in advertising, I’ve had a number of folks reach out and ask for more info.

Every case is unique but the general goal should be the same: get as much information as possible.

In that interest, I’ve created a list of nine questions that help you spark intelligent conversations and aimed to drive responses that give you real metrics which can better inform your decision-making. You can also tweak the same questions to make them relevant to ANY music business deal.

Also, while you certainly could email the following questions I would instead advise that you pick up the phone or meet in person. You will learn a lot more face to face than you will by reading an email response.

What to ask your potential music licensing partner…

1) Approximately how much synch revenue did they generate last year before royalties?

They’re unlikely to disclose this information, so to follow-up to this question ask….

  • Can I see a rate card or can you ballpark what you charge for the following usages of music similar to mine?
    • National TV promo
    National TV in-program
    National commercial
    Film Trailer (Worldwide)
    In-Film Use (Worldwide)

2) Do they have a reel or 1-sheet that I can see (what they use to pitch their catalog)?

  • This will give you a good idea of what their promotional materials look like, and also let you gage how much work they’ve done (ie: their reel shouldn’t just have placements from 1 show, or from many shows that are no longer on-air).

3) Do they take the publisher’s share of the performance royalty? Is this negotiable?

  • Most places will probably take the publisher’s share but some will let you negotiate how much. Always ask!

4) Can you give me a rough range of how many placements you land each month? year?

  • They should be able to tell you exactly how many they get to be honest, and it should be a point of pride. If they’re new to the game they obviously won’t have that many.

5) Roughly how many ad agency music briefs do they get per month?

  • Anywhere between 5 and 15 would be reasonable. You may want to follow up by asking which agencies they have the best relationships with.

6) Who are their go-to TV and Film Trailer editors or houses?

  • This should get them talking about specific clients they have just to lend some credibility. If you’re talking to someone who isn’t on their sales staff, you may want to request she find out for you.

7) What are current film or TV projects for which they have been solicited for music by music supervisors?

  • Do some research on Variety or IMDB before your meeting and make sure you know upcoming film or TV shows in production so you can gauge the validity of this answer. You might even have the name of the music supervisor on a given project in your back pocket so you can say something like “Oh, so you know _____ ” should they bring it up.

8) What channels of marketing do they use to outreach to their client-base:

  • Generally, they should be doing email, phone calls, and in-person meetings. Some places will also do physical mailers and trade shows. You can also ask if they have a dedicated sales staff.

9) Can you send me an example of any marketing material you send out to your clients?

  • This lets you see the quality of their marketing material. The impression it leaves on you is likely to be similar to the impression it leaves on their clients.

These questions will act as an excellent spring board for more in-depth conversation and help you better decide whether or not to go into business with a potential licensing partner.

If you like this article, get more info on how to get your music licensed and published by subscribing to my newsletter here.