Key takeaways from the “Concrete tips for getting your music synced” panel at Midem 2015.
Panelists:
Kyle Hopkins, Head of Music Supervision Microsoft (USA)
Alexandre Mahout, Head of Music & Publishing, EuropaCorp (France)
Rachel Wood (Owner & Creative Director, Woodwork Music (UK)
Moderator – Jessica Ibgui, A&R/Creative Manager, Buddemusic (France)
1) “Do not promise the earth, the moon” – Alexandre Mahout, EuropaCorp
Don’t claim that your catalogue has it all – chances are it doesn’t and false promises do not go down well with music supervisors. “I’d rather someone tells me that they don’t have anything in their catalogue than have false promises” says Alexandre.
2) “Don’t send too much music at any one time” – Rachel Wood, Woodwork
Do not inundate people with music – Rachel advises to “send no more than 5 tracks when pitching.” Labelling your files and folders properly is also essential. “Name your folders properly, don’t call the folder the person’s name /company you are sending it to, name your folder by what it does” says Rachel. “You should see how many ‘Microsoft’ zip fildes I have on my desktop” adds Kyle.
3) “Have a strong identity around the music you represent” – Kyle Hopkins, Microsoft
Giving yourself a strong identity will “help you to build your brand so music supevisors know what to expect when they reach out to you” say Kyle. “Look at what your catalogue is, and focus on the people that are most likely to license your music” adds Rachel. Remember to explore opportunities in other territories when doing research on where your music woud fit.
4) “Use metadata as your tool to pitch the music” – Rachel Wood, Woodwork Music
Most of the time you only need the right 30 seconds for a placement to be successful. Help music supervisors to identify the best features of your track by adding metada such as “kicks in at 2 minutes” or “lyrics include togetherness, coming home.” Rachel puts these details in the actual title of the track to make it super clear.
5) “It’s about readiness” – Alexandre Mahout, EuropaCorp
“The timeframe in sync is very short, so it’s all about readiness” says Alexandre. In such a competitive market you need to have everything together at all times. “Don’t start this stuff until you’ve got all your ducks lined up” adds Rachel. “There’s no such thing as luck, there’s opportunity plus readiness.”
