How To Get Songs Placed In Film And TV (8 Rules You Need To Know)

This post was written by Ari Herstand and originally appeared on the Bandzoogle Blog. It is an excerpt from his new book How To Make It in the New Music Business

If pursuing licensing is your main focus, you need to plan this out long before you write your first song, let alone record it. The fact of the matter is, not every song or every genre works for licensing.

If your chorus is all about Sarah, but the main character of the show is named Amy, they aren’t going to use your song, no matter how perfect it may be musically. And because TV moves so quickly, they aren’t going to ask you to go replace “Sarah” with “Amy.” It either works or it doesn’t. For the most part.

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Q&A: How Music Supervisors License Music

Following on from our Getting Music Placed in Film / TV post, many of our community were interested to find out more about the role of licensing’s gatekeepers – better known as music supervisors.

To get the lowdown, we spoke with the wonderful Season Kent - Music Supervisor at Clear Songs. Her recent projects include: The Fighter, Limitless,Dear John, Revenge, Macgruber, The Strangers and more.

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Turning TV Placements Into Fan Engagement: Lessons From Mr. Robotic – In Defense of 1,000 True Fans – Episode X - Part 2

AH:  How many die-hard fans would you say you have? (Meaning; fans that will buy everything and anything from you?)

Mr. R: I have about 112 that would buy anything from me. They are in a special group in my email list. The rest I know would definitely buy music.

This is great strategy!  Mr. Robotic has separated his diehard fans into a special group so he can better communicate with them and they probably won’t mind extra communication since they are in his Community 1 – his Super Fans. 

AH:  How do you use analytics to your advantage? Do measurements help you with your career?

Mr. R:  I use Google Analytics for my website. To see how many visitors I get and if I get a TV placement how many people come to my site on that day. I also use analytics on YouTube to see where the majority of people who are watching my videos live.  This helps me see where my fans are to get shows in those areas.

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Turning TV Placements Into Fan Engagement: Lessons From Mr. Robotic - In Defense of 1,000 True Fans – Episode X

A few weeks ago I got a tweet from Mr. Robotic, asking if I could include him in my In Defense of 1,000 True Fans series.  I love meeting people via social media, and what follows is the first artist who has approached me to tell his own story.  It’s the perfect roadmap of how to take full advantage precious TV placements.  Instead of the usual interview, I’m combining my “How To” article format (Sound Advice) with this In Defense of 1,000 True Fans piece, giving you an action plan. This article is so long it will be delivered in 2 parts.

When I teach master classes to artists I often get asked:  How do I leverage a TV placement? 

Creating more fans and friends from a hard earned TV or film placement takes a combination of fast action and solid strategy. In the end as evidenced here by Mr. Robotic, this combination can really pay off!

First: A back-story and a word of precaution: I have stood by and watched helplessly now as two of my Cyber PR® clients (who shall remain nameless) have been included in NATIONAL TV spots (one on an Apple commercial and one on a car commercial) and completely squandered these massive opportunities to make new fans.

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