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Sync Licensing: The Hidden Money in Music Placements · Clone Wars: The Spinoff

• 0:00
  Yo, yo, welcome back to Clone Wars: The Spinoff, the show where we break down the
• 0:04
  game behind the game.
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  I'm DJ Universe, and today we're pulling the curtain back on a check that a lot of
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  artists don't even know exists.
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  And that right there is the problem.
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  Calvin Blingwell in the building.
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  Twenty years in these streets and I still meet artists who think the only way to eat
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  is streaming numbers and show money.
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  That's a limited view of the business.
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  Lil Bennington, and yeah, I was that artist.
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  I was out here thinking if it ain't on the setlist or on Spotify,
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  it ain't money.
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  First time I got a sync check I had to call my own manager and ask if it was real.
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  Dangerous Zygos, C.E.O.
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  of Currency Development, and that's exactly why we're doing this episode.
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  Today's topic: sync licensing.
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  Getting your music placed in film, television, and advertising,
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  and why that check can outlast anything a single hit record does.
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  So break it down simple for the people.
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  A sync deal is when your song gets licensed to sync up with visual media.
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  A TV show, a movie trailer, a Nike commercial, a video game.
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  The music becomes part of somebody else's story.
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  Right, and there's two separate checks baked into that.
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  One, the sync fee, which is the upfront licensing payment.
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  Two, the performance royalty, which is backend money your PRO collects every single
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  time that placement airs.
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  A commercial can run for two years and pay you every quarter it's on air.
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  That backend piece is the part nobody explains to young artists.
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  I've seen dudes take a five thousand dollar sync check, feel good about it,
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  and never realize the airplay royalties behind it could triple that over time if
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  their publishing is registered right.
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  That's the part that got me.
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  I wasn't even registered with a PRO properly when my first placement happened.
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  My producer had to walk me through ASCAP and BMI like I was a kid learning to ride a
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  bike.
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  If your paperwork ain't right, that backend money just sits there unclaimed.
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  Here's the number that matters.
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  Sync licensing did roughly six hundred fifty million dollars in trade revenue
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  recently, and hip-hop and R&B are leading that demand because every brand wants to
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  sound young and urban.
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  Streaming platforms and ad agencies can't get enough of our sound.
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  And the range on these deals is real money.
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  Commercial campaigns can run twenty thousand to over half a million dollars upfront.
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  Film trailers sit in that ten to eighty thousand dollar range.
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  Even a single TV episode placement can be fifteen hundred to ten thousand.
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  But here's what I need the young artists to hear.
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  That demand for our culture doesn't automatically mean our pockets.
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  If you don't own your publishing, or you signed it away in some administration deal
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  you didn't read, somebody else is cashing that check with your voice on it.
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  That's why knowledge of self matters in this business, not just on the mic.
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  You gotta know what you made, know what you own, and know who's holding your
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  paperwork.
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  Otherwise the culture gets sold and you're just the sample.
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  For the indie artists listening, real talk on how this works without a major label
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  pushing you.
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  Sync licensing agencies and music libraries take submissions directly.
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  You clear your own masters and publishing, keep both sides clean,
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  and you can pitch yourself.
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  Discipline is the key word there.
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  You need instrumentals, stems, and clean radio edits ready to go before anybody
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  asks.
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  Supervisors move fast.
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  If your metadata is a mess or your song has an uncleared sample,
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  that opportunity walks right past you.
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  And structure your business like a business.
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  Separate entity for your publishing, register every song with your PRO the day it
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  drops, keep your splits documented in writing with every collaborator.
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  That's generational wealth infrastructure, not just admin work.
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  From the culture side, this is also a branding opportunity.
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  The right placement puts your sound in front of people who never would have found
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  you on a playlist.
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  That's the merger of sound and strategy right there.
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  Before we close, I want to bring it back to something bigger than the check.
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  In the Five Percent teachings, Knowledge is one, Wisdom is two,
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  Understanding is three.
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  Knowledge is knowing the facts of your business.
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  Wisdom is applying that knowledge, wisdom is the wife to knowledge.
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  Understanding is what completes it, when the artist and the business finally see eye
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  to eye.
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  That's Supreme Mathematics applied straight to the ledger.
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  Know your rights, apply them with discipline, and understanding shows up as the
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  check that keeps clearing years after the song stopped trending.
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  That's the blueprint I'm taking with me.
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  Get your knowledge of self as an artist and as a business owner,
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  because both of those are the same person.
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  That's the episode, family.
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  Get your publishing right, get your metadata right, and stay ready for the placement
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  that changes everything.
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  Legacy over hype, ownership over clout.
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  We out.