How do you get your music on TV films commercials?

tallbobsmoke

I've seen a couple of people mention that they were dealing with publishing rights and whatnot because they had song in a commercial or something. How'd you become such a and what did you do to get your music there?Did you pay one of those subscription services that sends your music to projects?Did you research projects and contact them yourself?Curious about doing this, but don't know where to start. Thanks.

PATX

Find out some music production houses who seem to be doing cool stuff (usually not the ad agencies who made the commercial, but a third party). Send them your CD/presskit. If they like your stuff they'll submit it with a shit ton of other music and if you are lucky yours gets chosen. If you get a few of these gigs then maybe you'll also be called on to compose stuff at very short notice with nothing more to go on than some Ad dudes poorly thought out keywords like "urban" (big beat with guitar samples) "upbeat" (mid tempo) or "funky" (house)

Avoid using samples. Expect to get bitten.

sabadabada

Wifey is in advertising and we were talking about the music in commercials lately, and she said the place they look is myspace.

Controller_7

it's not that easy, even if you have someone working on it for you. If you have samples in your music it's even harder.

You can submit your music to a publishing company who could send it out to companies for you. You could go straight to the companies. It's kind of like getting a record deal though. You have to get your foot in the door. Not that easy to get them to give you a chance. It helps to have music on a record label that already has connections with a publishing operation. If you get a solid placement then you'll have that in your favor, just like a resume.

"Oh shit, dude had a song in that genital warts commercial. Call him up."

mandrew

if you can find contact info for whoever's picking the music, it helps to send only one or two songs at first that you think would fit with their specific brand. and tell them why. here's an upbeat song that would work for those rockin' car commercials you do. and here's a slower sexy track for your jeans campaign.

i have 50 cds on my desk to check out right now but if someone emailed me a couple songs in an email that were tailored to my work, i'd be more willing to give them a listen first.

deLYS

I only flexed on recordings to share a piece of the pie, but from what I've discovered it's a slippery slope which combines music as a branding tool to strengthen a campaign that can in no way distract from the ad itself at the same time. Thats just my assertation as a peon in the mix.

The few places I've worked all have a seasonal sampler disc/catalog for the business like any artist would push. On it is purchase-able material geared towards garnering potential sales and projects for their networking contacts.
All that seems to separate yours, mine, or anybody elses from theirs is a name, rapport or resume within their industry to work off of.
They also have dvds of published finished material they gave me that I think is probably sent along with the catalog to new potential clients as a resume.

But if you get some Adobe Premier goin' on you could sync up some tracks with discontinued breakfast cereals from the golden days and throw a wrench in their game.

The GIJoe cereal jam you sold back when you got with your midi trigger finger on the pulse of the ears of todays consumerism 20 years ago was that must have passed them all by.


More seriously tho,

if someone emailed me a couple songs in an email that were tailored to my work, i'd be more willing to give them a listen first.[/b]

+
^^^^^
3,2,1 contact!

tallbobsmoke

if you can find contact info for whoever's picking the music, it helps to send only one or two songs at first that you think would fit with their specific brand. and tell them why. here's an upbeat song that would work for those rockin' car commercials you do. and here's a slower sexy track for your jeans campaign.

i have 50 cds on my desk to check out right now but if someone emailed me a couple songs in an email that were tailored to my work, i'd be more willing to give them a listen first.

It sounds like the hard part is finding out who to contact and then what they are looking for.

I think if I had those two things I'd be able to email people directly with tracks that I think meet what they are looking for.

alieNDN

submit tunes to local bbq takeouts...u can be the new mr spriggs bbq jingle.





given the music for this video and the footage of the actual eating being done by people you wouldnt suspect listenin to the type of music in the jingle makes me

Big_Chan

submit tunes to local bbq takeouts...u can be the new mr spriggs bbq jingle.





given the music for this video and the footage of the actual eating being done by people you wouldnt suspect listenin to the type of music in the jingle makes me

LOL!

catalist

Find out who the creative directors are at the big ad agencies in town (Leo Burnett, BBDO, etc.. google to find out who is in your area) . Then if you really have some solid music together , see if you can set up any kind of meeting with them. Find out who their big clients are and see if you have something tailored towards a brand or an idea that they might like and you might get lucky.

I work for a company who does music for TV commercials + shows. That is not how I got in, but it is a suggestion to at least see what your options are. IT is a tough business to get into and equally as tough to succeed in, but if you make the right moves and with a little luck as well you can do good things.

tip : Don't get discouraged if people don't get back to you , you have to stay on them and be super persistent. The schedules of many agency people is ridiculous so unless something is right in front of their face they may not pay it as much attention.

cpeetz

Avoid using samples. Expect to get bitten.

My man Andy had one of his tunes used in a VW commercial years ago, and he
had to sign some serious release saying his music had no samples and that if it did
and someone tried to sue, it was all on him. Shit was no joke!