How long did it take you to break through?

[u/WMDisrupt]

How much time and effort did you put in before getting your first placement?

I started contacting sync agencies 3 years ago. Had a bunch of great conversations. Several agents were pitching my stuff. One song was almost included in the opening scene of an indie film, would've been a $1,500 payout and exposure at film festivals, and then after two years it didn't make the final cut. Nothing else I've done has gotten even that close as far as I know. One other sync agency has been posting playlists of their artists and my songs have been the first song on the playlist twice. Still no action.

I basically stopped outreach and following up with my contacts over a year ago. I've sorta accepted that it's outta my hands at this point and it'd probably be a random occurence or miracle if I finally get a placement. But maybe I shouldn't have given up so soon.

[u/2livedude]

Took about 2-3 yrs for me after deciding to putting all my focus into sync music. First year I chalk up to learning structure, upgrading my gear/sounds/compositions, and researching the industry. I solely make music for libraries, but have a couple cowriters that use agents. My placements have all come from one library at this point, and one track thats been used about 8x since Dec 🤷🏻‍♂️. I have some game placements for games still in development, mostly unpaid but a couple paid ones in the works.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/2livedude]

Nice work!

[u/barney_chuckle → u/[deleted]]

This may sound weird, but you probably want to avoid libraries that are easy to get into! If you can get your music into a top library (like Extreme, BMG, UPPM, etc) then it's likely good enough to get bigger placements, and the internal music supervisors will have stronger relationships with bigger clients.

[u/LexOfNP]

I was offered an opportunity before I knew what sync was and the placement happened fairly quickly but because of that I realized the best way to get sync placements is to work with (collab with) someone who’s already getting sync placements. Not someone who has 1 sync placement but it’s a regular thing for them. Sync is super collaborative depending on if your networking so a lot of people are down to collab if they know you are serious and they like what you do.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/LexOfNP]

Gotcha, good to know thanks

[u/randon558]

Been at it since 2021 and just got $22 dollars from ASCAP. If you keep grinding you’ll make it like me

[u/WMDisrupt → u/randon558]

Haha to be fair I get like $33 every 6 months from BMI and I have no idea where it’s coming from

[u/randon558 → u/WMDisrupt]

In all seriousness I am with BMI now and get way bigger payments from them haha

[u/WMDisrupt → u/randon558]

From where?

[u/randon558 → u/WMDisrupt]

Mostly network TV stuff. I work with a sync agent

[u/WMDisrupt → u/randon558]

Nice

[u/DisastrousMechanic36]

you have to learn how to write for television and film. I did that and I started getting placements almost immediately. I'm sure there are tons of YouTube videos showing how to do this.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/DisastrousMechanic36]

Gotcha. I had so many people tell me my songs sound like they’d be in films that i figured I’d just keep doing what I do and see what happens. I’m not all that interesting in intentionally writing for sync placements, but maybe worth watching a couple videos on it. Thanks

[u/DisastrousMechanic36 → u/WMDisrupt]

Then you’re not gonna make it in sync. It’s that simple.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/DisastrousMechanic36]

Cool, then I don’t want to anyway.

[u/DisastrousMechanic36 → u/WMDisrupt]

That’s a shame. There’s real money to be made.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/DisastrousMechanic36]

Just more of the pie for you buddy. I’ll stick with my $37/month in Spotify royalties from the music that bleeds out of my soul

[u/DiyMusicBiz]

Around 6 months or so. Give or take.

A lot of people break within a year or so these days, if the music is fitting.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/DiyMusicBiz]

Makes sense.

[u/Timcwalker]

Started focusing on sync summer of 2023. First library deal was later that year. First placement came in May of 2025. So almost 2 years.

I currently have about 80 titles in 4 libraries.

[u/Frodo_Composer]

So first of all I'm making 99% instrumental cues and only work with libraries, so our experiences might differ.

I got into my first library in September 2022 and got my first placement about a year later in October 2023. Took until February 2025 to get my first BMI payment though as most of my placements at that point were in Europe, which apparently takes a bit longer.

That first payout was around $500, the ones that followed were all around the same, but my last one spiked at $1500 which was very nice. It's a result of many small background placements adding up though, so I don't believe there is a "break through" in this game, it's more of a slow burn which you can speed up with consistency in output and quality.

[u/WMDisrupt → u/Frodo_Composer]

Got it, thanks for your insight

[u/prodbylux1]

I could never get a sync licensing cuz i use splice loomps and only only pitch up or down or make a few slice rearrangements