Your success as a singer-songwriter depends a good deal on the strategic way you position your self as a musician. The artistry of creating fantastic music—your vision, your mood, your intuitivesense of rhythm and musical figures—is a vastly different beast than the frequently daunting legal and economic landscape of music in this new era of electronic distribution. One undertaking is innovative and intuitive; the other entails red tape, legality, logistics and factors.

Aside from the creative process, it’s crucial to consider strategy when considering where you want your sound to take you. Do you produce audio as a vocation? Is music your primary form of earning? Do you produce music to promote albums and gather a fan base, or do you primarily desire to have your music placed in film, television and video games? Perhaps you create new music for all three purposes.

Another important factor to consider is what distribution technique will in reality make you money. Given the present landscape of diminishing download revenue and the high cost of antiquated physical distribution systems it can be a daunting undertaking to discover the method that is right for you. In 2012, most musicians agree that the main two strategies to generate income from music are to tour, or to license music for film, television and video games. After looking at the effort and cost involved in planning, booking and carrying out tours licensing definitely emerges as a preferred revenue stream generated by music. If placement in films and television is your principal goal, please keep reading.

The way you retain ownership of your music is an essential ingredient for potential music licensing deals in the future. You’ll want to research what makes the most sense for your own music with a lawyer, but in general, you’ll want to keep in mind:

  1) You will want to keep your own publishing.
  2) It is easier to consider licensing contracts if there is one single
  songwriter credit for your music.
  3) It is less complicated to work with licensing agents if you release your own
  songs as an independent artist. In general, the less parties there are
  in a contract, the better.
  4) It is ideal to evaluate licensing companies well. Have an attorney
  review any potential contracts. Should you choose a licensing agent, they
  frequently prefer to be the exclusive agent—so choose well.

Musician Jennifer Clarke is one such . She creates her music primarily as an emotional pursuit. Her songs are deeply personal and soulful. Yet once the album is mastered and printed, Jennifer becomes all business. She licensed her song, “More Than I Have,” on the FX Series starring Denis Leary, Rescue Me. Her current album, Trinkets in Rubble, is scheduled for release in March 2012, when she’ll begin new efforts to get the album licensed.

What can you do to pursue licensing? Get in touch with Music Nomad, ASCAP, or use your preferred search engine to seek companies that specialize in the field. Most importantly, never give up. If you knock on enough doors eventually one of them will open.
Singer Songwriter