Your success as a singer-songwriter depends a great deal on the strategic way you position yourself as a musician. The artistry of composing great music—your vision, your mood, your intuitivesense of rhythm and musical figures—is a vastly different beast than the often daunting legal and financial landscape of audio in this new generation of electronic distribution. One venture is imaginative and intuitive; the other entails red tape, legality, logistics and factors.

Aside from the creative process, it's essential to consider strategy when examining where you want your music to take you. Do you create audio as a career? Is music your largest type of funding? Do you produce music to market albums and create a fan base, or do you primarily wish to have your music placed in film, television and video games? Perhaps you produce new music for all three reasons.

Yet another crucial factor to take into consideration is what distribution approach will in reality make you money. Given the current landscape of diminishing download earnings and the excessive cost of antiquated physical distribution systems it can be a daunting process to find the method that is right for you. In 2012, most musicians agree that the top two ways to make money from music are to tour, or to license music for film, television and video games. After considering the effort and expense involved in planning, booking and executing tours licensing definitely emerges as a preferred revenue stream generated by music. If placement in films and television is your primary objective, please keep reading.

The way you control ownership of your songs is an essential element for possible music licensing deals in the future. You'll want to research what makes the most sense for your own sound with a lawyer, but in general, you'll want to keep in mind:

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

Musician Jennifer Clarke is one such singer-songwriter. She creates her music mainly as an emotional pursuit. Her productions are deeply personal and soulful. Yet the moment the album is mastered and printed, Jennifer becomes all business. She licensed her track, “More Than I Have,” on the FX Series starring Denis Leary, Rescue Me. Her current album, Trinkets in Rubble, is slated 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 favorite search engine to look for companies that specialize in the field. Most importantly, never give up. If you knock on enough doors eventually one of them will open.