On-Demand Workshop
Pitch, Place, and Profit
License your music and earn more. What a sync licence is, who is buying, how to get catalog ready, how placements are priced, and the licensing plan that ties it together.
Key learning outcomes
- Tell the two copyrights apart, say who controls each of yours, and name who earns from a licence.
- Register so that mechanical royalties on your compositions actually reach you.
- Affiliate correctly on both the composition and the recording side, and collect from each.
- Explain what a sync deal actually grants, and price one against media, term and territory.
Workshop Description
A placement in a film, a series, an advertisement or a game is one of the few things that can pay an independent artist a meaningful sum from a single decision, and then keep paying. This workshop is how that decision gets made and how you put yourself in front of it.
It covers what you are actually licensing, who is looking, what has to be true about your files before anyone can use them, how a fee is arrived at, and how to write the plan that turns occasional luck into a revenue line.
Who this is for. Recording artists, songwriters, record producers and music executives who own or control their recordings, their compositions, or both.
By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:
- Tell the two copyrights apart, say who controls each of yours, and name who earns from a licence.
- Register so that mechanical royalties on your compositions actually reach you.
- Affiliate correctly on both the composition and the recording side, and collect from each.
- Explain what a sync deal actually grants, and price one against media, term and territory.
- Identify which income streams your catalog could earn from and is not currently collecting.
- Get a catalog pitch ready and put it in front of the right people with a pitch they can act on.
- Understand what your distributor and the platforms are collecting on your behalf, and what they are not.
- Decide correctly which permissions a derivative use needs, on your music and on other people’s.
- Understand how your rights travel, and who collects for you in a country you have never visited.
- Put the arrangements in place that let a foreign placement actually pay you.
- Prevent the failures that kill placements, and handle them when they happen anyway.
- Produce one complete licensing plan covering what you own, who collects it, and who you are pitching.
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Understanding Music Licensing
Tell the two copyrights apart, say who controls each of yours, and name who earns from a licence.
Lesson 2: Mechanical Rights and Royalties
Register so that mechanical royalties on your compositions actually reach you.
Lesson 3: Performance Rights and Royalties
Affiliate correctly on both the composition and the recording side, and collect from each.
Lesson 4: Sync and Micro-Sync Licensing
Explain what a sync deal actually grants, and price one against media, term and territory.
Lesson 5: Expanding Your Licensing Revenue
Identify which income streams your catalog could earn from and is not currently collecting.
Lesson 6: Finding and Creating Licensing Opportunities
Get a catalog pitch ready and put it in front of the right people with a pitch they can act on.
Lesson 7: Licensing Through Distribution and Digital Platforms
Understand what your distributor and the platforms are collecting on your behalf, and what they are not.
Lesson 8: Derivative Works and Adaptations
Decide correctly which permissions a derivative use needs, on your music and on other people’s.
Lesson 9: Understanding International Music Rights
Understand how your rights travel, and who collects for you in a country you have never visited.
Lesson 10: Licensing Music in Global Markets
Put the arrangements in place that let a foreign placement actually pay you.
Lesson 11: Navigating Licensing Challenges
Prevent the failures that kill placements, and handle them when they happen anyway.
Lesson 12: Final Project: Build Your Music Licensing Plan
Produce one complete licensing plan covering what you own, who collects it, and who you are pitching.
What is included
- Every module, streaming, for one year from the day you buy it.
- The Free Community, Online Discussions and the member directory.
- No subscription. You are not charged again and nothing renews.
Who teaches it
Selena Hunter
Founder and CEO, Rhythm & Brands. COO, Hathor Entertainment.
Selena Hunter is the founder and CEO of Rhythm & Brands, a Los Angeles-based artist management agency representing multicultural recording artists, and the COO of Hathor Entertainment, an independent record label and music publishing company for women. With more than two decades of experience in business, marketing, and accounting, she helps artists build sustainable careers through strategic branding, marketing, and advisory services.
Selena holds degrees in Business Administration and Music Entertainment Management and is a fourth-year Music Business student at Berklee College of Music.