INDIE INSIDER
INSIGHTS ON SYNC LICENSING
& PITCHING MUSIC SUPERVISORS
Award-winning music supervisor Cody Partridge shares his top advice for indie artists
By Michael Raine
For many indie artists fighting to build a career and , more importantly , find an avenue for consistent income , sync licensing can feel like their white whale . Licensing songs for use in TV shows , films , or commercials can definitely be a financial windfall for artists ( yes , including and especially independent artists ), but there ’ s obviously a lot of competition out there . Music supervisors , those folks whose job it is to find and clear songs for productions , have infinite song options , but their mission is to find the right songs for the scene and budget , often on a very tight schedule .
To learn about how music supervisors operate — from selecting songs to getting them cleared , what kind of money is on the table , and how indie artists can pitch their songs — Canadian Musician hosted a free webinar on Sept . 21 , 2022 , with Cody Partridge . Partridge is president and lead music supervisor at Pear Tree Music Supervision . With a decade of experience in the industry , he has more than 150 credits to his name , including Letterkenny , Schitt ’ s Creek , feature films and documentaries , and various advertising campaigns for companies like Telus , Canada Life , and Scotiabank . For this work , Partridge earned four awards at the 2022 Canadian Sync Music Awards .
To gain all of Partridge ’ s valuable advice , watch the webinar on YouTube or listen to it on the Oct . 5 th episode of the Canadian Musician Podcast . But here , we ’ re sharing some of the key insights from that conversation :
Being a music supervisor is more administrative than creative “ To be honest , I would say it ’ s probably 90 % paperwork and about 10 % creative , which a lot of people think that it ’ s the reverse . It ’ s all about being organized and being able to navigate who actually owns the rights to the music , as opposed to just being like , ‘ I have a great ear and everybody loves my taste in music .’ That ’ s what I got into it thinking it was , but there ’ s so many nuances ,” says Partridge . “ You have to make sure that you have 100 % of the master and the publishing cleared . Are there unions attached to it ? Does
10 CANADIAN MUSICIAN it fit your budget ? If it doesn ’ t , do we have alts [ i . e . alternate song options ] that we can put in ? And that ’ s the creative part . But then does production like it ? Because in the end , a music supervisor is working for a producer or a production . We don ’ t make the call . We can put all the great choices forward that we want , but it ’ s not our call to make on what song lands . It ’ s the creatives on the production side that make that decision . So , there ’ s that misconception that whatever I ’ m listening to , I ’ ll get it put in . I get to make that call , maybe , once every 30 projects , where I decide the final song . Usually , I provide three or four options and they select from those options .”
Music supervisors are often working damage control “ If I can get involved at the script stage , or even concept stage , that ’ s the absolute best . But I ’ d say 80 % of the time it ’ s already been shot and they ’ re like , ‘ Hey , we shot so and so singing ‘ Karma Chameleon ’!’ Okay , well , let ’ s hope [ the rights holders ] approve , because if not , what are you going to do about it ?” Partridge reveals . “ A lot of the time our job is
actually damage control . Like , the last thing anybody ’ s thought about was the music and last thing anybody ’ s budgeted for is music , and it ’ s pretty much almost in fine cut and they have a litter of tracks in there and never even thought about how to get them or what to do . And then they ’ re like , ‘ Oh , right , I guess we have to address that .’ That ’ s usually when we ’ re brought in .”
On commercials , the music supervisor is typically brought in at the concept stage . They ’ re given a temp track or a general vibe and tasked with finding a song within the budget that creates the same feel . “ I ’ ll give them 20 songs that do the same trick that will clear within the budget that they have . Realistically , it ’ s a numbers game in the respect of , we ’ re always trying to hit the budget .”
The money paid for songs can vary widely For a TV or movie scene where a song is playing inaudibly in the background ( a scene in a store or bar , for example ), that ’ s probably going to cost about $ 500 , with the money split evenly between master and publishing rights