What Are Synchronization Royalties?

Trqk’s essential guide to synchronization royalties explains how music is licensed and paid for placing music in films, TV, games and other media.

When it comes to getting people to feel, music has a near-monopoly on our heartstrings. Directors and advertisers have known this fact for ages, and it’s why they’ll spend a pretty penny for the right to use a perfect piece of music for their films and commercials. It is, in other words, why synchronization royalties exist.  

If you are looking for a deep dive into synchronization royalties in the U.S., then look no further. This blog post gives you a rundown of one of the fastest-growing forms of passive income in the music industry. 

Want to brush up on the fundamentals? Check out Music Royalties: The Ultimate Guide

What are synchronization royalties?

Synchronization royalties are payments made to the musical rights-holder(s) for the use of their music in another audiovisual work, typically video content. Sync royalties are paid as a one-time, upfront fee known as a sync license fee. This type of royalty is a standard part of television, movies, video games, and advertising. 

Sync royalties were paid to put “I’ll Be There for You” at the beginning of “Friends” and to make almost every credit roll more powerful. Even podcasts and YouTube ads generate sync royalties. In short, sync royalties can show up in any kind of multi-media creative where evocative and high-quality music makes a meaningful impact on the final product. 

Sync royalties can be paid for the use of a master recording and/or a musical composition. Recording artists earn sync royalties for the use of the master recording, while songwriters earn them for the use of the composition.

Now that we’ve defined synchronization royalties, let’s take a deeper look at the history of this source of artistic revenue. If you’d like to review music royalties in general, check out this blog. 

Synchronization royalties’ big moment

While sync royalties have been around for decades, they gained a great deal of popularity in the early 21st century. Like most of the developments in the music industry, there’s a rather interesting story behind their break into the mainstream. 

Back in 2000, Sting was having a rough time getting his new album, “Brand New Day,” off the ground. Despite its undeniably hooky chorus, the album’s single, “Desert Rose,” simply wasn’t getting the enthusiastic reception it seemed like it deserved. That’s when Sting and his manager, industry legend Miles Copeland, noticed a hidden opportunity in the song’s music video: It prominently featured a Jaguar sports car.

So, they decided to ask the luxury automobile manufacturer if they wanted to create an ad together using the song. The collaboration proved to be a watershed moment in the history of sync royalties: The tune became a classic and dealt a significant blow to the stigma surrounding sync licensing. 

Artists were sometimes considered sellouts if they took sync royalties. Now it’s understood to be just another part of making a living. 

These days, sync royalties are a go-to source of income for many artists, and it’s no wonder why. The rise of social media, content platforms like YouTube, and streaming services like Netflix have increased demand for music on all fronts. Brands are churning out more video content than ever before — as are studios with movies and series. Not to mention video games, whose production values now rival even the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. 

High-quality visuals need high-quality audio to soar. And this is precisely why it’s never been better to be in the sync game. 

Synchronization royalties vs. performance royalties

Because sync and performance licenses can apply to the same scenario — the use of music in other media — explaining the differences between the royalties they generate can be a tricky business. 

One significant distinction between sync royalties and performance royalties has to do with the timing of the payment. Typically, sync royalties are paid upfront in a single lump sum. Performance royalties are distributed over time according to the number of times a particular piece of content is run.  

How much are synchronization royalties rates?

As we mentioned above, sync royalty rates have historically been determined via some kind of negotiation. If an advertiser wanted to use an artist’s piece of music for a given campaign, there was no official pricing reference. The two parties needed to come to a shared agreement on the value of the art, and that meant rates were highly variable. 

The Internet, however, changed the game for synchronization royalty rates. Numerous online music licensing services began to surface, increasing the availability of music and visibility into the market. This shift put a great deal of downward pressure on the price artists could command for their work. It has also created more rate stability and parity in royalty rates. 

That’s not to say that online music platforms ushered in the end of the big-time sync licensing deal. Synchronization royalties can still reach hundreds of thousands of dollars for the right placement in a major Hollywood film. Artists can also get compensated in that range for a massive ad campaign. It’s just that those mammoth paydays are a bit rarer these days.

The upside? Aggregate demand is far greater, and there are now many more artists earning sync royalties than there were before the rise of online music license marketplaces. MIDiA Research reported that total sync revenues grew by 11% in 2017, and a recent study by CISAC revealed that sync collections increased by 15% in 2019.   

This is fantastic news for the average artist, who now stands a much better chance of getting paid for their work than they did only a decade ago. And it’s likely at least part of the reason the independent musician market has exploded in recent years. 

Need a partner who understands synchronization royalties? 

While creating music can be pure bliss, the same is rarely said of sorting through the details of royalties. That said, it’s critical to find out what you deserve for all your hard work. Finding a partner you can trust is a significant first step on the road to growing your revenue. 

At Trqk, our mission is to help keep the music creator economy transparent and fair because we’re musicians and music execs too. Powered by data science and business intelligence, TrqkIQ™ can ensure you get the most out of your sync deals. 

Get in touch to learn more about what Trqk can do to help you maximize your creative revenue!