Getting paid properly for sync

Sync income is not complicated, but it is layered, and most of the money that goes missing goes missing in the layers rather than in the deal.

Here is how the pieces fit, and what a composer should keep in order.

Two payments, two systems

A sync placement usually generates income twice.

The licence fee is paid once, by the person using the music, for a defined scope: where it runs, on what media, for how long. It arrives through the platform or the agency that made the deal.

Performance income is collected afterwards by performing rights organisations when the finished work is broadcast or performed. It reaches you only if the work is registered correctly and the cue sheet names you.

These are separate pipes. Money can flow through one and not the other, and usually the failure is registration, not fraud.

Why one-time, project-based licensing matters to you

In a subscription model, your income is a fraction of a pool, divided by download counts you cannot see. In a project-based model, a specific customer pays a specific fee for a specific use of your track, and your share of that fee is traceable to that use.

That is the model we run, and it is a deliberate choice: we think quality can only keep being made if the people making it are paid per project rather than per fraction.

Splits belong to the song

A writer split describes who wrote the work. It applies to the song — so the main mix, the instrumental, the alternate versions and the stems all carry the same split, because they are all the same composition.

Practical consequences:

• Agree splits before the track is delivered anywhere. Retroactive negotiation is where friendships end.
• Record them in writing, with full legal names, PRO affiliation and IPI numbers.
• Keep a default set for your regular collaborators so nothing gets guessed later.
• If a co-writer joins for one version only, that is still a writer on the song — decide the share explicitly.

Registration, cue sheets and the boring part

The performance side depends on three things being consistent: your registration with your PRO, the metadata attached to the track, and the cue sheet filed by the production. If the title on the cue sheet does not match the registered title, the money sits unmatched.

So: one canonical title per song, used everywhere. Versions labelled as versions, not renamed into new works. Your name spelled the same way every time.

What to track yourself

Even with a good partner, keep your own record of:

• Which tracks are placed where, and under what scope
• Which splits apply to which songs
• Which works are registered, and when
• What has been paid, against what statement

Nobody will ever care about your catalogue as precisely as you do.

The short version

Agree splits early, keep them attached to the song, register consistently, and prefer models where a real project pays a real fee for a real use.

Submit your music or read what makes a track sync-ready.