How to use a YouTube reference track

Describing music in words is hard for everyone, including us. This is why references exist. Paste a link, and a whole set of decisions — tempo, attitude, instrumentation, production era — arrives at once.

Our Music Supervisor accepts a YouTube link as part of a brief. But a reference used badly narrows the search instead of opening it, so it is worth knowing what a good one does.

A reference is a direction, not an order

The mistake is asking for the reference. You cannot licence that recording — if you could, you would have. What you can have is what the reference is doing: its pace, its density, its emotional posture, the space it leaves.

So when you send a link, say what pulled you to it. "The restraint in the first verse." "The way the drums arrive late." "The fact that it never resolves." One sentence of that turns a link into a brief.

Two or three beats one

A single reference produces near-copies. Two or three references, especially slightly different ones, describe a space rather than a point — and the interesting answers live inside that space. Add a counter-example if you have one: "anything with this kind of vocal is wrong for us."

Timestamp the moment

If it is a specific section you love, say so. A track can change completely between the intro and the chorus. "From 1:12" is a genuinely useful instruction.

Say what the reference is not

References carry baggage. If you link a track from a famous campaign, we may reasonably read it as "make it sound like that campaign" when you actually meant "that tempo". Naming what you do not want is as informative as naming what you do.

What we do with it

We read the reference for musical characteristics, not for identity. Then we answer on three levels: what fits the brief directly, an adjacent angle that may serve the film better, and something outside the box that is worth ten seconds of your time. The reference shapes all three rather than dictating the first one — that structure is described in inside our Music Supervisor.

We will also say when we think the reference is wrong for the film you described. That is the point of asking a supervisor rather than a search box.

The legal footnote

A reference is a communication tool. It never becomes a licence, and "sound-alike" work commissioned to imitate a specific recording is a genuine legal risk, not a clever shortcut. Everything we shortlist is a distinct piece of music with clear rights behind it, and it arrives with a certificate. See the licensing page for what that covers.

In practice

Send: two or three links, one line each on what you like, a timestamp if it matters, one line on what to avoid, and two sentences about the film itself.

That is a better brief than most professional briefs we receive, and it takes about ninety seconds to write. Start on Discover or bring it straight to the Music Supervisor.

Hear it in practice

Two of our curated playlists that show this in the music itself:

• Intimate Vocals — intimate vocals, male/female, vulnerable, emotional, close-mic, sparse piano, acoustic, heartfelt, reflective storytelling,
• Contemporary Female Pop — female-led contemporary pop, modern production, catchy hooks, polished, confident, stylish; fashion, lifestyle, advertising, yo…