Sync licensing pitch email template

Music supervisors place music in film, television, advertising, games and trailers. They work to a brief — a scene, an emotion, a tempo, a budget — and they are usually short of time. They do not want a catalogue tour; they want a record that solves the brief in front of them, with the paperwork already clear.

The paperwork is the part artists underestimate. A supervisor needs to know who owns the master and the publishing, whether the track is one-stop, whether an instrumental and stems exist, and whether there are any samples or featured artists whose approval is required. If any of those answers is uncertain, the track is not ready to pitch, however good it is.

Subject: [Mood/genre] cue — [track title] — instrumental + stems available. Body: "Hi [name], you supervised [project], which is why I am sending this. [Track] is a [tempo] [genre] cue with [mood] and a [instrumentation] bed; instrumental and stems are ready. Master and publishing are one-stop with me, no samples. Link: [one link]. If it is not right for a current brief, I would still value being on your radar for [specific kind of scene]."

Short, factual, and it answers the four questions before they are asked. The reference to a project they actually worked on is the only personalisation that matters. Do not attach the WAV; link a page with a stream, a download for the instrumental, and a one-page rights summary. If you have a publisher or a sync agent, they send this instead, and you should not duplicate it.

Register the work with your collecting society or publisher, keep the split sheet signed by every writer, and know who controls the master. If you used a sample, clear it or replace it — an uncleared sample makes the track unusable for broadcast and is the fastest way to lose a supervisor’s trust. If a featured artist appears, get their written approval for sync in advance.

A one-stop is a genuine advantage: a supervisor can clear the track with one signature. If your rights are split, say so and provide the contacts, because a supervisor would rather know now than discover it at the contract stage. The blog’s guide to pitching music supervisors covers the relationship side and how briefs circulate, and the sync and monthly listeners piece explains why a sync credit rarely moves streaming numbers.

Start with supervisors whose past credits fit your sound, not the biggest names. Then libraries and sync agencies who place the kind of cue you make, because they are actively looking for catalogue. Then music editors and production companies who work in your region. A list of thirty well-matched contacts is more useful than three hundred names from a directory.

Send once, then follow up once when you have a new cue that fits a different mood — not to ask whether they listened. Supervisors keep folders; a record that does not fit today’s brief may fit in six months, which is why the rights summary and the instrumental link should stay live and stable.

A composer has an instrumental cue at 90 BPM with a warm piano and a sparse drum bed. They write a one-paragraph rights summary: master owned by the composer, publishing split 100 percent writer, no samples, instrumental and stems available. Then they pick twelve supervisors whose recent credits include dramas set in small towns.

Each email names the project and the scene type, states the tempo and instrumentation, links one stream and the rights page, and asks nothing more than to be on the radar. Two reply asking for the stems, one forwards it to a colleague, nine are silent. The useful result is not a placement; it is two supervisors who now have a working link when the next brief arrives.