Sync's Vital Role in the Catalogue Frenzy
Anyone reading who comes from a major label background could shrug this off as such a basic observation that it might not even need mentioning, however, with the recent onslaught of catalogue acquisition, sync’s role in realising the value in those catalogue investments has become increasingly important and its time to take note.
For those less familiar with the subject, sync licensing can be more commonly understood as the fee paid to be able put music to picture (i.e a TV commercial) to both the owner of the rights in the composition of a song and the owner of the master rights of a song (although the latter isn’t technically the correct terminology it is more often than not assumed to mean the same thing). This can be a lucrative income for some smaller artists but on an industry wide scale it only makes up a small percent of the overall revenue.
Nearly all record labels or publishers have a sync department and of course they are commercially focused but beyond this need to bring in direct revenue there has been an ulterior motive. Major records have always seen the power a big super bowl advert or iconic film placement can have to drive record sales or more recently, streaming numbers. Bill Backer’s jingle for Coca Cola could perhaps be claimed to be the first to launch a truly global hit when it was re-recorded by ‘The New Seekers’ but there have countless examples since.
The most recent example of this huge range of opportunities, even beyond traditional TV syncs, comes from the Ocean Spray viral sensation.
Although this kind of viral success is very difficult to intentionally orchestrate, it does demonstrate the benefit to streaming numbers for any kind of well executed placement, on any form of media. This particular series of videos drove streaming numbers up 212% and downloads up over 1100% for a song that Hipgnosis had a minority share in via their buyout from Kobalt but they have since purchased an even higher stake more directly.
With Hipgnosis seemingly leading the way after poaching BMG’s SVP Sync, Tom Stingemore, this approach will only become more important as traditional players and new funds seek to deliver the value back on their high valued catalogue investments.
Although newer funds will have something to learn from traditional labels and publishers, the same can be said of those within the traditional sync divisions to ensure they keep adapting to the opportunities that are only increasing in volume. The role of ‘creative sync’ will become ever more relevant with the traditional big opportunities, such as super bowl ads, staying fixed in terms of their availability but the ever expanding newer platforms such as Twitch, only continuing to grow.
A current example of this, which blurs the lines between sync and artist development, is Riot Games title League Of Legends. With an internal team at Riot Games focused on producing the music for the title each year there has been a huge opportunity for collaboration with artists and labels to reach millions of players and put their songs front and centre.
All of these new opportunities don’t come without risk and making sure you are focused in the right places in a world of endless opportunities is essential. Making sure you are attributing success correctly will prove the difference between those that win and those that waste their time. With the volumes of data now floating around in the music industry it is easy to mistakenly assume a placement or a specific platform has driven streaming growth but as Julie Knibb recently pointed out, it is important to be confident about the best places to focus any efforts in driving streaming numbers.
The winners will align catalogue and artists with these new, innovative opportunities across creators, gaming and new tech platforms with sync playing a key role in driving them in the right places.
References:
https://www.synchtank.com/blog/fast-fwd-panel-recap-the-intersection-of-gaming-and-music-in-quarantine-culture/