This year there are close to a dozen TV series using songs in the broad, acoustic-based Americana songwriter style. This trend started with Yellowstone, a series that popularized the music of many Americana artists. Zach Bryan’s songs appeared six times in the 2022 season, driving his song “Something In the Orange” to the top of the Country Music Charts and launching his career.
Category: SONGS FOR FILM & TV
Many of today’s hottest TV series, films, and commercials feature songs by unknown artists and songwriters. Learn how to write and pitch to this fast-growing market.
Where to Find New Songs & Artists to Listen To
Q: I want to learn more about what kind of music is current. Where do you find new music and artists to listen to? Also I want to pitch my songs to film & TV. Where can I hear artists that are being used in that market?
A: If you’ve been getting my monthly emails, you know that I’m big on listening. I recommend that songwriters spend as much time listening as they spend writing. That means listening to successful songs, current songs, songs that inspire you as often as you can.
But there’s a huge amount of music out there—more every week, every day— so much that it can seem overwhelming. So, how do you find new music and artists to listen to? How do you know where to look and how to focus on what will be helpful to you as a songwriter? Here’s my guide to finding new music that will deliver plenty of inspiration, knowledge, and ideas for your own songs.
Cover Songs Are Still a Big Deal
Since I originally wrote this post almost three years ago, there has been a revolution in the way Film & TV music libraries are dealing with cover songs. Up till then, they would not accept or pitch cover songs from indie artists. But now, all that has changed. In addition to accepting cover songs for pitching, a top catalog like Crucial Music even has a list of cover songs they’d like to have!
The reason? I’m not sure but there are just so many movies, TV series, and commercials using cover songs, maybe it was inevitable. And (my real guess), music supervisors were really tired of trawling YouTube at 2 am to find fresh cover songs from indie artists because that was the only place where we could easily upload them.
Why did music libraries shun covers in the first place?
Short answer: Cover songs are not one-stop.
YOU ARE THE OWNER OF THE MASTER RECORDING BUT NOT THE SONG.
Since you paid for the recording (or recorded it yourself) you are the owner of the sound recording, the master. But you do not own the rights in the song: the melody and lyric.
If you are pitching to the Film & TV market, you can only give permission to use the sound recording. A music supervisor will still have to license the song from the copyright owner or administrator. Music libraries previously avoided signing cover songs, but that’s changing as more and more productions use them and understand, up front, they will have to clear the rights to the song.
Alternate Versions of Your Songs
I’m often asked if it’s a good idea to record and mix multiple or alternate versions of a song. The short answer is YES! Because…
- There are versions of your song that you’ll need to have.
- There are optional versions that can be useful to have.
- There are versions that you make just because you’re dying to hear what they sound like.
For the long answer, let’s take a look at a variety of alternate versions and how they can help you in a whole lot of important ways.
MUST-HAVE VERSIONS
THE MAIN VERSION
If you’re an artist, the main version of your song is the one you’ll release as your single. It’s the definitive version, the one you’ll promote first, and the one you want people to hear.
PLAYLISTS: A Film & TV Songwriter’s Secret Weapon!
When I asked successful music supervisors how they manage to find the song they’re looking for among the thousands of song links, mp3s, and CDs they collect every year, they all told me they keep “song playlists.”
Music supes have to find songs quickly. When a film director or TV series producer shouts “Get me a quirky, upbeat love song!” the music supe has to scramble to find three to four songs that fit that description ASAP. A playlist of “Quirky, Upbeat Love Songs” will be just what’s needed. If they don’t have that, the chances of uncovering the right song in a few short hours will be next to zero.