Five top tips for succeeding in sync

BBC Studios Natural History Unit, The Ivors Academy, and PRS for Music join forces to empower songwriters and composers’ careers in Bristol

Music industry experts came together in Bristol yesterday to empower, encourage and inspire local composers and songwriters. PRS Members’ Day, hosted in the home city of BBC Studios, Aardman, and legendary music creators like Roni Size, Portishead and Massive Attack, invited award-winning composers and those in the know for a series of educational panels.

Songwriters and composers were exposed to nuggets of information which uncovered how to generate an income from music creation, including gaining exposure, pitching new music, and how to approach sync opportunities in TV, film and video games. 

Succeeding in Sync: Top tips for Music Creators

1. Accurate metadata is essential. Make sure works are correctly registered with PRS and know your writer and publishing splits. Songwriters and composers can learn more about the importance of metadata via the Get Paid Guide.
2. Be discoverable. Music supervisors are regularly on the hunt for new music. Regularly update biographies and contact information across online channels.
3. Make sure music is ‘sync-ready’. Music which has been recorded, mixed and mastered to a high standard (in a home or professional studio) is more likely to get synched. It’s great practice to have instrumentals, ‘clean’ versions and stems.
4. Create a pitch. Do research on what a music supervisor is currently working on, and only pitch if it is genuinely relevant to that project. Briefly introduce yourself, include a short version of a bio, links to music, genre(s) and keywords for each track.
5. If there’s a time, knowledge or experience gap when it comes to negotiating sync deals, PRS for Music can assist. The organisation operates a service for its members who have been approached with a sync opportunity, offering guidance from initial enquiry through to negotiations, contracts and invoicing. Contact the PRS team. 

Curated by PRS for Music as part of its Members’ Day series, the panels were designed to offer advice and support for careers of songwriters, composers and music publishers and help level-up business skills and boost creativity.

The Ivors Academy, the professional association for songwriters and composers, alongside BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) unpacked themes around composing for and syncing music to awe-inspiring programmes like Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and Frozen Planet; some of the most globally successful factual content of the past 10 years, produced by Natural History.

Moderated by Claire Batchelor, composer and member of The Ivors Academy and PRS, leading composers Anne Nikitin and Sheridan Tongue, as well as the BBC Music commissioning and publishing team, Nichola Dowers (Senior Music Rights Executive) and Nicholas Baxter (Head of Music Partnerships), shared insights on their approaches to connecting with audiences around the world through music, enhancing programming of extraordinary wonders of nature, told through exceptional storytelling, jaw dropping imagery and cutting-edge science.

From artist development to pitching and negotiating sync deals, Michelle Escoffery (Singer-songwriter and President of PRS Members’ Council), Josh Daniel (Artist, Manager and Head of Interval Records), spoke alongside Pam Lewis Rudden (Vice-President, Plutonic Group Syncs), Skip Curtis (Songwriter, Producer and Music Supervisor) and Sophie Elliot-Sheen (Media Licensing Specialist, PRS for Music) provided strategies and guidance to music creators interested in exploring new avenues for their music through sync. 

I’ve always been interested in film scoring and TV, which is something I’ve never been able to try or even speak about, I come from a quiet valley in Wales, then coming to Bristol Members’ Day, I’ve met loads of people who have come through all walks of life, with loads of information about how to get into this area of the industry. PRS has been able to breakdown and teach the importance of what our music could become, and more than anything, I think it’s important for young people to get onboard straight away because ultimately the end goal for anybody in music is to make a living and regional events like these is how it starts.

About PRS for Music

Here for music since 1914, PRS for Music is a world-leading music collective management organisation representing the rights of more than 175,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers. Redefining the global standard for music royalties, PRS for Music ensures songwriters and composers are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public. 

For 110 years it has grown and protected the rights of the music creator community, paying out royalties with more accuracy, transparency and speed. In 2023, PRS for Music paid out £943.6m in royalties and collected a record £1.08 billion in revenues. prsformusic.com