Can Film & TV Be The Kickstart Your Career Needs?
By, Tim Sweeney (November 17, 2000)

If you are an avid TV watcher or film fan, you have noticed that less and less known artists have their songs featured, or are dominating the new TV shows or movies. Instead, TV and film music supervisors have been aggressively looking for and have been actively using independent artists who release their own CDs.

It may sound a bit odd in a music industry which is dominated by major labels and a seemingly invisible group of people in the media, who try to keep you from succeeding, but its true. Over the last few years, TV and film music supervisors have taken a number of independent artists I am working with, for shows such as, HBO’s Sex In The City and The Soprano’s, NBC’s new show, The Immortal and Fox’s new show, The Street. In fact, both The Immortal and The Street are using Gerard McMann’s (a.k.a. GTomMac) music for the theme songs.

The primary interest that supervisors have in independent artists these days is mainly because of your “friends” at the major labels. Supervisors who inquire about various major artists are sent wonderful packages to entice them. Once they have decided on an artist and a piece of music, they call the label to find out how much it would cost them to use the artist’s song. Then they are usually hit with a price tag starting at $5,000 plus residual dollars for the use of 30 seconds of the song. Usually higher for more established artists.

Obviously, with the risk that a TV show may not even survive the season, supervisors are trying to cut costs whenever possible. Faced with the fact of a limited budget, many supervisors have their prayers answered by independent artists they have met at film festivals and conventions. Supervisors usually find that independent artists will accept between $1,500-$2,500 for a brief usage of their song and they are happy to provide the artists with residuals as well. So supervisors can use 2 or 3 independent artist’s songs for the minimum of what a major label wanted for 1.

Independent artists also have another advantage for supervisors. They can create new music for the film without having to get permission from a major label or having the staff at the label, delay the time sensitive process. To put it simply, major label artists are restricted in what they can do, independent artists are not.

So now that you know that this playing field is open to you, here are a few key ideas to get you started and a few things you should know...

1. Never send a TV or film supervisor a press kit. Always send him a complete Artist Profile. Supervisors are like everyone else. They will throw away a pee-che folder press kit before listening to the music. (If you don’t have an Artist Profile, contact me at www.tsamusic.com )

2. Build relationships with supervisors. Go to film conferences and TV events that supervisors would attend. Talk to everyone. The guy standing alone by the tree will probably be Hollywood’s big new director next year.

3. If you are a fan of a TV show, mail the supervisor and let him know you are a fan of the show and you have a song that you believe, will work well for the show. Write out your thoughts for what character or situation it would be best for.

4. Get a list of TV and film supervisors and their current contact information. (The Film & Television Music Guide published by Music Business Registry is an excellent one). Send the appropriate supervisors your CD and Artist Profile. Don’t go through companies or organizations that offer to “screen” your material to determine if they think its good enough “in their opinion,” to send to someone they know. It is true that supervisors often use these companies to keep the “garbage” to a minimum. However they also use these services because they can get your music for free!

5. Walk away from any deal which asks you for the exclusive rights to your songs, your publishing, for them to use your music anyway they want or however long they want and ESPECIALLY if they are NOT offering any money. Don’t be a sucker for the people who say they can get your song placed if you don’t take any money. Believe me, you will end up on a supervisor’s list of artists to call when they have no money left and they want music. Always get paid for your work! Organizations who prescreen materials for supervisors have the reputation for providing them with “free music” and that’s why they call them.

Film and TV exposure of your music can be the “kick start” your career needs to get going. Look at Elliot Smith’s career. Many of you wouldn’t even know of him if his music wasn’t in the movie, Good Will Hunting. Or the aforementioned Gerard McMann, who still sells thousands of CDs of his "Cry Little Sister" song from The Lost Boys movie.