Know Where You Stand When You Negotiate
You may liken your music to that of a mega-star's, but if a supervisor is interested in using one of your songs, don't negotiate like you are one. Supervisors are generally hired because they have a strong business acumen in addition to great taste in music. You won't be able to pull the wool over their eyes. They are in the power position at the negotiating table, and they know it. If you get greedy, they'll simply move on to the next one of the bazillion songs available for this sync, and you will have burned a bridge, to boot. Try your best to make sure they are treating you fairly, but do not get on a high horse as soon as you get a call back. Again, a little bit of something is better than a lot of nothing.
Stay Away From Samples, Be Careful With Covers
Samples are thorny business when it comes to publishing and licensing. But if your music has un-cleared samples in it, you can pretty much be guaranteed it will never see a sync. No one wants the headache of chasing after the rightful owner of the sample and no one in the legit sync business will be willing to risk it getting noticed while un-cleared. So do yourself and the supervisor a favor by leaving tracks with un-cleared samples off the menu. Also, if your song is a cover, make sure that is clear to whomever you are sending it. It would be wise in these cases to know who the publisher is of the song you are covering, so you can refer a supervisor to them speedily if they love your track.
Work Out Song Splits Well in Advance
Working out how to divvy up the ownership of a song can be a sticky issue for bands. However, ownership is a sensitive issue precisely because it is so important. Intellectual property is almost always controversial, so work your song splits out with your bandmates before you start putting music out there for money-making opportunities. Many groups opt to simply split 100% equally amongst however many people are in the band. Others want to be more precise. However you want to split it is fine so long as it's been agreed upon by all songwriters before there is any money on the table. If all of a sudden you are dealing with real dollars and still trying to work out your splits, you're in trouble. A great many bands fall apart over these kinds of disputes. Take steps to make sure that doesn't happen before you put yourself out there.
That's it for now. You're ready to be the next Santigold in the next Bud Light Lime campaign! Just don't be discouraged if the goings are slow and tough. Remember the sea of other artists up against the exact same challenge that you are. But keep at it, and patience will pay off: “Throw spaghetti 'gainst the wall. Some will stick, most will fall."
