Royalty type 04 of 6

Synchronisation Royalties

A single TV placement can generate more income than 10 million streams.

Synchronisation ("sync") royalties are earned when your music is licensed to appear alongside moving image, such as in a film, TV series, advertisement, video game, trailer, or online video. There are always two components: a master sync fee (paid to whoever owns the sound recording) and a publishing sync fee (paid to whoever owns the composition). Both must be separately licensed. For major placements, these fees can range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Income flows through

Directly negotiated via music supervisorsSync licensing agenciesYour publisher or sub-publisherFilm and TV production companiesVideo game developers

Why artists miss this

Without a sync monitoring service, you simply may not know your music is being used. Productions frequently license music without contacting the rights holder, paying into escrow accounts that go unclaimed. Content ID catches some YouTube usage, but it doesn't cover broadcast TV, film, ads, or any platform that doesn't participate in automated rights matching.

$500–$50K+per placement, depending on media type and audience reach

The other five royalty types

Mechanical Royalties Public Performance Royalties Neighboring Rights SoundExchange & Digital Performance YouTube Content ID & Ad Revenue

Find out if you're actually collecting synchronisation royalties.