Whether its broadcast or streaming platforms more opportunities are presenting themselves for under-the-radar artists. Some shows might only license 1 or 2 songs but others literally have their soundtracks flooded with indie artists.
Reality & Unscripted Shows have high volume needs for songs and the fees can sometimes not be that great, but the exposure and residuals can be decent and ongoing. For example show's like Teen Mom or Catfish are aired around the world for years which can be very fruitful for an artist.
Some shows might only have an end title track licensed and then you have shows like Chicago Fire which only licensed 12 songs in 22 episodes of season 13.
Some shows will only license periodical songs such as The Gilded Edge and Dexter Original Sin (which is set in the early 90's) and you have shows like Bridgerton which mostly uses classical covers of modern pop tunes.
Shows like P-Valley licensed 138 songs in 8 episodes which is a ton of music. And then you have shows like Grey's Anatomy that licensed 83 songs in 18 episodes of season 21.
Whether you're trying to connect with a Netflix music supervisor or an independent one, researching the TV shows they work on is always worthwhile. If you know the kind of shows that your catalog works in check out their playlists on tunefind.com to double check that your songs are a strong fit. The chances of getting a response from a music supervisor working on a show is a lot greater if you're reaching out with great music that perfectly fits the soundtrack.
If you're really serious about getting sync deals then go one step further and get to know a show, their characters and storylines. You'll start to realise that certain genres get married to certain characters and certain keywords in songs get used to drive the characters storylines.
Here's a few examples of the volume of songs licensed in various shows…
- 'Station 19' - Season 7 - 61 songs in 10 episodes
- 'The Challenge All Stars' – Season 5 - 50 songs in 12 episodes
- 'Love Island USA' – Season 7 - 106 Songs in 36 episodes
- 'Selling Sunset': Season 8 - 15 songs in 11 episodes
- 'Resident Alien': Season 4 - 16 songs in 6 episodes
- 'Catfish The TV Show' – season 8 - 268 songs in 91 episodes
- 'The Walking Dead' – Season 9 - 34 songs in 16 episodes
In summary when targeting your catalog study the shows soundtracks.