Music sync is a mess, a new report finds

A new report takes a critical look at the disjointed business of sync clearances and identifies some solutions to the challenges facing music users and creators.

The music industry celebrated Kate Bush’s Stranger Things placement, and thanks to an explosion in new channels and platforms, synch revenue for recorded music alone was up 29.9% YoY in the first half of this year, according to the RIAA.

But imagine how big a business music sync could be if clearing and tracking a song wasn’t such a complex mess.

That is the focus of a new Synchtank report, which explores the challenges associated with clearing, tracking, and reporting music rights, as well as identifying some ways to improve it.

Key study insights include:

• With more channels and platforms in more territories, the complexities of global licensing are causing major headaches for music users, as are the varying rules around how and where music can be used.
• A lack of transparency around rights ownership has made clearance much more challenging. Meanwhile, tracking large volumes of license requests and deals is a laborious process involving multiple stakeholders.
• Music users are typically using a patchwork of tools that were not designed for these complex workflows. An overreliance on spreadsheets and a lack of centralization are leading to inefficiencies and compliance risks.
• Tackling these challenges can be handled by centralizing and integrating interoperable systems, streamlining clearance workflows, and creating a single source of truth for rights and contracts across departments.

Download the full report free here.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.