MBW Views is a sequence of op/eds from eminent music {industry} folks… with one thing to say. The next MBW op/ed comes from Tom Stingemore (pictured), the founding father of sync knowledge platform, ALLOY, which allows file labels and music publishers to entry a higher proportion of the worldwide sync market by standardising ‘sync metadata’ and enabling digital transactions throughout a number of platforms.
Over the previous 12 months, as a few of you can be conscious, I’ve been calling for an pressing modernization of the worldwide sync {industry} within the pursuits of all artists and songwriters earlier than it’s too late.
This course of has led me to the conclusion that there are actually 5 predominant explanation why the sync enterprise (for industrial music, at the very least) has nonetheless not been upgraded to any discernible diploma.
I’ll get on to these 5 causes in the end, however first, I’d prefer to pose a hypothetical query:
Would you purchase a luxurious automotive for those who needed to supply all of its particular person components and elements from a wide range of completely different suppliers?
Okay, the query is a little bit absurd, however in essence that is what we expect our prospects to do, every time they need to use certainly one of our songs.
(… I’ll proceed beneath the idea that your reply to my hypothetical query was “No”.)
“No” is the reply that our purchasers proper throughout the leisure industries additionally now appear to be touchdown upon, as in response to the RIAA, sync income for industrial music is down -10% 12 months on 12 months.
After all, we may level to a variety of ‘uncommon’ occasions because the trigger(s) for this decline, however in reality… are uncommon occasions actually that uncommon, anymore?
I’m pretty assured that almost all of file label and publishing firm CEOs is not going to be minded to entertain ‘excuses’ (nevertheless legitimate they might be), ought to their sync revenues begin to nosedive.
I think that they in all probability simply need to see that specific graph going up…
… and, don’t all of us?
Let’s face it – the unnecessarily arduous course of that we’re nonetheless anticipating our prospects to undergo merely with a view to ‘buy’ our ‘product’, is complicated, inefficient and because of this isn’t scalable. However maybe most significantly – neither is it now working in the very best pursuits of the artists and songwriters that we symbolize.
One music firm sync government advised me final 12 months: “All of us know we’re working extremely inefficiently, however we clearly can’t admit that to our bosses.”
They can’t say it. However I can.
Sync is arguably the final space of the music enterprise to be modernized. Many individuals are attempting and in reality, because of this there’s now an unlimited and fully untapped, international digital sync market for industrial music, simply ready to be turned on.
One factor is abundantly clear: the longer that we fail to embrace digitization of the sector and the longer that we fail to considerably enhance our prospects’ expertise, the extra engaging the alternate options to utilizing industrial music will appear.
It has been broadly reported that library music (together with “soundalikes” of economic music) presently generates $1.3 billion in sync income, whereas each file firm on the planet (mixed), makes solely half that determine.
This can be uncomfortable studying for some, however I’m emboldened by the information that, with a view to have an effect on change, one needs to be keen to typically inform folks the issues that they don’t need to hear.
With the entire unbelievable music that we collectively symbolize, we’re unquestionably promoting the equal of luxurious vehicles, however when a buyer comes into our “dealership” we’re primarily telling them that we are able to solely promote them the wheels and the windscreen and once they ask “The place do I get the remaining?” our reply is just too usually to shrug and say, “You’ve simply bought to name round.”
If this have been truly to be the case within the vehicle {industry}, wouldn’t it actually be such a shock if gross sales of luxurious vehicles began to plummet? (particularly when the cheaper “absolutely assembled” alternate options have been now nearly pretty much as good to drive?)
So, taking all that into consideration listed below are my 5 causes explaining why the sync {industry} has nonetheless not bought its act collectively correctly:
1. The prevailing view {that a} music’s intrinsic sync worth relies upon shortage of availability (i.e. it ought to be onerous for patrons to license our songs).
I may theoretically perceive this standpoint from the angle of maximizing the upfront sync price on one particular person, high-profile sync deal – for a giant music by an iconic artist.
However for all different artists and for all different utilization varieties is the upfront price actually the one vital side of a sync deal, these days? Arguably, the principal good thing about a sync placement in 2025 is the flexibility for a music to be heard and found by thousands and thousands of recent followers, and which music government in 2025 would argue (by way of the variety of folks listening to a music), that shortage is an effective factor?
2. The sync {industry}’s reluctance to undertake any new enterprise mannequin that’s primarily based upon a fee of sync income – nevertheless small.
Digital economies are constructed nearly solely upon commission-based enterprise fashions. Our reluctance to undertake such a enterprise mannequin for sync, is holding the sector within the pre-digital age.
Because the music {industry}, we’ve got clearly entered income share offers with numerous digital companions with phenomenal success. So, why would sync be any completely different?
Because it stands, we have already got vital working prices hooked up to our sync companies. In lots of circumstances, the present working value of a label/writer’s sync enterprise may very well be someplace within the area of 35%.
So, in what world may the wide-scale digitization of a brand new and fully untapped international sync market (which might be topic to a <10% operation value) probably be seen as something aside from a colossal cost-saving alternative?
3. The ingrained, ‘mounted’ mindset of sure sync executives.
In case you have been operating a music firm in 2025, I consider that you’d need your whole workers to have a dynamic, optimistic, ‘development’ mindset, and that you just’d need these workers to be consistently transferring issues ahead, and contributing in direction of constructive change on your artists and songwriters.
My journey over the previous 12 months has concerned me assembly with lots of the world’s main sync executives.
Fortunately, I’ve met with quite a bit who’re undoubtedly high quality ambassadors for his or her corporations and for the artists and songwriters they symbolize. Nevertheless, it pains me to say that I’ve additionally met with a number of who nonetheless reveal an obstructive, passive, pessimistic, ‘gatekeeper’ mindset, which wants to alter.
4. Reluctance to share knowledge with companions.
For a few years, plane producer Airbus operated with a historically closed method to knowledge. Nevertheless, beneath new management, the corporate shifted in direction of higher data-sharing and digital innovation.
This alteration enabled Airbus to launch initiatives like Skywise, a platform that helps airways optimize operations by harnessing shared knowledge.
As data-driven providers like Skywise change into an more and more vital a part of Airbus’ enterprise mannequin, they’re now not solely reliant on income from ‘simply’ making planes. Many CEOs of the world’s largest music corporations have been publicly proclaiming that they’re restructuring their companies to be forward-facing, data-centric and fully ‘match-fit’ for the digital age.
An important and inspiring sentiment in fact, however these CEOs should be certain that these accountable for their sync operations additionally bought the memo.
5. We have now by no means tailored our technique.
“The definition of madness is doing the identical factor again and again and anticipating completely different outcomes”. For over 10 years now, we’ve all been making an attempt to repair the identical drawback; on our personal, in isolation, whereas on the similar time competing with each other.
It hasn’t labored. And it gained’t work. We may clearly all proceed doing the identical factor if we so wished, however eventually, we are going to all notice that for our sector to lastly be modernized, we should undertake a brand new method.
Nobody music firm (or sync platform) with rivals (of any sort), can remedy this drawback on their very own. For the issue to be mounted industry-wide, requires a very neutral / agnostic answer.
The sync {industry} will be modernized, however to ensure that us to lastly ship a brighter sync future for artists and songwriters, we should change course.
This text is for all these within the sync {industry} who consider that a perfect world is feasible – and that a perfect world is value preventing for.
So, within the face of but extra seismic change proper throughout our complete {industry} let me ask:
Can we need to be remembered because the technology of executives who stood on the sidelines as the longer term “occurred to us”, or will we need to be remembered as those that lastly took a grip of the steering wheel and truly modified the sport?Music Enterprise Worldwide
