Song Matchmakers Network: Writers' Program

 

Song Matchmaker’s Writers Program

When your song is accepted in one of our writers programs, you will receive one free song submission a month along with updates on the projects we’re working on.

Each song accepted in the Song Matchmakers Writers’ Program will be placed in one of three categories: Gold, Silver and Gold/Silver.

Gold Program

 When your song is accepted in our Gold Writers' Program, if your song is today's country it will be pitched to Nashville’s top decision makers for major label country artists. These songs are also pitched to Indy artists on labels that have major distribution networks, such as Big Machine Records (Taylor Swift) and Broken Bow Records (Jason Aldean).

All music genres are pitched to major labels for major artists or on a label with major distribution in the mainstream of Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, Rap, Dance and other music genres, as widely recognized by the music industry in a journal such as the Billboard charts.

Gold Songs are also pitched to Mid-size and Smaller labels for artists in all music genres including country, pop, R&B, Euro Dance, etc.  Some artists are with U.S. and European labels and some Indy artists sell CD’s at their performances and on their Web site.

If you own the tracks of the song, we will offer track leasing to the artist for a leasing fee. We will administer the leasing agreement for you. If you don’t own the tracks, we can advise you on how to get a “work for hire” agreement.

To qualify for this program, all unsigned writers must agree to be in the Song Matchmakers writer's program. 

Song Matchmakers Network is a one-stop music publisher and only represents songs that we have an exclusive agreement on. Our clients expect original music that is pitched to them from only one source, one with the exclusive right to offer the music.  Receiving the same songs from more than one source causes confusion, and if this happens, some artists and music supervisors will refuse to work with that publisher again.  If you'd like to submit a song, click on "Submit Your Song" on the left side of the page sand follow the guidelines.

Silver Program (Songwriters and Singer/Songwriters/Artists and Bands)

Silver songs are pitched for movies, TV shows, commercials and video games in all music genres. To have a song in this program, the writers need to own 100% of the song as well as own the master to the song. If you don’t own the master, we can advise you on how to get permission from both the singer and the studio. When a sync license is requested for movies and TV, the song has to be cleared immediately, meaning that all master rights have been secured by the publisher.

To have a song in the Silver Writers program, all writers must agree to be in the program. Song Matchmakes Network is a one-stop music publisher and can negotiate the best rate and give immediate clearance. If additional writers and publishers have to be notified and agree on the rate, immediate clearance cannot be secured. Many times it means that the license will be offered to the next song on their list, losing the song placement opportunity.

Song Matchmakers Network is a one-stop music publisher and only represents songs that we have an exclusive agreement on. Our clients expect original music that is pitched to them from only one source, one with the exclusive right to offer the music.  Receiving the same songs from more than one source causes confusion, and if this happens, some artists and music supervisors will refuse to work with that publisher again.  All music must be original and not retitled. They do not want music that has been placed in several libraries under different titles or songs.

If you'd like to submit a song, click on "Submit Your Song" on the left side of the page.

Gold/Silver Program

Gold/Silver songs are pitched to Major, Mid-Sized, and Independent labels for artists in all music genres as well as pitched for movies, TV shows, commercials, and video games in all music genres.

 Song Matchmakers Productions

We're starting a new venture for our writers, artists, composers, bands, and singer/songwriters who want to write for TV and movies: Song Matchmakers Productions, which will be a network of talented people from all over the world who are willing and able to write and produce songs on short notice that meet specific needs for a movie or TV show.

 When we get a special request for a song, if it’s in your genre and vibe, we will ask that you be willing to write  a song  that matches the request if you don’t already have one that is appropriate.   This  means that you must be able to write a song and produce a master quality recording of it in a few days, if necessary. If you’re writing a song, why not write for a specific need? If the song is not used, you have a new song that could be used at another time for another pitch. Also, many times a music supervisors will send a song they like to other music supervisors, because they often have similar needs on certain projects. We will update the  web site Song Search area often, and we will send you information on the songs and instrumental cues we’re working on.

Song Matchmakers Services

Services Song casting service: – In the Nashville music market, songwriters hire song pluggers to pitch their songs. The song pluggers work on a retainer of $300 – $1200 a month plus a back-end bonus arrangement and/or a percentage of the publishing rights. These fees are determined by the number of songs they will represent, and the fee is at the high end when they can pitch to the top music decision makers, such as A&R directors, managers, and producers.

Song Matchmakers Network does not charge any song plugging fees. If we get the song cut, we get paid royalties along with the writers. Our share is the publisher’s share. When we believe in a song, we will get it heard by top industry decision makers for artists, movies and TV. Then it’s up to the song to do the rest.

Music publishing services: - Song Matchmakers Network will negotiate and administer the mechanical licenses, synchronization licenses, performing rights licenses, digital licenses, and print licenses, as well as other licenses authorizing various uses of the songs. In some cases, we may ask an administrating service to collect the royalties.

In the European market, Song Matchmakers Network will be working with directly with labels, artist and foreign sub-publisher to get the song cut in Europe. If a sub-publisher pitches a song, they act on behalf of Song Matchmakers Network and collect the royalties from the country in which it was recorded and released.

Song Search Notices - We’ll keep you informed about what songs we’re searching for. We’ll send you information that will not be posted on the Web site. If you have a song that matches the lead, send it. If we have already signed the song, remind us of it in case we didn’t think of it.

  How Songs Generate Income

There are two sources of royalty revenue from a song – the writers share and the publishers share. The percentages of the breakdown can be viewed two ways. One way is to start with the royalties totaling 100% and making the writers’ share 50% and the publisher’s share 50%.

Another way is to start with the royalties totaling 200% and making the writers share 100% and the publishers share 100%. For our purposes, we’ll start with the royalties representing 200%.

Example:  if a song earns $200 in performing rights royalties, $100 is paid to the Songwriter and $100 is paid to the Publisher. If the song earns $100 in mechanical licenses, $50 is paid to the Songwriter(s) and $50 is paid to the Publisher.

The main sources of revenue are: performing rights, mechanical rights and synchronization rights.

The Performing Right is the right to have your song performed in public (on radio, TV, live venues, satellite and internet radio, background music services, etc.) and is represented by a PRO (Performing Rights Organization), like BMI, ASCAP and SESAC, which licenses these rights on your behalf and then collects and distributes performance royalties to both the songwriter and music publisher of the work. The majority of a song’s income will come from performing rights royalties.

Performing Rights Royalites are paid only on movies that are shown in theaters out-side the USA. If a movie is shown on TV anywhere, royalities are paid.

The Mechanical Right is the right to “mechanically” reproduce or distribute your song on a fixed medium, including CDs and digital sales.  The mechanical right gives you the ability to collect on the sale of a song to the public.  The record company or the artist obtains a Mechanical License from the publisher for this use and is responsible for paying mechanical royalties to the publisher for each use. The record company or artist pays royalties to the publisher who then pays the writer.  The mechanical royalty rate is the statutory rate (currently set at $0.091, a little more than 9 cents) or 1.75 cents per minute, whichever is greater.

As an example, the following amounts represent the total mechanical royalties earned for each sale or digital download and are divided among the song’s writers and publishers.

1,000 Units - $91.00

10,000 Units - $910.00

100,000 Units - $9,100.00

The Synchronization Right comes into play when your song is used in a film or as part of a television show.  Your music is “synchronized” to the film, either in whole or in part.  The producers of the film or TV show will negotiate a Synchronization Fee – “sync fee” – and will acquire a license from the publisher to synchronize the music. The sync fee a song earns is also determined by the length of time the song is used.

If the song is used for a TV show, these royalties are paid to the publisher of the song who then splits the royalties with the songwriter. The publisher and the writers informs the PRO of the placement and the PRO collects and distributes performance royalties to both the songwriter and music publisher when the song is performed on the TV show.

A sync fee is also authorized and granted by a music publisher to use a song with visual images, as in a motion picture. Sync licensing fees for movies are based on the productions music budget and paid depending on the manner in which the song is used, whether it is for a main title, background music, or end credits. These royalties are paid to the publisher of the song who then splits the royalties with the songwriter. If the movie is later released to television, it is reported to the PRO, which collects and distributes performance royalties to both the songwriter and music publisher of the song.