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SYNC OR SWIM

How to maybe get your music used in films...

Digital music sales have started to make up for vinyl sales going through the floor, but nevertheless producers are always looking for new revenue streams for their productions. The holy grail in this respect is a sync.

A sync is when a piece of music is synchronised to a piece of film, TV footage, advert, action sequence or whatever. The TV production company, film company, advert people etc should remunerate the artist whose music they use — but such syncs don’t always come easy, especially for unsigned producers and acts relatively new in the game.

Vertigo Films is one of the hippest UK film companies around, and they’ve just launched a new website to help unsigned artists potentially get their tracks used as a sync in a Vertigo film. Vertigo made acclaimed clubbing films It’s All Gone Pete Tong and Human Traffic, edgy movies like Bronson, Football Factory and London To Brighton, as well as films aimed at kids and teens such as StreetDance and All Stars.

Vertigo’s Music Supervisor is Lol Hammond, formerly of ‘90s tech duo the Drum Club, and he tells DJ Mag how the new website works.
“Using library music in films sometimes seems a bit faceless, and I like the idea of nurturing new acts,” Lol says. “Several composers who’ve initially just supplied tracks to us have gone on to score films — we like working with people, as opposed to a company called AB Music or whatever. I’d rather use something from the heart.”

To be in with a chance of having your music used in a future Vertigo production, simply upload some of your choice tracks to: http://music.vertigofilms.com The Vertigo team try to listen to as many as is humanly possible, and any tracks used as background music will receive £350, plus getting to keep all royalties for performance and publishing — and their rights too. The producer or act will also be fully credited on the finished film or programme (Vertigo has just started a TV division now, too), and it could serve as a way into making music for the film world. “It’s a good leg-up,” says Lol.