Indie composers take brand inquiries for sync licensing by putting a Brand Collaboration Inquiries form on their FanBell page, so a brand or supervisor submits budget, timeline, project type, and intended use before any back-and-forth starts. The form sorts inbound leads into one place — it does not negotiate, secure, or guarantee a sync placement.
FanBell's public pricing page states a $0/month Free plan with a "12% platform fee per paid transaction," and states separately that "Brand inquiries are free" — page text read at fanbell.link/pricing on 2 September 2026. The same page discloses that "the 12% platform fee is configurable and may change as the product evolves," so re-check the live page before quoting the number.
Sync interest usually shows up as a comment or DM: "love this, can we use it in our spot?" That message is easy to lose in a platform inbox, and it's also the wrong place to negotiate a license. Global synchronisation revenue totalled US$641 million in 2025 and declined 2.0% year over year, accounting for 2.0% of all recorded music revenue, per IFPI's Global Music Report 2026 State of the Industry edition, page 9 (IFPI Global Music Report 2026 — State of the Industry). IFPI measured total global recorded music revenue at US$31.7 billion in 2025, up 6.4% year over year (IFPI, Global Music Report 2026 press release, March 2026). Sync is a small, competitive slice of a large market, which is why a composer without a working intake path risks losing the inquiries that do arrive.
What is a sync license, and why does a brand need one?
A synchronization license is permission to pair copyrighted music with visual media — a commercial, film, show, trailer, or game. A brand needs one because using music in timed relation to picture without permission implicates the copyright owner's exclusive reproduction and derivative-work rights, and U.S. copyright law sets no minimum length below which permission stops being required.
The U.S. Copyright Office states the rule for audiovisual use plainly: to incorporate music into an audiovisual work "such as a film, video television program, or video game—the creator of that work must obtain synchronization licenses from both the owner of the musical work and the owner of the sound recording" (U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright and the Music Marketplace, February 2015, p. 55, link).
The same report explains that although the Copyright Act does not name a "synchronization right" explicitly, it is generally understood to be an aspect of the copyright owner's reproduction and derivative-work rights under 17 U.S.C. §106 (p. 56). On the "how short is too short" question, the Copyright Office is direct: "There's no hard and fast minimum amount of music you can use without getting permission when you need it" (U.S. Copyright Office, What Musicians Should Know about Copyright). A fifteen-second ad cut and a two-hour feature are governed by the same permission requirement; only the negotiated fee differs.
Which two copyrights are involved in a sync deal?
Two separate copyrights are involved in almost every sync deal: the musical work (the composition and lyrics, usually controlled by the songwriter or publisher) and the sound recording (the specific master, usually controlled by the artist or label). The U.S. Copyright Office treats these as distinct works with distinct owners and distinct licenses.
"When you record a song, you may be creating two works that are protected by copyright: a musical work and a sound recording. A sound recording and the music, lyrics, words, or other content included in the recording are separate copyright-protected works. These works are subject to different rules and are commonly owned and licensed separately." — U.S. Copyright Office, What Musicians Should Know about Copyright
Copyright Office Circular 56A restates the registration side of the same point: "Sound recordings and musical compositions are considered two separate works for copyright purposes," and separate registration applications generally should be submitted for each (U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 56A). An unsigned composer who owns both the composition and the master can grant both permissions in one conversation, which shortens clearance — it does not remove the need to negotiate terms.
The Copyright Office also documents how the money typically divides: "Musical work and sound recording owners are generally paid equally—50/50—under individually negotiated synch licenses" (Copyright and the Music Marketplace). A composer who owns both the composition and the master negotiates the entire sync fee, with no separate publisher or label share to carve out of it.
Do performing-rights organizations handle sync licensing?
No — performing-rights organizations (PROs) license public performance rights, not synchronization rights. ASCAP, BMI, and their peers collect when your music is broadcast or streamed, but they cannot grant a brand permission to put your track under picture. That permission comes directly from you or your publisher, deal by deal.
"BMI does not offer synchronization licenses. The producer of the audiovisual production usually requests a synchronization license from the song publisher." — BMI, Licensing FAQ
ASCAP says the same about its own remit: "While music publishers are members of ASCAP, ASCAP is not authorized to issue sync licenses; we are authorized to offer only public performance licenses" (ASCAP, Website & Mobile App Music License FAQs). The Copyright Office frames the consequence structurally: unlike the regulated mechanical market under 17 U.S.C. §115, "the licensing of music for inclusion in audiovisual works, unlike that for other uses, occurs in the free market for both musical works and sound recordings" (Copyright and the Music Marketplace). There is no statutory sync rate to fall back on — which is why every sync request is a direct, one-off conversation, and why an intake form that captures budget and use up front does real work.
Why do brands and supervisors contact composers directly?
Brands and music supervisors contact composers directly when they want a specific mood or genre without a major-label clearance chain, need a fast turnaround, or found the composer through a video, reel, or portfolio rather than an agent's roster. A rights holder who controls both copyrights is the shortest path to a cleared track.
Sync agents and catalog platforms are typically paid a commission on the fee they help secure, but no government agency or standards body publishes a rate for that commission, so it is set contract by contract. The U.S. Copyright Office describes sync deals as "individually negotiated" and notes that audiovisual licensing "occurs in the free market for both musical works and sound recordings" (U.S. Copyright Office). Because no published tariff exists, the only commission figure that governs an indie composer's money is the percentage written into the agreement in front of them — read the commission clause, the term, and the exclusivity clause before signing.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of producers and directors, the people who greenlight the film, TV, and ad projects a music supervisor works on, to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035 — about as fast as the average for all occupations. The BLS reports a median annual wage of $73,710 for music directors and composers as of May 2025. The BLS separately projects employment of music directors and composers to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the average for all occupations (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Music Directors and Composers).
Those BLS projections count occupational employment; they do not measure how scoring work is contracted, and no BLS series tracks the share of sync work booked through direct freelance relationships. Read the two BLS projections narrowly: the pipeline of productions that buy music is projected to grow faster than the composer occupation itself, which is a reason to make inbound interest easy to capture, not evidence that sync has shifted to freelancing.
What should a brand inquiry form ask before you reply?
A brand inquiry form should collect contact and company, project type, budget range, timeline, and intended use — media, territory, and term — before you spend time replying. Those five fields separate a funded production with a deadline from a vague "love your sound, let's chat" message, and they map to the variables a sync fee is actually negotiated on.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Contact + company/brand | Confirms who you'd actually be licensing to |
| Project type | Ad, film, show, trailer, game, or something else — each has different norms |
| Budget range | Filters serious inquiries from ones with no money attached |
| Timeline | Sync deadlines are often tight, so the date tells you whether the ask is realistic |
| Media, territory, and term | One broadcast market for six months is a different deal from a global campaign in perpetuity |
| Exclusivity | Whether you can license the same track elsewhere during the term |
Media, territory, term, and exclusivity are the levers because sync is negotiated in the free market with no statutory rate to anchor it, per the U.S. Copyright Office (Copyright and the Music Marketplace). What to include in a creator brand inquiry form walks through why each field filters out a weak lead. On FanBell, a Brand Collaboration Inquiry sends everything a brand submits into a dedicated brand inbox, separate from fan messages (how it works).
What should a copy-and-paste sync inquiry form template include?
A copy-and-paste sync inquiry form should include twelve fields: name and role, email and client, the track in question, project type, media, territory, term, exclusivity, budget range, air or delivery date, whether a master or a custom cue is needed, and free-text notes. The template below works in a Google Form, a Typeform, a Notion form, or any creator page.
Sync inquiry form — field list
- Your name, role, and company
- Best email (and the brand or client you represent, if different)
- Which track are you interested in?
- Project type: ad / film / TV / trailer / game / social / other
- Where will it run? (media: broadcast, streaming, cinema, paid social, in-store, other)
- Territory: single country / region / worldwide
- Term: how long is the license needed?
- Exclusivity: exclusive to your project, or non-exclusive?
- Budget range for music (all-in, or split composition/master?)
- Air or delivery date
- Do you need the existing master, or a re-record/custom cue?
- Anything else we should know
Neutral pre-reply checklist
- Confirm you actually control the rights being asked for — composition, master, or both.
- Confirm nothing in the request is a co-write or sample you cannot clear alone.
- Confirm the budget range covers a real fee, not "exposure."
- Confirm the deadline is achievable before you quote.
- Get the media, territory, term, and exclusivity in writing before naming a number.
- Keep the whole thread in one place so nothing gets lost between platforms.
Where should you put a brand inquiry link?
Put the brand inquiry link where a supervisor or brand marketer looks: the social bio, the portfolio site, the email signature, and the description of any video where the music plays. A brand that already likes what it hears should not have to hunt for a contact path, because every extra step is a step where an inquiry stalls.
No published dataset ranks the reasons inbound sync leads go cold, so treat link placement as a friction question rather than a measured one: put the path where the person already is, and count how many clicks it takes from a track to a form. Composers often run a media kit and a brand inquiry page as separate things — one shows who you are, the other captures the offer itself. Creator Media Kit vs. Brand Inquiry Page compares the two directly. A single FanBell link can carry the Brand Collaboration Inquiries form (features overview) alongside your other offers, so the same link works for fans and for brands.
What happens after a brand submits an inquiry?
After a brand submits an inquiry, the submission lands in your brand inbox with every field they filled in, so you reply to a briefed lead rather than a cold "hi, tell me more." Follow-ups and the license itself then move the same way any direct sync deal would — outside the form, between you and the brand.
The form's job ends at organizing the lead. Quoting a fee, defining media, territory, term, and exclusivity, and signing paperwork are all negotiation, and the Copyright Office's framing is the reason: audiovisual licensing happens in the free market, with no government-set rate to default to (Copyright and the Music Marketplace).
Can FanBell negotiate or guarantee a sync placement?
No. FanBell's Brand Collaboration Inquiries form is intake only — it collects a brand's project details into a separate inbox so you don't lose the lead in your regular DMs. It does not find brands for you, negotiate a fee, draft a license, or guarantee that any inquiry turns into a placement.
Intake is a different function from what a sync agent or a catalog-licensing platform does. Those companies describe varying models — some actively pitch a roster to supervisors, others operate as searchable marketplaces of pre-cleared tracks, as Songtradr describes its own catalog — and only the signed agreement determines whether anyone is pitching on a composer's behalf. The three routes an indie composer can use to reach a sync placement differ in who pitches, who negotiates, and what gets traded away:
| Route to a sync placement | Who pitches your music | Who negotiates the fee | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct inbound (brand inquiry form) | Nobody pitches; the brand found you | You, deal by deal | No pitching engine working on your behalf |
| Sync agent or publisher | The agent, to their supervisor contacts | The agent, on your behalf | A commission and rights terms set by contract |
| Catalog or library platform | The platform's search and curated playlists | The platform, on pre-set terms | Standardised pricing and less control per deal |
FanBell's form sits in the first row only: it does not pitch, negotiate, or host a licensable catalog. It is closer to a structured "contact me" page than a pitching service, so an inbound brand has a clear, professional place to land instead of a comment thread.
Should you also sell paid Q&A while sync leads come in?
Add paid Q&A if sync is your only inbound line, because sync arrives unpredictably and the category is contracting: IFPI reports that global synchronisation revenue fell 2.0% in 2025 to US$641 million. Paid answers earn between brand deals; they do not replace a licensing fee.
Brand intake is one node in an indie composer's monetization set, alongside custom score commissions and paid scoring questions — and for composers who also write topline or lyrics, paid lyric-writing and ghostwriting help fills the same gap between sync deals. A Paid Private Question is a flat-price answer a fan or fellow composer buys about your process — not a sync deal and not brand outreach — so listing it on a separate row from the inquiry form keeps a brand from scrolling past fan pricing to find the form.
What should you watch for before saying yes to a brand?
Before agreeing to a sync deal, get written terms on usage rights (media, territory, and length), on whether the license is exclusive, on whether the brand needs the master or the composition, and on how and when payment arrives. A brand's first offer is a starting point, not a final term sheet, and no statutory rate makes any number automatically fair.
This article is not legal advice, and sync licensing terms vary by deal, jurisdiction, and how your rights are registered or administered. For anything beyond a small, one-off use, it is reasonable to have an entertainment attorney or your publisher review the sync license before you sign it. Registration matters too: the Copyright Office notes that a U.S. work must be registered before you can bring an infringement suit in federal court, and that its Copyright Claims Board is a voluntary alternative forum for disputes with damages totaling less than $30,000 (U.S. Copyright Office).
Frequently asked questions
Does a brand inquiry form replace the need to negotiate a sync deal?
No. The form only collects a brand's project details — budget, timeline, media, territory, and term — into one place so the lead doesn't get lost. Negotiating the fee, usage rights, and paperwork still happens directly between you and the brand, because U.S. audiovisual licensing occurs in the free market with no statutory rate (U.S. Copyright Office).
Can my PRO issue a sync license for me?
No. BMI states that it "does not offer synchronization licenses," and ASCAP states it "is not authorized to issue sync licenses" and offers only public performance licenses (BMI; ASCAP). Sync permission comes from the owner of the musical work and the owner of the sound recording.
Do I need a sync agent to use a brand inquiry form?
No. A brand inquiry form is for inbound interest that already found you directly, without an agent's roster or pitching involved. It doesn't replace what a sync agent does — actively pitching your catalog, typically for a commission on the fee — it just gives a brand that already reached out somewhere real to land.
What's the difference between a brand inquiry and a paid composer Q&A?
A brand inquiry is intake for a potential sync license — a brand submits project details and you negotiate a deal from there. A Paid Private Question is a fan or fellow composer paying a flat price for you to answer a scoring or process question by text or voice; it isn't a licensing conversation at all.
What does FanBell charge to run a brand inquiry form?
FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and takes a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays for something on your page — the brand inquiry form itself doesn't collect payment, so no fee applies to a brand submission. FanBell's public pricing page states "12% platform fee per paid transaction · $0/month" and "Brand inquiries are free" (fanbell.link/pricing, page text read 2 September 2026; site pricing). Typical US card processing (2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge) applies separately to any paid offer a fan buys, per Stripe's published pricing.
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