Landing a sync placement should be seen as a mini miracle. You have probably heard us and the music supervisors shout until the cows come home, about how competitive it is. But if you do land one - it is really important to know how long your licensing payment can take to come through.
There are lots of various factors at play and payments rarely come through before or right after the use has been confirmed or aired.
With this in mind, please resist the temptation to “count on the money” or expect it to come through by a certain date.
AVERAGE Payment Windows
US TV shows - Some larger networks are taking up to 10 months to issue payments, once a sync use has gone to air.
Films - Film lead times can be particularly long, and external factors can often push projects back. For example, a sync may have been approved, but won’t actually confirm until 5 months later. Once confirmed, the song moves to the mix stage, 3-4 months after that. During the mix, the music editors work with each quoted/approved song, and the production team determines which of those songs will be locked into the final cut of the film. Once the song is locked in and the production confirms the use, the film will need to be released, before the payment process starts.
Adverts/Commercials - Large agencies have complex payment systems and processes, and often only pay during payment cycles themselves. This can slow the process down dramatically. The agency may also be waiting for payment from their brand client for the job, and thus can’t pay any 3rd parties until that’s through.
Games - Game producers have a very long arc in their development process. This means they work similarly to animated features. If your song is chosen to be used in a piece of game content, that’s awesome! This also means that it could take up to a year for the use to be confirmed and paid.
In all cases and with every media, once the licensing payment is received by Sentric, it will then be paid out to you, the writer, in the next quarterly cycle. Sync payments are not paid out separately to royalties.
We understand this can be frustrating, but rest assured Sentric has measures in place to encourage the payments along and keep the turn around schedule as tight as possible.