Aaron Saloman is a Montréal, Québec-based musician, composer, and audio professional with hundreds of sync licensing placements to his credit. Having recently placed his "Questfunk" track in an advert for the 2023 Nissan Z with help from Songtradr's expert music licensing team, he joined us to discuss the deal's specifics and the broader sync space.
The Nissan placement represents the latest in a long line of sync-licensing accomplishments for the veteran creator, whose music has appeared in TLC's The Imploders, CBS's NCIS, and Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta, to name just a few. Saloman has also composed music for video games like the Critter Crunch remaster and American Idol Mobile and has long used Songtradr to find additional placement opportunities.
"I've been with Songtradr pretty much since I started, so I have a good relationship with a few people there," Saloman told us. This close relationship makes it easy to talk over placement opportunities – like the Nissan spot – and his vision for pitches.
"I am always in communication. Sometimes I'll pitch for something, and then I'll send a little email that says something like, 'Hey, just so you know what I was thinking for this pitch.' It's hard for me to know how much that affects anything, but they know I'm not trying to waste their time when I pitch for something," he said.
Needless to say, given Saloman's extensive relationship with and presence on Songtradr, the Montréal-based musician had positive things to say about his experiences with the platform.
“What’s cool about Songtradr is they are one of the last places that you can put a non-exclusive library,” Saloman explained. “That’s where all my non-exclusive stuff goes. And they also are one of the last places to offer a really fair split of the royalties. If you’re a Songtradr Pro member like I am, they only take 20 percent. That is unheard of for most other companies.”
Saloman proceeded to tell us that revenue splits are decreasing faster than ever. So much so that he's ceased using certain services because of their considerable charges. "Most of them are 50-50. That's the standard for exclusive or non-exclusive libraries now," Saloman specified of placement fees.
The "Drifting" creator also had some advice for those aiming to take advantage of Songtradr and secure noteworthy placements of their own.
In addition to stressing the importance of instrumental mixes – "absolutely have your engineer, when you're doing the mixes, print instrumental versions" – Saloman emphasized the significance of having music available on easy-to-access services like SoundCloud.
"I know what platforms I want to see artists on when I'm looking somebody up," he indicated. "It's always really helpful to have a SoundCloud, just for a quick place to stream. I also make private playlists on SoundCloud to send to people when I’m pitching something."
"If somebody’s like, ‘Do you have five or 10 upbeat tracks for this ad?’ I’ll make them a custom playlist on SoundCloud and then send them a private link.”
Towards the end of our sit-down, Saloman summed up his thoughts on the Nissan placement. "It was nice to have the team at Songtradr plugging away at this stuff and to know that somebody is out there working on behalf of musicians," Saloman finished. "And they're not taking crazy percentages, they're just running their business and helping musicians."
Read more in our Behind the Sync series
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- This Dominican Artist Landed A Sync Deal In A Hit Fox Show
- Rodello's Machine Discuss The Advantages of Non-Exclusive Sync Deals
- Learn How Future Royalty Secured a Coveted Sync Licensing Deal With Samsung
Want to Follow in Aaron's Footsteps?
This post was written by Digital Music News as part of a broader partnership with Songtradr.
Hi, the opinion is that the music in this ad, does not play a significant role, dominated by marching cars.
I have a question, how can this child communicate? with the licensing team. so I only try with people who are not competent, communicate. I think they submit thousands of pieces. No one is going to listen by chance, my piece, thank you.
Hey Christos, check out this blog for tips on getting your music heard and licensed for sync.