Sync Music for a Change:
Activism + Music Licensing Listening Session
Make a donation, share a song
May 31st, 5pm PDT
Listening Session
with Jennifer Pyken
Submissions open:
May 12th - 21st, 2023
Jennifer Pyken has music supervised over 1,000 episodes of television and dozens of movies. Jennifer loves sharing her knowledge and has taught music supervision at UCLA extension. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Supervision for This Is Us and won the Guild of Music Supervisors award for Best Drama for This Is Us. Her credits include Workaholics, Game Over, Man!, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Felicity, Alias, Lost, Las Vegas, The Neighbors, Boston Public, Summerland, Life Partners, The Package, The Healing Powers of Dude, Adam Devine's House Party, Betas, The Perfect Score, Lush, Stevie TV, The Last Seduction, Heavy, MTV's Undressed, Happy Gilmore.
She was the music supervisor on Hallmark's series 'The Way Home', released this year. It has been renewed for a second season, which beings shooting in August. Jennifer suggests watching the first season to get a sense of the music needs.
If becoming a music supervisor is something you’ve considered she offers a course that you can check out here: https://www.musicsuper.net/courses/music-supervision-mastercourse
All songs submitted will be considered for signing by Unicorn Sync and all songs will be passed along to Jennifer.
How it works
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Write a letter/email to your House Representative or Senator, or make a donation related to this month's issue (details below).Take a screenshot/photo of your letter/email or donation.
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Upload the screenshot and the song you want to share here. Please label it 'May SM4C [your name]' or something similar and be sure to include your name and email address! Feel free to comment on the FB announcement post to let me know you've submitted, and I'll like your comment within a couple of days to let you know I've received it!
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Join our FB group for the zoom link (posted the day of the session) and to keep up-to-date on upcoming listening sessions & announcements.
By submitting your song and/or joining the zoom call, you consent to allowing us to play your song during the listening session, and to have it included in the replay (and show whatever is on your video on zoom during the replay) which will be posted in the FB group.
In the past we did first come first heard but we're getting lots of great submissions and we want to encourage more people to write to their elected representatives and submit their songs so we are changing things up. We will play 15 or so songs during the listening session, time dependant, but rather than songs being played in order of submission, Elaine will review all of the songs submitted before the deadline and the 15 songs that are of the highest quality and/or the best fit for the supervisor's needs will be played. ALL of the songs will be forwarded to the supervisor in a playlist, regardless of whether or not they get played in the listening session.
DEADLINE for taking action and sending your song is May 21st, 2023 AT 5PM PDT.
* for more info on knowing about who owns the rights to your song and to learn about the terms 'one-stop' and 'easy-clear', click here.
** to know if your song quality is good enough go to Spotify and look up the soundtrack to a show you like. Ask yourself if your song's sound quality is at the same level as the rest of the songs.
Current Focus:
Save the Rainforest, Regulate the Climate
THE ISSUE:
Tropical rainforests are vital carbon sinks that regulate our global climate and irreplaceable ecosystems. Put simply, forest cools the earth. Carbon-capturing tropical biomes account for the highest area of forest globally. Keeping rainforest intact can provide 23% of climate mitigation urgently needed to cool our planet.
But forest around the world is being destroyed at an alarming rate despite intergovernmental promises to halt deforestation. Climate breakdown is intensifying forest loss as tropical, humid forests become drier, causing trees to die and fires to burn for longer – creating a devastating feedback loop.
Deforestation damages a rainforest’s ability to sequester (that’s capture and store) carbon and instead, releases it into the atmosphere. This affects all life on earth; our future depends on the health of rainforest.
Sequestration isn’t the only thing rainforest does for us. These precious biomes affect our weather, the air we breathe, biodiversity and our food and medicine, not to mention that rainforest is home to millions and millions of people bearing the brunt of deforestation. Protecting tropical rainforest is a cost-effective and potent way to fight the climate crisis. All we have to do is protect it.
ACTION:
Donate a minimum of $10 to Cool Earth
Or, write to your house rep to encourage them to support President Biden’s plan to protect the Amazon.
Click here to find your House Representative
Example letter to cut and paste (please personalize your own reason for supporting the bill):
Hi Rep [Name],
Thanks for all the work you do on behalf of our state. I'm a constituent writing in support of President Biden's plan to protect the Amazon. Climate change is a top security and health risk to our country and protecting the Amazing is key to mitigating global warming. When the President brings it to congress I ask that you please support his initiative.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
If you don’t live in the United States, you have the option either of making a donation to Cool Earth or of writing to your elected representative in your country on climate change or an issue that concerns you. We care deeply about the issues we are highlighting but our overriding motivation is to support everyone in their participation in the democratic process.
Submission Notes:
1. We are not looking for songs about the issue we're raising money for/supporting. This is an opportunity to share your music while supporting a good cause but the two are not otherwise connected.
2. Please include your name and email in your metadata. Look up how to add metadata to a song (there are youtube videos that show you) if you don't know how to do this.
3. Please share how much you donated (please donate a minimum of $10), either in the screenshot or in the submission message box when you upload. How much you donate has nothing to do with whether or not your song will be played in the listening session and while of course generosity is encouraged, I understand that as a musician/human in this economy, you may be tight on cash. You will not be penalized for donating a smaller amount. It's just nice to be able to tell the music supervisor how much we all raised.
4. If you have a DISCO account, you can upload your screenshot into the playlist you make on DISCO (DISCO accepts all file types, not just music files). Otherwise just upload your song and screenshot to the upload box.
5. I won't be responding to emailed questions, FB messages or comments if the answer to the question is already available on this webpage or on the FB page. Other members of the FB group are a good resource if you have questions. This is a volunteer initiative; thanks for being considerate!
FAQ
1. Can I write and mail a letter instead of sending an email?
- Absolutely. Just take a photo of the letter and upload it to the Disco link with your song
2. Can I make a donation instead of writing to someone?
- Yes. If you want to donate to any other organization that supports this issue you may do so and upload a confirmation of your donation
3. Can I phone my representative instead?
- Yes. In this case you'll want to record a video from your computer/iPad etc. while you make the call. You will likely end up leaving them a voice message if they don't pick up, which is just as good.
4. Will my song get played in the session for sure?
- We will have the music supervisor listen to as many songs as possible but not every song will get played. However the music supervisor will be sent a playlist of all the submissions.
5. Can I send a demo or worktape?
- No. Please only send songs that a music supervisor would be able to use immediately. Songs should be mastered and radio-ready. Send your best song!
“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
Rebecca Solnit
Why Write Emails & Letters?
Do they even work?
Yes. From the ACLU website:
"Letters and faxes are an extremely effective way of communicating with your elected officials. Many legislators believe that a letter represents not only the position of the writer but also many other constituents who did not take the time to write."
We chose writing emails because they are a straightforward and easy. You can also choose to do a hand-written letter for even greater impact. If you want an activism nudge that could also further your music career, this is a way to start.
You are totally welcome to call your elected official, or donate money to a cause or campaign you believe in. The important thing is to try to get involved in democracy and social justice in some form on a regular basis.
Respecting the Music Supervisors
We're not cool, but we try to be
Music supervisors are regular people with jobs to do who get flooded with email submissions on a regular basis. Of course it's cool to follow them on social media but please be discerning about reaching out directly. It's a great idea to research the projects they work on before contacting them. IMDB.com, Tunefind.com and ispot.tv are great resources. They may not respond to messages or emails and that's nothing personal. Consider looking into getting a sync agent to represent your music. If you're looking for more information on sync licensing, sync agents etc. we highly recommend checking out our friends' club Ctrl Camp and their bi-weekly meetings on Clubhouse!
Who runs this thing?
I'm Elaine Ryan, an activist, musician, sync agent with Unicorn Sync. During the pandemic I noticed that some of the most progressive people I saw on social media were music supervisors and figured why not harness that for good? I decided to see if music supervisors would share their time and expertise around music licensing in exchange for musicians helping moving progressive causes forward. It's been an incredible couple of years of activism, fundraising and connecting!
Contact Sync Music for a Change
You can reach us at unicornsync@gmail.com
We don't accept submissions of any kind outside of the listening sessions or unless specifically solicited. There's always another listening session in the works so the best way to share your music is to join the FB group (details above) and submit to a free listening session!
Sign up as a Music Supervisor
If you're a music supervisor, music coordinator or sync agent who'd like to support this initiative, let's connect! Send up an email at unicornsync@gmail.com if you're interested in being the featured guest on a future listening session. Feel free to let us know about any issues that are of particular interest to you and we can try to match that with upcoming legislation.