One sync placement can pay more than a year of streaming. That is not hype: streaming pays fractions of a cent per play, while a single national ad placement is negotiated in the tens of thousands. This page is about the money on both sides of the deal, what artists get paid and what buyers pay, and why every deal is really two payments, not one.
We have added something most rate guides cannot: the budgets on 40 briefs that buyers posted on our own board, grouped by use, so you can see what a podcast, a game or a streaming series is actually offering right now. For how sync works and how to get placed, start with our guide to sync licensing.
Every placement is two fees, because every song is two copyrights
Before any figure makes sense, one structural fact: a recorded song is two separate copyrights. The composition (melody, lyrics, chords) is one; the master recording is the other. A sync deal therefore needs two licences: a synchronisation licence for the composition and a master use licence for the recording.
Fees are usually quoted all-in, the two sides combined, typically split 50/50 under a most-favoured-nations clause. If you wrote the song and own the recording, both halves come to you. That is the single biggest lever on what you take home.
What placements pay in 2026
Sync fees are privately negotiated and never published by any governing body, so no official rate card exists. The ranges below are the consensus across multiple industry rate guides. Treat them as realistic order-of-magnitude, not fixed prices. They are upfront fees only, and they exclude the backend royalties covered further down.
- Student, festival and micro-budget film: roughly $500–$2,000.
- TV background or needle-drop (a cable episode): roughly $2,000–$10,000.
- National TV commercial (US): commonly $10,000–$50,000, with global major-brand campaigns reaching $100,000 and beyond.
- Theatrical trailer: roughly $10,000–$80,000, and blockbuster placements can go higher.
- Indie video game: roughly $800–$5,000; AAA titles run far higher.
- Streaming-service original (Netflix, Apple TV+): roughly $2,500–$15,000.
- YouTube, social and podcast micro-syncs: from a few dollars to a few hundred, occasionally more for large campaigns.
The spread is enormous because budget, term, territory, media and exclusivity all move the number. A one-year, one-territory, digital-only use is a fraction of a worldwide, all-media, in-perpetuity buyout.
What 40 real briefs are offering right now
Industry ranges tell you the ceiling. Live briefs tell you what buyers at the independent end are actually offering. These are the budgets on the 40 briefs that buyers supplied to Played's sync board between August and October 2026, all still open on 29 October 2026, grouped by use.
One disclosure first. The board also carries 13 older briefs that we wrote ourselves in July 2026 as indie-scale examples of the work it is for. We have left all 13 out of these figures, because a budget we wrote is not evidence of what a buyer will pay.
| Use | Briefs | Budgets posted | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Film, TV and streaming | 5 | $1,800 (8 tracks) to $15,000 | Limited-series featured needle drop, $15,000 |
| Brand and social ads | 4 | $750 to $3,000 | Regional brand campaign anthem, $3,000 |
| Games and interactive | 6 | $250 per track to $2,000 | Indie game, $2,000 per adaptive cue |
| Podcasts and audio | 11 | $100 per track to $2,500; one $5,000 library deal | Top-50 podcast theme package, $2,500 |
| Creator and online video | 7 | $150 to $2,000 per track | Sports highlight beds, $2,000 per track |
| Apps, e-learning and corporate | 7 | $125 to $1,500 per track | Fitness app workout music, $1,500 per track |
Three things stand out. 32 of the 40 budgets sit between $250 and $2,500, which is the realistic band for an artist pitching without an agent. The only two five-figure briefs, $10,000 and $15,000, are both for streaming series, and both ask for one-stop rights, stems and a cue sheet. And 15 of the 40 are priced per track, mostly creator video, apps and podcasts licensing a set of background beds rather than one featured song, so a single brief can be worth several multiples of its headline number if you can deliver the set.
These are budgets, not results. The buyer agrees the final fee with the artist they choose, and a pitch is a submission, not a placement.
What moves the price
Every sync quote is a function of a handful of terms. The Netflix brief on our board spells them out in its own fields (term: perpetuity; territory: worldwide; media: SVOD; rights: master and publishing; delivery: WAV, instrumental, stems), and those are the same levers on any deal.
- Prominence. Background underscore pays least. A featured needle drop the audience is meant to notice pays more. A theme, a title sequence or a song carrying an ad pays most, because the music is doing the selling.
- Media. Social-only and online-only uses are cheaper than broadcast. "All media" costs the most, because it closes off every future use the buyer might want.
- Territory. One country is a fraction of worldwide.
- Term. A one-year licence is far cheaper than perpetuity. Perpetuity is normal for film and series, rarer for ads, which renew.
- Exclusivity. A buyer who wants nobody else to use the track for a period should pay for the income you give up.
- Quantity and length. Per-track packages, number of cues and how many seconds run on screen all scale the fee.
- Recognisability. A known song commands a premium an unknown one does not. This is the lever independent artists cannot pull, and the reason the indie band sits where it does.
What a sync licence costs, by use
The same ranges seen from the buyer's side, with what drives each.
Adverts and commercials
The biggest fees in sync, because the music helps sell a product and the media spend behind the ad is large. A US national TV spot commonly lands at $10,000–$50,000, with global campaigns far above that. Social and regional campaigns are much smaller: the four brand briefs on our board run $750 to $3,000. Ads are usually licensed for a fixed term and renewed, so the same track can be paid again.
Video games
Indie titles commonly pay roughly $800–$5,000 upfront. Games often want loops, stems or adaptive cues that change with gameplay. Treat the upfront fee as the main payment, and if a contract calls itself a buyout, read exactly which rights and future income it asks you to give up before you price it.
Film and TV
A festival or micro-budget film pays hundreds to low thousands; a cable needle drop $2,000–$10,000; a streaming original roughly $2,500–$15,000. Broadcast and streaming uses also generate backend performance royalties if a cue sheet is filed, which is why the upfront fee is only part of the value.
Podcasts, YouTube and creator video
Usually per track or per package: themes, stingers and libraries of background beds. Fees per track are small, from about $100 on our board, but buyers often license a set, and a recurring show plays its theme every episode.
How to price a licence when a buyer asks you
If a buyer asks "what's your rate?", do not answer with a number until you know what they are buying. Five questions get you there.
- Where will it run? Online only, broadcast, cinema, all media.
- For how long, and where in the world? Term and territory, in writing.
- How is it used? Background, featured, theme, and roughly how many seconds.
- Exclusive or not? And if exclusive, for how long.
- Is there a budget? Most buyers have one. A brief that states it, like every brief on our board, saves you guessing.
Then quote all-in if you control both rights, so the buyer has one number and one signature. Anchor on the stated budget or on comparable briefs, not on the national-ad figures you read about. If the deal is a perpetual, worldwide, exclusive buyout with no backend, price it as a sale, because that track is finished as an asset for anything else. Ask for most-favoured-nations treatment if anyone else in the placement is being paid; we explain that clause in how to read a sync contract.
Finally, put the scope, the fee, the payment terms (30–90 days is common) and who files the cue sheet in the licence itself.
The upfront fee is only half the money
The quoted fee is a one-time payment for the licence, usually paid within 30–90 days. It is not the whole story. When the content actually airs, a second stream of income begins.
Backend performance royalties are paid by your performing rights organisation (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC in the US) every time the placement is broadcast, streamed or performed publicly. These are separate from the sync fee, and for a placement that reruns for years they can eventually exceed the upfront.
One catch decides whether you ever see them: the production must file a cue sheet with the PRO, logging what music aired, where and for how long. No cue sheet, no backend. Two things follow: register with a PRO before you pitch, and confirm cue sheets get filed. Read any deal described as a buyout carefully: the word is used for a single flat fee covering broad rights, and the contract may ask you to give up backend you would otherwise collect.
How much of it you actually keep
Here is where most artists lose money they never see. If you place through a library or agency, they take a cut, often 30–50%, and exclusive libraries lock the track so you cannot pitch it anywhere else. The fee on the rate card is not what lands in your account.
The alternative is to license direct. If you own both copyrights you are one-stop: you can grant both licences yourself, negotiate your own fee, and keep the entire cheque. That is what the sync briefs board on Played is built for: budgeted briefs from film, TV, games, podcasts and brands, pitched in-platform, with no cut taken on the deal. You license on your terms and keep 100%.
See sync licensing companies for how the middleman routes compare, and how much artists make per stream for the contrast that makes one placement worth chasing.
The bottom line
Sync pays real money: hundreds for a small indie use, tens of thousands for a national ad. Every deal is two fees, an upfront cheque plus backend royalties that pay for years if the cue sheet is filed. At the independent end, 32 of the 40 buyer budgets on our board sit between $250 and $2,500. Price on media, term, territory, prominence and exclusivity, quote all-in if you own both rights, and keep the whole fee by pitching direct. See the open briefs on Played and pitch the ones your music genuinely fits.