Sync licence rate estimator
What a sync fee tends to land at for a given use, term, territory and exclusivity — as a range, because that is all anyone honestly has.
Theme, bed or interstitial in an episodic audio show.
The biggest lever there is, and the one nothing on this page can see. It is your call.
Per side
$150 – $1,500
What one rights holder — master or publishing — would typically quote.
Total to clear
$300 – $3,000
Two sides, two cheques, and two sets of lawyers to get through first.
| Use | Podcast | $150–$1,500 per side |
| Term | 1 year | baseline |
| Territory | One territory | baseline |
| Exclusivity | Non-exclusive | baseline |
| Profile | Independent artist, no chart history | baseline |
- Sync fees are negotiated and almost never published. This is the shape of the market, not a quote, and a real deal can land outside the range in both directions.
- Master and publishing are licensed separately and usually matched to each other, so an unsplit catalogue costs the supervisor two cheques for one song.
- Nothing here covers a re-record, a cover, or the performing-rights income a broadcast use also generates — those are separate from the sync fee.
- Deadline is a lever this cannot model. A supervisor who needs clearance by Friday pays more than one with six weeks.
The other side of it
Fixed prices, if you would rather not negotiate
Everything above describes a negotiation. SNVRKOTICS runs its own sync catalogue on the opposite model: the tiers are published, the terms are written down, and a licence is issued the moment the payment clears. Master and publishing are both held in one place, so it is one fee and one signature.
That does not make it the right answer for every use. A negotiated deal is worth pursuing when you want a specific, recognisable record. A published price is worth it when you want the music cleared today.
Questions
The things people ask first
Why is the answer a range and not a number?
Because sync fees are negotiated and almost never published. The same song in the same spot clears at very different numbers depending on the budget, the deadline and how badly the picture needs that particular track. What is genuinely knowable is which levers move a fee and in which direction, so that is what this models, and the band is wide on purpose.
Why does it show a total that is double the per-side figure?
A sync clearance licenses two separate rights: the master, which is the recording, and the publishing, which is the composition. They are usually quoted most-favoured-nations, meaning matched to each other. So unless one party controls both, the supervisor writes two cheques and chases two sets of approvals for one song.
What does one-stop actually change?
Not the fee — the number of people you have to get to yes. A supervisor working to an air date will drop a track rather than chase a co-writer's publisher who has not replied. Clearing with one signature is a practical advantage before it is a commercial one.
Which lever moves it most?
How well known the recording is, by a wide margin, and it is the one nothing on this page can see. That is why it is a question rather than an assumption. After that it is the media type: the gap between a podcast bed and a national television campaign is larger than every other factor combined.
Does the fee cover everything?
No. The sync fee buys the right to combine the music with the picture. Performing rights income from a broadcast is collected separately by your society, and a re-record, a cover version or a change to the arrangement are separate permissions with separate fees.
Where do the numbers come from?
Published deal shapes and the ranges that get discussed openly in the licensing trade, adjusted by the levers you set. They are benchmarks, not quotes, and nothing here is a rate card.