Your success as a singer-songwriter depends a great deal on the strategic way you position your self as a musician. The artistry of producing good new music—your vision, your disposition, your intuitivesense of rhythm and musical figures—is a vastly different beast than the regularly daunting legal and financial panorama of audio in this new generation of digital distribution. One undertaking is creative and intuitive; the other involves red tape, legality, logistics and factors.

Aside from the creative process, it’s essential to consider strategy when examining where you would like your music to take you. Do you produce music as a vocation? Is music your primary type of funding? Do you create music to market albums and create a fan base, or do you primarily wish to have your productions placed in film, television and video games? Perhaps you produce new music for all three purposes.

An additional crucial aspect to take into consideration is what distribution method will in reality make you money. Given the current landscape of diminishing download revenue and the high cost of antiquated physical distribution systems it is often a daunting undertaking to find the approach that is suitable for you. In 2012, most producers agree that the main two ways to generate income from music are to tour, or to license music for film, television and video games. After looking at the effort and expense involved in organizing, booking and executing tours licensing definitely emerges as a preferred revenue stream generated by music. If placement in films and television is your foremost goal, please keep reading.

The way in which you control ownership of your songs is an essential element for possible music licensing deals in the future. You’ll want to research what makes the most sense for your own productions with a lawyer, but in general, you’ll want to keep in mind:

  1) You are going to need to keep your own publishing.
  2) It is easier to contemplate licensing contracts if there is one single
  songwriter credit for your productions.
  3) It is easier to work with licensing agents if you release your own
  productions as an independent artist. In general, the less parties there are
  in a contract, the better.
  4) It is best to evaluate licensing companies well. Have an attorney
  review any possible contracts. Should you choose a licensing agent, they
  often prefer to be the exclusive agent—so choose well.

Musician Jennifer Clarke is one such singer-songwriter. She creates her music primarily as an emotional pursuit. Her productions are deeply personal and soulful. Yet the moment the album is mastered and printed, Jennifer becomes all business. She licensed her track, “More Than I Have,” on the FX Series starring Denis Leary, Rescue Me. Her current album, Trinkets in Rubble, is slated for release in March 2012, when she’ll start new efforts to get the album licensed.

What can you do to pursue licensing? Get in touch with Music Nomad, ASCAP, or use your favorite search engine to seek companies that specialize in the field. Most importantly, never give up. If you knock on enough doors eventually one of them will open.