Nashville Sync Licensing: A Guide for Independent Hip-Hop Artists
Sync placement can pay more than a year of streaming. Here's how to get your catalog ready and which agencies actually work with independent hip-hop.
Sync licensing means getting your song placed in a TV show, film, ad, trailer, or game — and getting paid a licensing fee plus performance royalties when it airs. A single well-placed sync can outearn a year of streaming income on the same song. It's also one of the few revenue lanes where being independent is an advantage: sync buyers want music they can license fast, without a major label's legal department slowing down the deal.
Nashville's sync scene is mostly built around country and Americana, but a real hip-hop-friendly layer exists underneath it — agencies with Nashville offices or Nashville roots that specifically want rap, R&B, and adjacent genres. This guide covers how to get your catalog sync-ready and exactly which companies are worth your time.
01Get Sync-Ready Before You Pitch Anyone
Music supervisors move fast and license what's cleared and ready — not what's promising. Handle this list before you submit anywhere:
- Clean and instrumental versions. Every track needs a radio-clean mix and a full instrumental (no vocals) ready to go — supervisors often need the beat alone for underscore.
- Stems. Some placements need isolated stems (drums, bass, vocals, melody) for editing to picture. Keep them organized and ready to send.
- Complete metadata. Genre, mood, tempo/BPM, instrumentation, and a one-line description of the vibe. Supervisors search by mood and tempo far more than by artist name.
- Register with a PRO. ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC — whichever you're not already signed to. No PRO registration means no performance royalty when the placement airs, even if the sync fee gets paid.
- Confirm your masters and splits. Know exactly who owns what percentage of the master and the publishing before a supervisor asks. A sync deal dies fast if the paperwork isn't clean.
- Get on DISCO. This is the file-delivery platform music supervisors actually use to search and pull tracks. Most sync agencies will ask for a DISCO link once they're interested.
02Where to Submit
Sync agencies split roughly into three tiers: agencies actively seeking hip-hop, agencies open to it as one genre among many, and submission platforms/libraries that work on a subscription or revenue-share basis.
Tier 1 — Actively Want Hip-Hop
A sync agency that's genre-agnostic but actively seeks hip-hop, R&B, pop, and electronic. Track record includes HBO, Netflix, Hulu, and major ad campaigns. Submissions are rolling — send your best 3–5 cleared, fully-tagged tracks via their website rather than a scattershot catalog dump.
A BIPOC-focused sync agency built specifically around hip-hop, R&B, blues, jazz, gospel, and funk — one of the few agencies purpose-built for exactly this catalog. Works with brands, film, TV, and games from a pre-cleared, one-stop library. Submit through the website.
Full-service sync agency with a diverse, hip-hop-friendly roster and a pre-cleared one-stop catalog managed on DISCO. Backed by decades of combined sync experience across the team. Apply directly on their site.
A Nashville-based sync company with placements on shows like Good Trouble, Selling Sunset, All American, and Lincoln Lawyer. Important to know before you spend time here: this company does not accept unsolicited catalog submissions — it operates as a consulting relationship, typically label-to-label. Worth knowing about and worth pursuing through networking (see the events below), but not a cold-submission target.
A Nashville-based independent licensing and publishing company with real placements on VH1, Dancing with the Stars, Ellen, USA Network, NBC, American Idol, Fox Sports, NFL Films, WWE, and MTV2. Local, and worth reaching out to directly through the company website for current submission guidance.
Tier 2 — Open to Hip-Hop
One of the most active independent sync agencies in North America, open to hip-hop alongside indie, electronic, and experimental music. Submissions run through a licensing form on their site — accessible and built for independent artists, not just established labels.
A Nashville-founded subscription sync platform that accepts hip-hop alongside pop, electronic, and country. Past clients include T-Mobile and Twitter. Artist-friendly — you retain your masters. Apply through the artist application on the website.
A major sync licensing platform accepting hip-hop, pop, electronic, and cinematic music on a revenue-sharing model. Apply through the application form on the site.
A UK/global sync platform with over a decade in the industry and past placements with Netflix, Disney, Universal, and NBC. Membership-based — sign up through the website.
A major production-music library actively refreshing its catalog with hip-hop and contemporary sounds. Submit through the website.
Tier 3 — Submission Platforms & Services
| Service | What it does | How to submit |
|---|---|---|
| Hip-Hop's Best Kept Secrets | Sync submission service built specifically for hip-hop, R&B, and urban catalogs | Monthly subscription for unlimited submissions, via website |
| DropDay Distro | Distribution platform with a dedicated sync division; placements on Power Book II: Ghost and History Channel | Membership plus per-track submission fee, via website |
| Artist Portal Studio | Sync submission platform reaching 10,000+ music supervisors, including active Southern hip-hop briefs | Free submissions via website |
| Sound Sync Publishing | Sync preparation and pitching service | Via website |
03Where Sync Relationships Actually Get Built
Sync is a relationship business more than a submission business. Once your catalog is ready and you've sent it to the agencies above, put in time at the places where music supervisors and sync reps actually network:
- Sync Summit — the largest dedicated sync licensing conference, held multiple times a year.
- NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals) — regular events connecting sync buyers and music suppliers.
- Screen Music Connect — a conference focused specifically on music-for-picture placement.
- The Sync Society — a membership community running monthly introductions, peer networking, and exclusive sync briefs.
- Leadership Music (Nashville) — a local alumni network whose members include several working Nashville sync executives; a genuinely useful room to be in if you're based here.
None of this moves fast. Sync deals can take months from first submission to a signed license, and most submissions never place. The artists who eventually land placements are the ones who kept their catalog clean, kept submitting on a schedule, and showed up in the rooms above more than once.
Building a sync-ready catalog? HipHop615 covers the Nashville artists making moves like this.
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