Songwriters and producers now more than ever hunger for visual-media placements, as opportunities for sync licensing surge and traditional record sales from cds and downloads sag. Busy music supervisors hold the keys to placements in ads, films, TV, and video games, but how do you find them and get your foot in the door?

Of course once you’ve introduced yourself, you’ve got to create great songs, tailored to individual projects, with high production values. Hundreds of articles tell how to do that. But trying to sell your music cold without having met or corresponded with music supervisors is likely to fail. If you’re not affiliated with a song plugger, licensing firm, or music library—and don’t want to be—outreach to individual supervisors can work. Still, to even get a listen, you’ve got to meet as many music supervisors as possible and make first impressions count.

Through his online music marketing platform, DropTrack, CEO Paul Loeb connects artists with music supervisors, label reps, DJs, and radio pros with personalized marketing tools. To maximize opportunities, he advises musicians who use DropTrack—as well as those who don’t—to use these techniques, with which he has secured over 20 sync placements on MTV, Comedy Central, Bravo, Oxygen, E!, and elsewhere.

1. Study up

Good old Google is a fine place to start researching music supervisors and choose your targets. Songwriter Universe has an excellent directory of them, and Tunefind shows what music many are interested in. The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) is a great tool for identifying who works on TV series and films. You can even get a free 30-day trial to IMDB Pro, where you can find contact information. The National Association of Record Industry Professionals is another resource. Go to NARIP.com, search with keywords “music supervisors,” and see articles telling who they are and how best to approach them.

Also search phrases like “music supervisors looking for music.” Once you know names, google them for more information. Watch their ads, shows, and films. Get familiar with them. Be fluent in how music is being used, know the common practices in the field, and embed this knowledge into all the strategies discussed below.

Avoid this rookie blunder: Don’t submit songs to music supervisors who’ve never worked in your genre. Personalization leads to monetization.

2. LinkedIn

Everyone on LinkedIn is looking for the same thing: professional advancement. Pitching music through Twitter and Facebook is done to death. Music supervisors don’t have time for the former and use the latter for friends, family, and fun—that’s not where they’re looking for the perfect hook for their ad. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is ideal for forming business relationships. It’s expected to request connections with people you don’t know.

But do it right. Make sure your profile is up-to-date and describes your skills and experience. When you invite someone to connect, delete the standard “I’d like to add you to my professional network” message, and instead enter a personal note like “Hi Scott, I’m a big fan of your work on Entourage. I’d like to see if you’re looking for music for upcoming projects. I run an independent record label focusing on dance/electronic music, and I’d love to send you some tunes.” 

Avoid this rookie blunder: Don’t connect until you’ve completed your profile with a good photo and a clear description of what you do. Crush the first impression.

3. Trade shows and conferences

Entrance can be pricey, but conferences are worth it if you stay in the target market for your genre. Ones worth attending include but are not limited to: SF Music Tech Summit (San Francisco), Billboard/THR Film and TV Music Conference (Los Angeles), Sync Summit (Los Angeles, New York, London), ASCAP EXPO (Los Angeles), MUSEXPO (Los Angeles), MIDEM (Cannes), Winter Music Conference (Miami Beach), and—if you’re into EDM—EDMBiz Conference and Expo (Las Vegas), as well as Amsterdam Dance Event (Amsterdam). With meet-ups, mixers, and message boards, contact opportunities are endless.

Prepare by finding out who’s going and research them online. Make a list of your marks. Email them in advance and ask for an appointment to meet during the show. Alternatively, tweet them during the conference to see where they are and if you can come to them.

Attend the biggest panel discussions, sit in the front row, and be the first to ask a question. Stand up, introduce yourself loudly, and make it a good one. Many conferences have panels featuring sync reps and supervisors, though some cost extra. When you’re first building relationships, the added fee is worth being part of an elite group of attendees.

The best networking happens in the hallways, the bars, and the line for coffee. Ask lots of questions about what kinds of music they need, and ask even deeper follow-up questions that show you’re genuinely interested and you’ve done your homework about their business. Make yourself relevant. And don’t forget to exchange business cards.

No more than a week after the conference, email each contact to follow up and allude back to your conversation. Say, “John, it was nice to meet you and talk about your work at Disney. You mentioned needing dubstep tracks for an upcoming project. Would it be ok for me to send you a few songs?”

Avoid this rookie blunder: Don’t just sit and listen. If you leave with no business cards, you’re doing it wrong.

Avoid this one too: Don’t hand out flashdrives or cds at conferences. Now is the time to form one-on-one bonds, not pitch your music.

4. Seal the deal

Ask your new acquaintances to add you to their email lists and let you know when they have specific needs for songs. Offer to tap them into your network of other industry pros to fulfill those requests as well. Mention that you understand they would only consider music that’s easy to clear for both master and publishing copyrights. If applicable, say you have instrumental versions and vocal splits available of all tracks.

Avoid this rookie blunder: Don’t send MP3s as email attachments. Send links to your website or DropTrack playlist promoting no more than three tracks for a specific project.


If you stick to your goals, don’t get overwhelmed, and catch a little luck, these recommendations boost the likelihood that music supervisors will at least listen when you submit your music. Laying the groundwork makes all the difference to meeting and dazzling the right people and getting decent shots at the deals you want.

About Paul Loeb:

Paul Loeb has been at the intersection of music and tech for 20 years. He is founder and CEO of No Ego Records and DropTrack and a prolific producer currently operating under the name Really Cute Cats. His goal has always been to give musicians like himself the tools to stand out from the rest, get heard, and get deals.

It’s hard to believe it’s been over 12 years since the launch of Facebook. Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. That’s good news for marketers, musicians, and entrepreneurs. You have this incredible platform to reach every one of those followers you painstakingly cultivated. Or do you?

Organic Reach is a Harsh Reality 

If you’ve been paying attention to the recent developments in social media, you know the rules have changed for business pages and profiles. Now you have a choice: You can post for free, and reach an infinitesimal amount of people within your massive group of followers, or you can pay for exposure. So here’s how it goes down: You get the sound and lighting just right. You shoot an amazing video and take some awesome pics. You sort through the best of them, edit your video, and remove the red eyes from your photos. Everything’s cut, polished, and pretty enough to present to your fans. So you craft a clever headline and upload. Then you wait for the likes, shares, and comments to come... but they don’t. Or they do, but the numbers are puny. When Facebook suggests you pay for more reach, you know you got punked.

If you continue to post on social media without paying, it’ll be like setting up for concerts, pouring yourself into the music, playing your rockstar best, and then you realize the room is mostly empty, the sound is off, and there’s just one row of seating anyway. 

What’s The Solution?

So maybe you give in and pay Facebook to reach your existing fans. And that’s great, because advertising is rarely free, so why should social media be any different? But there’s a better way. There’s a more effective tool you can access that successful artists are already using - It’s email marketing.

Surprised? Did you think that email marketing was obsolete? Research says it’s 40 times as effective as Facebook and Twitter combined. Tweet that! Or don’t, because it’s really just a waste of time. Here are the facts when it comes to social media versus email marketing…

Social Media Versus Email Marketing

Don’t get me wrong, social media is useful and you should have an online presence if you’re an artist or business. Try to grow your followers, and don’t stop posting fresh content. But don’t rely on social media as a sole means of marketing, and do yourself a favor: Use email to drive sales.

How Do Fans Rate Email Marketing?

A study by ExactTarget says 77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications in their inboxes over other advertising avenues.

How Does Email Marketing Rank in Terms of ROI?

For every dollar you spend on email marketing, the average return is $44.25.

Read that again. For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect to receive an average of $44 back in return. Social media can’t even come close!

What Are the Odds of Reaching My Fans Through Email Marketing?

Ninety-one percent of consumers use email every day. Your odds of reaching your fans with email: pretty damn good.

What’s it Worth?

Wondering if email marketing is really worth the effort? Statistics prove consumers spend 138% more when they receive an email offer. 

We could go on, but why bother? You’re smart enough to know now that email marketing trumps social media when it comes to connecting with your fan base. So what now?

Use Email Marketing to Build Your Fan base 

So where do you go from here? If you haven’t already started building an email list, it’s time to get cracking!

How exactly do you get people to give you their email?

It’s easy. Instead of offering a free download through SoundCloud, ask people for their email address to receive the song. There are many great tools to help automate this, like DropTrack, FanBridge, and ReverbNation. (Note: Never just ask for an email address, but always offer something in return, like free downloads, promotional content, or tickets to shows.)

When it’s time for your next release, you can spread the word by sending out an email to your fans!

Ownership Is Where It’s At.

Unlike social media, with email marketing YOU own the data. You are in control. So what exactly does that mean? According to Blue Hornet, it means opportunity. Because 72% of consumers sign up for an email list with the intent to get discounts, there’s your cue to give the people what they want. Send them an offer they can’t refuse, and chances are, they won’t. Email conversion rates are three times higher than social media, and consumers prefer to communicate with brands by email.

Give The People What They Want: Promotional Content via Email

If they’ve given you their email address, they expect something in return. When compared to social media, email users have a higher tolerance for promotional content. When they’re logged into social media, they’re probably connecting with friends and family or scrolling through posts and memes. When it comes to email, users are more likely to be hunting for offers, taking care of business, and handling correspondence that isn’t necessarily of a social nature. Social media can only take you so far. And with Facebook limiting your organic reach, the message is clear: it's time to master the art of email marketing and start making essential connections

About Paul Loeb:

Paul Loeb has been at the intersection of music and tech for 20 years. He is founder and CEO of No Ego Records and DropTrack and a prolific producer currently operating under the name Really Cute Cats. His goal has always been to give musicians like himself the tools to stand out from the rest, get heard, and get deals.

About DropTrack:

DropTrack is music marketing software that helps artists manage their relationships with music industry contacts and provides a complete toolset for sharing and marketing digital music. DropTrack offers a selection of tools for music producers and record labels, including a platform for uploading and storing music, then accessing it from anywhere. DropTrack’s customer management system, download gate, shortlink URLS to playlists, and other features make creating successful marketing campaigns simple and precise. Instantaneous feedback and analytics complement branding tools to promote music in a more personal and professional way.

On April 8, DropTrack unveiled its new “Get Paid to Listen” feature. A&R reps, DJs, and bloggers who think, “If only I got paid a nickel for every demo I’ve listened to…” can now be compensated when they listen to songs through DropTrack. They can even set their own prices. There’s an upside for musicians, too: a money-back guarantee that their Premium Demos will be heard.

DropTrack Founder and CEO Paul Loeb believes industry professionals (recipients) should be rewarded for responsiveness. Not only does it make sure recipients’ time is valued, it also means higher-quality submissions from music performers, writers, and producers (submitters) believe in their songs enough to put their money where their music is.

“As an A&R person who listens to a lot of demos, I know time is valuable,” commented Loeb, who is also founder and CEO of No Ego Records. “Being able to filter through all those demo submissions and listening only to the cream of the crop cuts down on that time.” And DropTrack streamlines industry pros’ tasks by enabling them to take demo submissions (including “Get Paid to Listen” transactions) on their own websites or Facebook fan pages, with simple installation of DropTrack’s embeddable HTML widget.

Meanwhile, artists get what they want: professional ears and feedback. Submitters can choose to click on “guaranteed listen” and decide how much they are willing to pay. If their tracks aren’t heard and no feedback comes within seven days, they get that payment back. Loeb explained, “Artists can pay for exposure on other platforms and never know if anyone’s listening or if they’re throwing money down a black hole. They don’t know if they’re being stolen from. We’ve built accountability into the process.”

Feedback promised by DropTrack consists of a) knowing whether a recipient played or downloaded the track, b) getting a one-to-five-star rating, and/or c) getting the reviewer’s remarks. Comments are often something like this, from trance music producer Neos: “Nice tune, good intro, I love the breakdown, melodic & beautiful!” or this, from producer/DJ/artist BK Duke: “Will play this on my radio show PLAY IT LOUD (broadcasted on more than 20 stations).”

DropTrack’s variable pricing determined by users sets it apart from other platforms. Recipients set the value of their time—from one dollar to hundreds. Submitters can select their price range too, determining which recipients they can afford. DropTrack’s current listener roster has hundreds of the Internet’s most popular music-seeking blogs. Labels include Digital Empire Records, Adrenalin Room, and Suma records; and DJs include Tiesto, Dash Berlin, and George Acosta. The main question DropTrack’s 6500 users have to ask themselves is: “What’s it worth to us?”

“One of my goals with the ‘Get Paid to Listen’ strategy is to democratize the submission process,” explained Loeb, “to make this fair to music providers and industry experts who critically consider their work.” As a prolific producer and advocate for artists, he aims to empower music-makers to direct their own careers—which means making investment decisions. Rewards for listeners and worthy input for artists are just two more approaches to help DropTrack submitters stand out from the rest, get heard, and get deals.

About DropTrack:

DropTrack is music marketing software that helps artists manage their relationships with music industry contacts and provides a complete toolset for sharing and marketing digital music. DropTrack offers a selection of tools for music producers and record labels, including a platform for uploading and storing music, then accessing it from anywhere. DropTrack’s customer management system, download gate, shortlink URLS to playlists, and other features make creating successful marketing campaigns simple and precise. Instantaneous feedback and analytics complement branding tools to promote music in a more personal and professional way.

Paul Loeb, the 29-year-old CEO of DropTrack, an innovative file-hosting service providing simple tools for artists and producers, has been playing at the intersection of music and tech since his age was in the single digits.

DropTrack’s pioneering founder has always been a music-consuming self-starter. Loeb describes himself as “a big nerd” who’s been programming websites and apps since the promising dawn of the 21st Century. Add that to playing piano, clarinet, guitar, and trumpet—plus a keen ear for what drives dance parties wild—and you’ve got a Renaissance Man for the post-Pro-Tools world.

Loeb began his career by making himself valuable to tech-needy neighbors in Aurora, CO. Starting in 1997 at age ten with his first start-up, Paul’s Computer Basics, he made house calls teaching fundamentals and fixing problems. Clients included grandparents, elderly neighbors, and a neurosurgeon. “My mom drove me to people’s houses and sat in the living room with a book” he remembers. “I started by charging $10/hour –which was a lot to me, but to an adult it was a huge bargain. Eventually I raised my prices to $20/hour. All these years later, my mom says she should have gotten a percentage of my earnings!”

Loeb had his first taste of making commerce flow more smoothly online when a neighbor’s hockey equipment store needed a website, so he created thehockeystore.com. He later hosted a web server from home called LoebNet. His mom searched for computer classes to keep him interested but couldn’t find any that challenged him and/or allowed 13-year-olds to attend. Loeb relates, “In the long run, my Mom says I just figured everything out on my own.” Now Loeb is figuring out how to capitalize on digital music’s evolution, continuously evolving his approach in the era of free-floating music files and overabundant digital data.

As a student at USC, Loeb created the award-winning www.usc.edu/transportation website, expediting campus transportation and parking for over 80,000 grateful students, faculty, and staff. Next he co-founded Portcard, a Facebook app helping protect children from internet predators, partnering with the Boys and Girls Club of America. He was personally invited by Facebook’s Chief Security Officer to the first F8 Developers conference. Then he co-created Fresh Intermedia, a freelance app and web development company, making websites and apps for musicians, hospitals, real estate companies, and more.

Loeb has a knack for seeking out and applying feedback to his personal discoveries about what works. He learned to adapt his services to his target market when he pitched restaurants on building online ordering apps. No one bit when his proposals were for six-month projects costing $20,000.  But, Loeb said, “We realized there was a huge demand, so we took our own money and invested in building a white-label solution: OrderingApps. Then we went back to the restaurants and said, ‘Give us your menu and $500, and we’ll have your app built within a week.’ This was a much easier sell! We ended up growing the company to 50 restaurants in 3 countries, with over $500k in processed monthly revenue.”  They demonstrated a successful acquisition exit by selling OrderingApps to a national advertising firm.

Loeb’s creative character, as much as his business ethos, was always influenced by technology. Back at USC, Loeb and his frat brothers discovered the magnetism of European club and house music. His DJ’ing career began in the heyday of hip-hop, but he got into electronic music “because it had more to do with software than anything else,” he admits, “and music technology now enables producers to create entire songs from start to finish on laptops—even on an airplane, in the case of Skrillex.”

Loeb has DJ’d around Los Angeles for eight years under the names BluntGuitar (with Kyle McKenzie) and as the more predictable Paul Loeb. Now he has rebranded his music producer/DJ name to Really Cute Cats, a spin-off from the web presence he’d already built. “The Internet loves cats,” he explained, “I'm tragically allergic, but I think they're awesome, and the blog is a way to share my love…I decided to leverage my cat brand as my new artist name, because who isn’t all about the really cute cats? I already had the .com, a decent email list, and fans on Facebook and Twitter, so I took it from there.”

As a prolific producer with dozens of collaborators, it only made sense for Loeb to start an indie record label. In 2011, borrowing best practices from Ultra Records, Dim Mak Records, and Insomniac Events, he launched No Ego Records, focusing on dance and electronic music. With 65 artists so far, the label has secured placements on TV shows, from E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians to Comedy Central’s Workaholics. Loeb says while developing No Ego Records, he’s learned a lot about protecting artists’ best interests, making win-win deals, and throwing fantastic events.

What makes DropTrack special is that Loeb himself is Customer Number One. He created it for himself. As both artist and label exec, he knows how to maximize opportunities to get through to buyers: professionalize presentations with your own logo and personalized branding: find out what objective professionals think of your music; use mailing lists, fan clubs, and social media effectively; and be patient. “It can take six to nine months to get paid when we license for sync. So if you don’t have cashflow, you can very quickly go under water.” Happily, No Ego Records has turned a profit for its five years of life. So even though Loeb considers it a side project more than an enterprise, he’ll keep doing it. And No Ego Records’ musicians submit their demos via DropTrack.

As of this writing, DropTrack’s number of uploaded tracks is in five digits, the platform’s number of industry contacts is in six digits, and its number of emails sent to these star-makers is in seven digits—all on a platform invented by one guy who still DJ’s and runs his own record label, while working night and day to elevate the fortunes of other dedicated artists. DropTrack aims not to clog the overflowing inboxes of record labels, DJs, and bloggers, but to give musicians the tools to stand out from the rest, get heard, and get deals. Thousands of users employ a selection of DropTrack functions to market their creations, according to their own goals—which remains Loeb’s goal.


About DropTrack:

DropTrack is music marketing software that helps artists manage their relationships with music industry contacts and provides a complete toolset for sharing and pitching digital music. DropTrack offers a selection of tools for music producers and record labels, including a platform for uploading and storing music, then accessing it from anywhere. DropTrack’s customer management system, download gate, short link URLs to playlists, and other features make creating successful marketing campaigns simple and precise. Instantaneous feedback and analytics complement branding tools to promote music in a more personal and professional way.

As SoundCloud converts from an artist-facing service to a fan streaming service, serious artists and producers are hunting for an audio platform where their needs are put first. Erroneous takedown notices, advertising for someone else’s benefit, major label control, and other distractions plague content-sharing platforms that once served artists and labels. A new generation of serious songsmiths, producers, and DJs are flocking to DropTrack to manage and share their song catalogs across the industry.

For years, creatives have used all-purpose streaming services to upload mixes. Recently they’ve been motivated by headlines as well as frustrations with functionality to remove their tracks from services like SoundCloud and YouTube. Shifting from artist-focused to consumer-focused, SoundCloud stepped up its ads, removed its “record” function, and stopped allowing uploads of sounds from mobile apps.

Similarly, artists trying to use YouTube to monetize their creations compete with distracting ads and suggested next-ups, not to mention an endless sea of content and an “all things to all people” ethos. This is no place for the professionalism and personalization required to make artists’ work recognizable and attractive to music supervisors, broadcast programmers, and label executives.

At the same time, DropTrack founder and CEO, Paul Loeb—a DJ/producer, and well as an entrepreneur who has already created and sold several successful companies—built his platform tailored for musicians like himself to promote songs and build followings. Because Loeb is immersed in the EDM/remix culture, he makes sure his company serves this niche effectively.

DropTrack is for determined artists seeking control, independence, and ways to show they’re distinct from the sonic herd. The platform specializes in putting well-crafted content in front of targeted talent-seekers who take it seriously, who actually play it. In fact, Users can send music directly to labels, bloggers, or fans in professional-looking, brand-sensitive packages incorporating album artwork, photos, and press releases.

“Record labels, DJs, and bloggers are inundated with a constant overflow of music submissions,” says Loeb. “Their inboxes are clogged up with MP3 attachments and sketchy Zippyshare or Mediafire links. I created DropTrack so each artists’ character comes across and stands out from the rest. This helps ensure delivery without being annoying or just spamming labels and music supervisors.”

And knowing how powerless it feels to not know whether his music is even listened to, Loeb built in an immediate feedback feature. DropTrack’s exclusive reporting engine shows listeners’ locations on a handy map, along with when they listened. And it shows how many emails were opened, tracks were played, and tracks were downloaded. Loeb assures, “Music producers no longer have to guess whether anyone actually listened to their song. With DropTrack, they know for sure – instantly.”

Now offering a free trial, DropTrack has already helped artists place songs on TV shows, get played by big-time DJs, and get signed to labels. And with a radically low-overhead, ad-free, streamlined administrative structure, DropTrack is in no danger of employee wages running too high or users suing over unpaid royalties.

Older services overhaul their goals and apps to fight competitors for ever-larger market share and investment. But DropTrack has its eyes on the prize: providing genuine, dedicated creatives a complete toolset for sharing and marketing digital music with simplicity and precision.

About DropTrack:

DropTrack is music marketing software that helps artists manage their relationships with music industry contacts and provides a complete toolset for sharing and marketing digital music. DropTrack offers a selection of tools for music producers and record labels, including a platform for uploading and storing music, then accessing it from anywhere. DropTrack’s customer management system, download gate, shortlink URLs to playlists, and other features make creating successful marketing campaigns simple and precise. Instantaneous feedback and analytics complement branding tools to promote music in a more personal and professional way.