This is a sample of the letter that we send out to the students of our Sync Summer Sessions students so you can see what we’re providing everyone who signs up – Click here if you want to take part in the next Sync Sessions course starting on July 27 at the cost of $499 – Now for the letter.

I hope you are doing great today, and I am so excited that you are joining us for the Sync Summer Sessions – it’s going to be a great 21 weeks and in this letter, I’m sharing with you some vital information on the class schedule, what to expect and some links for the various sessions and office hours. Let’s get started.

The class and office hours schedule.  We have two classes this summer, one that starts on Sunday July 14th, and one that starts on Saturday, July 27.  Both classes will take place from 12PM – 2PM Eastern Time, except for holidays and a couple of breaks.

We will provide you with links to the video archives of each class, listening session and office hours within 24 hours of the event.

And for the office hours, you can schedule one office hours per week, either every Wednesday from 3PM – 4:30PM Eastern time or every Tuesday from 3PM – 4:30 PM Eastern time. 

Office hours will be five minutes per person and they are optional – so if you don’t want to take them that week, that’s fine, and if you need to schedule something outside of office hours to talk, you can email me and we can figure out a time that will work. 

Now, here’s the office hours scheduler link:

LINK OMITTED

The scheduler will provide you with a zoom room link.

Now, here is class schedule and zoom link:

All Classes will take place from 12PM – 2PM Eastern Time in this Zoom meeting room: LINK OMITTED

Class 1: July 27 – Initial introductions of students and instructor, discussion of needs, course elements, overview of the industry and first student assignment.

Class 2: August 3 – Industry decision makers – who are they and what are their roles.  It starts with music supervisors and music coordinators are just the beginning – we’ll discuss who they are, their concerns and how they work – and what they expect from music providers.   

Class 3: August 10 – Preparing your music and yourself for making contact.  What do you need to do to prepare your music before you send it out to decision makers, music supervisors, music libraries and sync agents.  We’ll focus on and review the vital elements of music quality, metadata, ownership and payment as well as how to present yourself in email, social media and in person and basic tools you’ll need to present your music. 

Class 4: August 17 – Research. How do you find decision makers?  What tools should you use to research people before you make contact, and how can you use these tools most effectively? And, by using these tools effectively, how can you best build out your network? 

Class 5: August 24 – Sync Agents and Music Libraries. What is the role of Sync Agents and Music Libraries?  Who are they?  What do they do?  How do they work? How do you get paid?  What should you expect of them? How do you find one that will be a good partner for you and your work – or if you want to be a sync agent or library, how do you get started?

Class 6: September 7 – Live listening session with sync agents and music libraries. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of sync agents and music libraries.

Class 7: September 14 – Custom Music Houses. Who are they, who do they work with and what do they do? We’ll break it all down, including how they work with musicians and writers and how you can work with them.

Class 8: September 21 – Live listening session with custom music houses. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of custom music houses.

Class 9: September 28 – How do brands and ad agencies work with music?  Now that you have your music ready to present to industry players, the next few lessons will focus on different sectors of the industry and live listening sessions with industry players, starting with ads and brands. In this lesson, we’ll map out how the ad agencies and brands work with music, what makes them unique, who the decisions makers are and what they expect, and how you can best position your work for success.

Class 10: October 5 – Live listening session with music decision makers focusing on ads and brands. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of music supervisors and other decision makers in advertising and brands.

Class 11:  October 12 – Music in streaming, TV and film. How does music in TV and film work? Who are the decision makers and what do they need?  What makes their work unique from other forms of media? And most important how can you be of service to their needs and projects?

Class 12: October 19 – Live listening sessions with music supervisors and coordinators in streaming, TV and film. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of music supervisors and coordinators in streaming, TV and film. 

Class 13: October 26 – – Trailers and promos. How does the world of trailers and promos work?  What are the similarities and differences?  How do they work with music and what kinds of unique needs do they have?

Class 14: November 2 – Live listening sessions with decision makers in trailers and promos. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of music supervisors and decision makers in trailers and promos.

Class 15: November 9 –  Music for sports – live and otherwise. This week, we’ll take a look at sports leagues, teams and networks work with music.  Who are they players, what makes their work unique, what kinds of music do they use and how can you provide music to these projects?

Class 16: November 16 – Live listening sessions with decision makers in sports. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of music supervisors and decision makers in sports.

Class 17: November 23 – The international Market. What are the opportunities outside North America, including Europe, the LATAM market and East Asia? 

Class 18: November 30 – Live listening sessions with decision makers in the international market. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of music supervisors and decision makers from the international market.

Class 19: December 7 – Interactive Platforms. How do games, apps, mobile, the internet and social media work with music, who are the decision makers and how can you work with them successfully?

Class 20: December 14 – Live listening session with interactive platforms. This session will give you the chance to present yourself and your music to a panel of decision makers in games, apps, social media do online platforms.

Class 21: December 21 – Final class.  In this final class, we’ll go over any final questions you have, and go over our last assignment.

Moving on, here’s some other vital information as well as a few links.

  1.  My contact information.  OMITTED
  2. After our first class, I am going to send out to everyone a spreadsheet for you to enter your contact information, your company if you have one, and for the artists in the class, what kind of music you play or any instruments you play, if you are a singer, a producer, use a DAW, etc.  We’re doing this for two reasons, first, because it is great for me to know, and second, it will help everyone in the class to understand what each other specializes in and hopefully spur some future collaboration.

  3. During each class, we’ll go over any assignments first.  After that, we’ll get into the subject of that class for the remainder of the session.  Each class will feature a presentation on the subject, and you can ask questions throughout.  And at the end you’ll get a copy of the presentation as well as a link to the video archive.

  4. Beyond the classes, we will, from time to time, schedule pop-up conversations.  I will do my best to schedule these at least a week in advance so that you have time to schedule them.  These will be conversations with technologists, music supervisors and others that I think could add to a particular subject we’re discussing in the class, or something where we could dig a little deeper into a subject.

  5. For the listening sessions, we’re going to have a panel of three people (to be announced shortly) in each session.  If they are music supervisors, coordinators, sync agents or looking for music, we’ll ask them to provide us with any active searches they have, which you can submit to or write to, and if they don’t have any active briefs, you can just submit music based on what they do and their projects. We’ll try to get these briefs to you a week before the session. And for each session, we’ll provide you with a disco link to upload your submission. During the sessions, you’ll introduce yourself and then we’ll listen to one song each from everyone, for about a minute, then give feedback.  And you’ll get a video archive afterwards and the guests will get a link to the playlist from the session and your contact info, and you’ll get their contact info as well.

  6. If you have not done so yet, please upload three of your songs so I can get an idea of you and your music.  Here’s the link: OMITTED
  7. And here’s a link to industry documentation.  This includes spreadsheets, contracts, glossaries and other vital documents for reference purposes.  Here’s the link: OMITTED

And for anything else, just get in touch and I’ll do my best to help.

Thanks again for joining the Sync Sessions Class – I am so excited to get to know you and your music better and to work with you over these next five months.

All the best,

Mark