For film, TV, ads & games
Sync licensing, without the clearance chase.
Sync licensing is permission to pair music with picture — and it normally means clearing two rights from two parties: the composition from the publisher, the master from the label. On Starchild both rights are pre-cleared together, on original, human-written songs with real vocals — and because every song exists in multiple full productions, your scene gets the style and energy it needs from one cleared song.
Step 1
Find the song
Search by genre, mood, tempo, lyric theme, or vocal — then audition the same song in multiple production styles and intensities against your picture.
Step 2
Tell us the use
Film, series, ad, game, or brand content; the media it runs in; territory and term. Sync is quoted per project, for exactly the use you need.
Step 3
Clear both rights at once
Composition and master clear together in one agreement — the songs are listed by their rights holders, so there's no publisher-and-label chase.
Step 4
Deliver with documentation
You receive the files for the version you chose and a certificate naming the song, writers, and the rights granted — what music supervisors and legal teams ask for.
Sync licensing questions, answered
What is sync licensing?
Sync (synchronization) licensing is permission to pair music with moving picture — film, TV, ads, games, video. It requires two rights: the synchronization right in the composition (from the writer or publisher) and the master right in the recording (from whoever owns the recording). On Starchild, both come pre-cleared together.
How much does a sync license cost?
Sync is quoted per project — the use, the media, the territory, and the term set the price, which is why sync fees range from modest for a small web video to substantial for a national ad campaign. Tell us about your project and we'll price it for the exact use you need.
What is adaptive sync licensing?
Starchild's adaptive catalog means a song isn't locked to one recording: the same human-written song exists in multiple full productions at different intensities. Adaptive sync licensing lets a scene get the exact style and energy it needs — the acoustic version under dialogue, the full production over the title sequence — from one cleared song.
How is sync different from licensing a song to record?
A recording license (from $30 on Starchild) grants an artist the right to record and release their own version of a song. A sync license places an existing recording against picture. They're different rights — many productions need only sync, and many artists need only recording rights.
Do I need separate publisher and label clearances?
Not here. The two-signature problem — chasing a publisher for the composition and a label for the master — is the slowest part of traditional sync. Starchild's songs are listed by the rights holders themselves, so both rights clear in one agreement, with a certificate naming the writers.
Start with the catalog
Browse pre-cleared songs curated for picture, or tell us about your production and we'll pull options in the style and energy your scenes need.
New to the terminology? What is sync licensing? and the song licensing glossary cover the basics in plain language.