Workflows
Music industry workflows
Music industry workflows are the step-by-step procedural processes that determine how sync placements get made, how supervisors review pitches, how composers deliver stems, and how royalties get collected. This is a complete library of 11 workflows covering 13,000+ words of original procedural content, written for working composers, music supervisors, sync agencies, and music publishers in 2026.
A typical music supervisor reviews 50 to 500 pitches per week and makes placement decisions in 15 to 30 seconds per submission. A working trailer composer manages 8 to 16 stems per cue plus 3 to 5 alternative mixes. A sync placement on a network TV show pays $5,000 to $25,000, and the cue sheet workflow determines who gets paid which share of that fee. Every workflow below documents one piece of that machinery in concrete detail: how it actually happens, who does what, and where the most common mistakes get made.
11 workflows. 13,000+ words of original procedural content. Updated for 2026.
How music supervisors review pitches
Music supervisors review pitches in fast triage passes, listening to the first 15 to 30 seconds of each track to decide whether it survives, gets archived, or gets forwarded to the director. Most pitches die in the first pass.
Read the full workflow →How trailer houses receive music
Trailer houses receive music through a mix of in-house libraries, agency relationships, and curated submissions, then triage it against the cut they are working on under brutal deadlines. Speed and format flexibility win placements.
Read the full workflow →How sync agencies pitch music
Sync agencies represent rosters of composers and labels, sit in the brief flow with music supervisors, and pitch matched cues against active needs. The pitching workflow runs on relationships, fast turnarounds, and ruthless catalog organization.
Read the full workflow →How composers deliver stems
Composers deliver stems by exporting individual instrument groups from their DAW as separate WAV files at the same sample rate, length, and start point as the master, then bundling them with clear filenames and metadata. Done right, stems make a track endlessly usable. Done wrong, they are a tangled mess that no editor will touch.
Read the full workflow →How cue sheets get filed
Cue sheets get filed by the production company's music coordinator after the project airs, listing every cue with composer, publisher, duration, and usage code. The cue sheet is then submitted to the relevant performing rights organization (PRO), which uses it to calculate ongoing performance royalties. No cue sheet means no royalty.
Read the full workflow →How ALT mixes get organized
ALT mixes get organized by grouping every alternate version under its parent track with consistent naming, metadata, and a clear hierarchy: master, instrumentals, TV mixes, cutdowns, stings, and stems. Done well, the supervisor never has to ask for a version. Done poorly, every placement involves email back-and-forth.
Read the full workflow →How supervisor feedback rounds actually work
Supervisor feedback rounds happen when a track is shortlisted but not yet locked: the supervisor sends notes to the composer (often timestamped, sometimes vague), the composer revises, and the cycle repeats one to four times before the cue is either approved or replaced. Most placements that fall apart, fall apart here.
Read the full workflow →How to organize your music catalog
Organizing a music catalog means tagging every track with consistent metadata, grouping recordings into a logical folder or playlist structure, and building naming conventions that hold up as the catalog grows. Composers who skip this step spend hours hunting for tracks every time a brief lands.
Read the full workflow →How to pitch music as an independent composer
An independent composer pitching their own music sends a short targeted email with a single shareable playlist link, tracks the analytics to see who listened, and follows up once and only once two weeks later. Most composers overcomplicating this step never land as many placements as the ones who keep it simple and consistent.
Read the full workflow →How to track who listened to your music
Tracking who listened to your music means sending playlists through a platform with per-recipient analytics, checking the dashboard after sending, identifying which supervisors spent real time on which tracks, and using that data to prioritize follow-up conversations.
Read the full workflow →How to send music to clients professionally
Sending music to a client or supervisor professionally means delivering a branded, analytics-tracked, access-controlled playlist link, not an email attachment, not a Dropbox folder, not a WeTransfer link.
Read the full workflow →